miniMusic NotePad Demo
miniPiano - Version 0.6
10/15/00

This demo version of miniMusic NotePad will let you write a melody in standard music
notation on your Palm Computing connected organizer.  It should function on any handheld
running version 2.0 and higher of the Palm OS.  Many features of the miniMusic NotePad
application are not available in this demo, including: the ability to save multiple songs,
4-voice writing (chords and counterpoint), triplets, and more.  There are three demos
available for NotePad: miniScore, miniPiano, and miniGrid.  The full application allows you
to work in all three views.

Please visit our website to get the full NotePad application:
http://www.5thwall.com/minimusic

**USING MINIPIANO WITH MIDI**
All miniMusic software is designed to use the built-in speaker on your handheld computer, or an attached electronic musical instrument.  This 0.6 version of the demo has been improved to work with the new Palm MIDI modules from Swivel Systems (www.SwivelSystems.com) and Shinei (www.tsunamidi.com/tsunamidi.htm).  You can also connect to many other MIDI compatable devices using your HotSync cable or our Palm-to-MIDI interface.

To use MIDI, chaeck the "MIDI" checkbox in the preferences screen (choose "Preferences" from the "Options" menu or tap on the tempo marking).

For more information about MIDI, see our "MIDI page" at
http://www.5thwall.com/minimusic/midi.html

**MAIN FEATURES**
The screen is divided into four areas: a toolbar across the top, the overview staff in the
middle, the keyboard beneath it, and a control bar at the bottom.

The top toolbar contains note durations that can be selected.  The whole note on the left
is the longest duration, and the sixteenth note, with double flag, on the right is the
shortest.  When you tap on the piano keyboard, a note of this selected duration will be
drawn to the score.  New notes will always be added immediately after the selection pointer
(a small black arrow above the staff) or at the beginning of the song if no pointer exists
(such is the case when you first install the software).  Material to the right of the new
note will be pushed over to make room for the new note.  Notes pushed beyond the end of
the measure will be moved to the next measure.

To the right of the note duration tools, is a rest selector (it looks like a little squiggle, but
this is what a 'quarter rest' looks like).  When it is tapped, a rest of the current duration
will be added immediately after the select pointer (the small black arrow).  For example, if
the eighth note tool is selected and the rest tool is tapped, an eighth rest will be added to
the score (a rest with the same duration as an eighth note).

The most recent note placed is 'selected', which is evident by a pointer above the staff.
Any note can be tapped to select it.  If you continue to hold the pen down after selecting a
note, you can drag the pen to the right and select a range of notes (an 'open' pointer will
mark the end of the selection).  The selected note(s) can be changed or moved using the
edit menu, up/down hardware buttons, and Graffiti commands.

Beneath the score overview, is the piano keyboard.  Two octaves of notes are able to be
played.  To play a higher or lower octave, tap on the 'left' and 'right' arrows to either side
of the keyboard.  You'll notice that the numbers on each 'c' key will change to reflect the
octave.  The lowest octave begins with  a 'c' marked by the number '1', and the highest with
a 'c' marked by a "4".  Middle C is marked with the number '3'.

Beneath the staff, on the far left is a play button.  When you tap 'Play', the whole song will
be played until interrupted by an event (tap anywhere to stop playing).  To the right of the
'Play' button is the measure control.  The number is the current measure being viewed, and
the arrows allow you to move forward or backward through the song.  To the right of this,
are a number of icons which are not implimented in the demo.  In the full application these
icons will allow you to jump between the different views.

**MENUS**
Tapping the silkscreened Menu button (left of the Graffiti area) will bring up three menus:

The Options menu will provide you with information about the program, basic instructions
and how to contact us.  'Preferences' will let you name the song, choose a key signature
(although it will not appear in the piano view), turn sound on/off, turn MIDI on/off, and choose
a tempo.  'Delete Song' will do just that.  This demo version can only save one song at a time;
the full NotePad application can store a whole library of songs.

The Edit menu lets you Cut or Copy the current selection to a clipboard, Paste the clipboard
(will be pasted immediately following selection), and Select the entire song for easy
transposing, or a quick way to clear it and start over.  Also in the Edit menu is the Invert
command which flips the selected material upside down, and the Retrograde command which
flips the selection backwards!

The Play menu gives you three options: Play the entire song (same as tapping the Play button),
Play just the selected notes, or Loop the selected notes, replaying the selection over and over
until you tap somewhere on the screen to stop it.

Since no text is currently used (lyrics will be available in a future version of the software)
characters written in the graffiti area have the following effects:

Graffiti commands:
a through g = will add a note of that pitch (in the current key) immediately after selection.
(prev field) = shift selected note(s) up one half-step.
(next field) = shift selected note(s) down one half-step.
(backspace) = decrease duration of selected note(s).
(space) = increase duration of selected note(s).
! = raise selection an octave (dot stroke + up stroke).
' = lower selection an octave (dot stroke + down stroke).
p = play song.
s = play selection.
l = loop selection.
x = clear selection (can be drawn as a single Graffiti stroke like a backwards 'k').

Other menu commands can be performed in the usual way, using the 'command' stroke.

Hardware buttons:
page up - shift selected note(s) up one half-step.
page down - shift selected note(s) down one half-step.

Please visit our website or contact us about the full miniMusic NotePad application or to
download other free demos.  Check our website often for info about new software titles,
hardware, and upgrades.

miniMusic
P.O.Box 210761
San Francisco, CA 94121-0761

www.5thwall.com/minimusic
[email protected]

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