Pizzicato Professional 3.6 [Professional]

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.5.0, Pizzicato Professional 3.6.0 has the following additional features:

• A repeat wizard helps you automatically calculate the passages according to the repeat bars and to various standard symbols found in the Graphic symbols tool palette.

• It is now possible to select a part of a measure to copy, paste or apply various other operations.

• A new automatic triplet encoding mode has been added.

• A transposition wizard helps you to easily transpose a score from one instrument to another.

• You can now directly export a score into a PDF file.

• You can use the ASIO4ALL audio driver to reduce the latency of the audio card and get an instant playback.

• A visual and easy to use wizard helps you to define a custom drum map.

• The final version of the Music Typing Keyboard is now available and the real keyboard may be purchased on our site.

• An audio to score conversion function helps you to transcribe a melody from an audio WAV file or directly from a microphone.

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.4, Pizzicato Professional 3.5 has the following additional features:

• The page layout function has been deeply improved and is much more efficient, mainly when you modify the page layout and when you add measures and staves. You can insert BMP images as well as personal drawings. Printer and page setups may be customized per page. You may define several printing areas to place measures, which means you can create page layout for booklets and many other custom formats. You can view many pages at once on the screen.

• A document manager makes the handling of scores much easier. No need to use the Windows and Mac file opening and saving dialogs anymore. Your documents are automatically saved and visible on the left part of the screen, always available. Preview the content of a score by dragging the mouse over its icon in Pizzicato. This manager helps you to handle all the music composition resources (harmonic spaces, vectors, virtual instruments, libraries,...), whether in the conductor view as in the score or global view. Several custom areas may be defined, which helps you to handle the various composition resources more efficiently.

• Several improvements have been made in the global view, to make it more user friendly to edit all aspects of a score in the same window. Markers have been added to locate passages more easily. You can select the family directly in that window.

• A specific window displays a musical typesetting keyboard. A real physical keyboard of the same type will be developed in the future to be used with Pizzicato. The idea is to be able to enter music very fast. Presently, this window helps to understand how this future keyboard will be working to fasten the process of entering a music score into the computer. At this step, it is an experimental tool with high potential.

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.3, Pizzicato Professional 3.4 has the following additional features:

• A modular software synthesizer is now included in Pizzicato. With it, you can create synthesized sounds, read samples and manipulate the sound material. You can create a sound from scratch or use the given examples. See the lesson on the modular synthesizer.

• You can now directly import SoundFont sample files. Many such sounds can be found free of charge and free of rights by the thousands on the Internet. You can assign them to the staves of your score and use them in your composition. The final sound quality produced by Pizzicato becomes independent of the sound card and its synthesizer. See the lesson on virtual instruments.

• Pizzicato includes a quality sound library to listen to your music scores. It is the Papelmedia library ( http://www.papelmedia.de/english/index.htm ), which is now a standard part of Pizzicato.

• You can create an audio WAV file from your score directly with Pizzicato, without the need to go through the complexities of sound cards and their sometimes bad quality synthesizers. The final audio file includes directly the high quality sounds from the Papelmedia library or from any SoundFond sample that you can find on the Internet. A global audio file may be created but you can also create a separate file for each staff, for instance if you want to work it in a studio, remix it or add effects. See the lesson on the creation of an audio file.

• A new note entry mode has been added, to draw the duration of a note directly on the staff, modify its pitch, the stem direction,... All this only with the mouse, with no need of keyboard shortcut nor selecting tools on a palette. Another tool let you enter the notes of chords intuitively, based on existing chord symbols, for one or more staves. To delete a note or rest, you can now drag it outside the measure, which is sometimes quite handy to do. See the lesson on the graphic note entry mode.

• A new music composition tool let you graphically draw melodies, move them, transform them, assigning rhythms to them, directly on the score. With it you can literaly draw your melody intuitively, based or not on existing chords and scales. Anybody can now express himself (herself) through music. The music notation just follows you hand and you can thereafter listen to the melody. See the lesson on graphic vectors.

• The score view now has an additional display mode: the global view. You can select which staves to display, the effects to display, the graphic note editors, the audio instrument selection, the chords and scales,... all in a very intuitive way so as to have all needed information in the same window, without the need to open/close several windows to work some specific part of your composition. The idea is to assemble in one window all pertinent items. Moreover, you can memorize preset and call them back in one click. Imagine working the strings of an orchestra, then the volumes of instruments, tempo variations,... Then the percussion section, the brass, the audio instruments selection, the chords,... You can switch at once from one setup to the other, which speed up your work by placing all musical items at your fingertip. See the lesson on the global view.

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.2, Pizzicato Professional 3.3 has the following additional features:

• Pizzicato has been reorganized for a better compatibility with Windows Vista and Mac OS 10.5. On Mac, it is now available as a universal binary (PowerPC and Intel). It still works on Mac OS 10.3 and 10.4 as well as with Windows 98, 2000 and XP.

• Tools for the guitar have been developped. You can write on a guitar tablature. A few guitar templates have been added to the numerous templates available. The translation between a normal staff and a tablature can be done automatically. It is possible to select and display guitar chord diagrams above the staff. Tablatures and chords diagrams can be customized. A new palette is available with several symbols ready for use for the guitar notation. A guitar fretboard window helps you to view, play and write notes in a tablature, similarly to the use of the piano keyboard window. See the guitar tools.

• Harmonic spaces have been improved and numerous harmonic spaces are now ready to be explored. A powerful harmonic progression generator has been designed. With a few specification that you decide, you can find all possible chords sequences that will satisfy them. You can then explore them intuitively. See the harmonic spaces.

• A tool helps you to manage custom chords and scales so as to determine how the score arranger will create the arrangements. You can define your own scales and chords based on intervals and drag them into the score to hear the influence they have on an arrangement. See the general scales and chords.

• A new composition tool has been designed: the music vector. It is a melodic generator, based on several specifications that you decide. You can for instance draw a free graphic curve and see it become a melody when it is applied to existing scales and chords. Thousands of predefined music vectors are available in the library and can be dragged into the measures of the score to see the generated melodies. This applies as well for soloist melodies, multiple arpeggios and secondary voices for 1 to 5 instruments. They are very easy to use. Music vectors can also be created by you and form a powerful tool for music creation and experimentation. See the lesson on music vectors.

• Pizzicato Professional can export and import scores in the MusicXML file format. This format is recognized by several music software. This helps you to exchange scores with friends working with other music software. You can also find MusicXML score on the Internet. See the MusicXML files.

• An additional parameters determines if the metronome may or may not mark the intermediate beats in ternary (6/8, 9/16,...). See the metronome configuration.

• Every note can have its custom color, through the note editor dialog box. A function helps you to assign colors according to the note name, frequency or guitar fingering. See the color assignment dialog box.

• An easy function helps you to create upbeats and incomplete measures.

• Additional note heads are available.

• The measure parameters now let you block the automatic justification for one or more measures to avoid that a manually layed out measure be changed by Pizzicato. You can also define for each measure which lines of the staff are displayed, so that you can make contemporary scores where lines are for instance not always visible.

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.1, Pizzicato Professional 3.2 has the following additional features:

• A new view is used to edit the notes of a measure in a graphical way. It is the graphic editor. Each note is displayed as a small horizontal bar that may be moved, deleted or created. See the lesson on the graphic editor.

• An additional graphic option is used to display the notes according to the chord symbols. The notes of the chord are displayed in green, the notes of the scale are displayed in orange and the other notes are displayed in red. Very practical to compose a melody on given chords. See graphic options. This option is also active in the graphic editor.

• A new music composition tool has been designed: the harmonic space. It is a set of prepared chords in which you can navigate in an intuitive way to find a chord progression that fits your composition, with a real time arranger that can also be combined to music styles. See the lesson on the harmonic spaces.

• The concept of drag/drop is generalized as an intuitive composition tool. Scores with notes rhythms, instruments, effects and chords may be dragged and dropped in your score to build it or complete it, like a construction set game very easy to use. See the lesson on dragging/dropping scores.

• SO as to be able to use the drag/drop function, numerous composition libraires are found in Pizzicato: libraries with instruments, with individual instrument patterns, notes, rhythms, chords, chord progressions and other kind of musical objects. Also 35 ready to use styles as well as MIDI style importation functions that can import file styles of the Yamaha format ("*.sty" files), that you can find in quantity on the Internet. See the lessons on music libraries and the use of styles.

• The music generators are musical objects that can create series of scores on the basis of elementary music elements (notes, rhythms, chords, instruments) and a set of combinatory rules. They are a considerable source of music material, starting with the imagination of the user. See the lesson on the music generators.

• The score arranger contains a series of basic harmonisation and voice conduct rules. Starting from a chord sequence, Pizzicato helps you to arrange your score whether for two voices or for a full orchestral score. See the lesson on the score arranger.

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 3.0, Pizzicato Professional 3.1 has the following additional features:

• The possibility to use audio files together with your music scores. You may for instance add one or more voices or life instrument, recorded with a microphone. Audio WAVE files (".wav" extension) may be recorded, copied, pasted and edited with a powerful audio editor. You may also add audio files in your music score and determine the exact moment they will be played in relation to the score. See the lesson on audio tracks and on the audio editor.

• You may export an audio file from your music score into a WAVE file, exactly as you would hear Pizzicato playing it. Once you have that audio file, you may use it with your CD burning software to create an audio CD that can be played on any CD player. See the lesson on the creation of an audio file.

• A better handling of ties between notes, mainly when combined with repeat signs or when a score is played starting at a measure containing ties from a previous measure.

• Concerning the lyrics, it is possible to add a lyric extension from inside the fast encoding window ( _ sign). You may also add a minus sign "-" inside one lyric, without cuting the word automatically. A function may add the note names (C, D, E,...) inside the lyrics. The lyrics may be placed above the notes. The font, size, style and color of the lyrics may be adjusted for each staff/voice of the main system. When entering the lyrics in linear view, the measures scroll automatically. See the lesson on lyrics.

• The page setup may now use two braces or brackets for each staff, which may be needed for orchestral scores. See the lesson on the characteristics of staves.

• Several additional options are available. You may specify the default directories as well as the backup directory. See the lessons on the global options and on automatic saving.

• An option improves the page numbering feature. See the lesson on text blocks.

• Practical contextual menus have been added for the score, the sequencer and the main view, notably a paste/transpose item.

• An option has been added in the special paste function, so that merging staves may keep the voices separated. See the lesson on special paste.

• An option has been added for the German notation of chords. See the lesson on the chord library.

• The % and °//o symbols (repeat of one or two identical measures) are now really played by Pizzicato.

• The piano roll view now follows the real time playing, like the other views.

• When using different measures in the same system (for instance 3/4 for one instrument and 4/4 for another one), Pizzicato adjusts the tempo ratio for each instrument so that the durations of the measures become the same (in the preceding example, the 3/4 instrument will play in a faster tempo than the 4/4 instrument).

In comparison to Pizzicato Professional 2, Pizzicato Professional 3.0 has the following additional features:

• Improvement the Tuplets function: style, placement and stability. Specifically, the placement of a Tuplet reserves space for the notes, so that you can avoid the problem that occurs when you try to place a tuplet on the last beat of a measure. See the lesson about tuplets.

• Importation of NIFF files. This builds a bridge to music scanning and recognition softwares. Two scanning softwares are suggested to work with Pizzicato and directly import the scanning result. See the lesson on NIFF files and scanning.

• The optimisation of systems has been enhanced. You can now specify for each system which staff is visible or hidden. See the lesson on page setup.

• A specific view has been designed to graphically display the various MIDI effects produced by symbols and by data modifications (through Edit, Data modification...). The playing of symbols may be selectively activated and the volume/velocity curves may be visualized as generated by a succession of nuances, crescendo,... or simply from the MIDI file import. An eraser, a pen and a straight line may be used to visually modify the curve. You may also modify the effect of a symbol or individual accent. This is available for all effects, for each staff and several effects views may be open at the same time. See the lesson on the musical effects view.

• Repeats : by placing a negative number in a repeat box, the software stops playing after that measure (it lets you stop the score in the middle of a piece). See the lesson on repeats.

• A specific tool has been designed to add grace notes. The note contextual menu lets you add a simple, double, triple or quadruple grace note. See the lesson on grace notes.

• You may specify an octave sign to a clef so that there is an automatic transposition. See the lesson on clefs.

• It is now possible to adjust lyrics globally. It is useful when lyrics has been individually moved around and if you want to readjust them all at once. See the lesson on lyrics.

• Cross-staff beaming is now possible. Notes from a measure may be displayed into the upper or lower staff. See the lesson on cross-staff beaming.

• Individual voices may be played separately. See the lesson on the instruments view.

• The name of the Maj and min chords may be abbreviated to "M" and "m" to save place. See the lesson on chords library.

• The starting repeat bar appears now correctly after the clef, key and time signatures.

• There are new options for measure numbering. See the lesson on staff characteristics.

• An automatic saving of files may be set as well as a backup manager to automatically keeps up to 5 versions of the same document. See the lesson on saving and backups.

• A special "paste" function selects the items to copy (notes, symbols, clefs,...) and filter the rhythmic voices of a measure. This function lets you also "merge" or "explode" music into or from several staves. See the lesson on the special paste function.

• Measures may have several versions. You may add, remove and change versions of measures. See the lesson on the measure versions.

• The MIDI management has been entirely renewed and may connect up to 16 MIDI inputs/16 MIDI outputs. It is automatically configured at startup with one MIDI port and may be asked to configure all ports on demand. See the lesson on MIDI setup.

• A new set of tools have been designed to help you to compose music. The smart link tool lets you establish links between measures. It is a sort of intelligent paste and parametered transformation function. It is similar to a spreadsheet for music. See the lesson on the smart link. A new view has been designed: the conductor view. It is a musical desktop that lets you manage several scores, play them and create groups of scores to structure a music composition. See the lesson on the conductor view. An instrument becomes an object that can be used and managed on the conductor view. They offer you an easy way to handle, change and test the instruments of your composition. See the lessons on intruments. Virtual keyboards will transform your simple MIDI keyboard in a multiple keyboard that will greatly enhance your musical playing possibilities. See the lesson on virtual keyboards. Music libraries will help you start designing your own rhythmic patterns, like a structured building block construction set. You test, try and listen. No music knowledge required. See the lesson on music libraries.