Let us notice that you can create a symbol which is only graphic and which does not influence the performance. Conversely, you can create a symbol which is graphically invisible on the score but which produces a sound effect in Midi.

You will find most of the current symbols in the original tool palettes, as well as a large variety of symbols to control the synthesizer sound effects.

Most of the users will find in the current symbols all they need to create their scores with sound effects. They can largely exploit and in multiple manners the provided original symbols.

The most creative and adventurous users will however find limits to these symbols. They will want to be able to create new symbols or to modify the existing ones so that they are better suited to their creativity. The system explained in this lesson and the following will help them to create the most various symbols, as well on the graphic level of the score as in the Midi universe.

Tools palettes [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Pro]

• Start Pizzicato and open the Main Palette. Notice first that a palette can be resized. Its original form is the following:

If you move the right bottom corner of this window, Pizzicato progressively adjusts the shape of the palette. By dragging this corner to the top and to the right, you will be able to get respectively:

You can adjust them to make your screen more user-friendly. The shape of the palette is memorized with its position when you close it. When you open the palette again, it keeps its position and form.

• With the right mouse button (Option-click on Mac), click on one of the tools. A menu appears:

The upper part is addressed to the palette while the lower part relates to the tool you clicked. Select the Palette properties item. The following dialog box appears:

The palette title can be modified. This title appears in the title bar of the window, but also in the Tools menu.

Just below, a popup menu select the tool size of this palette. Eight standard sizes are provided. Click OK.

The choice Delete this palette… is used to erase this palette completely. A dialog box asks you to confirm . Do not erase this palette, because it contains the main working tools. If you do a wrong operation on palettes, just reinstall the program and the original palettes will be restored.

The tools contained in the Main palettes and the Notes and rests contain the Pizzicato working tools. The graphic and MIDI symbols are in the following pallets.

• Open the Main symbols palette. This palette has larger boxes. It contains the most common symbols found in a score. With the right mouse button, click one of this palette tools. The following menu appears:

An additional menu is present in the graphic and Midi symbols: Edit tool… It is with it that you can modify and create new symbols and determine all their characteristics. The basic tools of Pizzicato (notes, rests, keys, measure tools…) have a fixed behavior in Pizzicato and do not contain this menu item.

Creating a new palette [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Pro]

The Tools menu contains all the original palettes provided with Pizzicato. You can create new palettes to add at the end of this menu. For this lesson and the following, we will create a new palette to illustrate what you can do with these palettes and tools.

• In the Tools menu, select the New palette item. A small empty palette appears:

• With the right mouse button, click this palette and select the Palette properties... item. The following dialog box appears:

• Modify its name to Test palette and click OK.

Consult the Tools menu and you will see that this pallet has been added at the end of the list. It does not contain any tool yet, although its size is ready for one tool.

You can move and duplicate tools from one palette to another. This lets you create a personal palette grouping the tools you use the most. To do that, hold down the CTRL key (Control) and click for example on the arrow tool from the main palette and drag it towards the palette you just created. When you release this tool on the new palette, the following dialog box appears:

Three actions are possible:

• Move tool: allows you to insert the tool in another palette. The tool is put in the new palette but it disappears from the original palette.
• Duplicate tool: in this case, the tool is copied in the new palette while remaining available in the original palette. In the case of a graphic symbol, the tool is really duplicated. You can then modify the new symbol without modifying the original one. Remember this difference. When you wish to modify a symbol of the original library, (for example to create a Forte symbol a little more loudly than the original), we advise you to duplicate the tool and to modify the duplicate in order not to modify the original. Modifying an original symbol implies that all documents previously created with Pizzicato will be affected if they use this symbol. Respecting the original symbols establish a standard format for a future version of Pizzicato, which will enable the exchange of documents and create libraries of compatible Pizzicato documents.
• Delete tool: you can erase a tool. In this case, the tool disappears from the original palette and it is lost.

Click on the second choice. The new pallet is now displayed as follows:

• Similarly, respectively drag the following tools, from the main palette to the new palette (while holding down the CTRL key):

• Then, drag the following tools, from the symbols palette to the new palette:

The new palette looks like this now:

The exact order of the tools depends on the location where you dragged the tools into the palette. When you drag a new tool, it replaces the one on which you put it and shifts the other. The positioning order of the tools in the palette is done as follows:

• The first tool is the one located at the top left position
• The following is the one located just below
• When there is no more place below, one starts again a new column just to the right

Modify the shape of the pallet to obtain for example:

If you wish to modify the order of the tools in a palette, take a tool and drag it to its new position. Take for example the tool and drag it to the top left corner. In the dialog box which appears, keep the Move tool option. You get:

The other tools were shifted according to the rules stated above.

We can now create and remove palettes, move/delete and duplicate tools. We will see in the next lessons how to create and modify graphic tools, as well as all their characteristics (graphics, MIDI aspects, keyboard shortcut,…).

Importing the tools created with a previous version of Pizzicato [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Pro]

For the users of a previous Pizzicato version, if you created your personal symbols, you may import them in Pizzicato 3. To do this, select the Import tools... item of the Options menu. A file open dialog appears. Go to the folder of the old Pizzicato version and open the Misc or DataEN / prefs folder. A file named Tool.def appears. Click on it and then click on Open. Then it asks you to open a file named Tool.pal. Pizzicato imports the symbols and palettes you had created.

Professional

Notation

Composition Pro