Notation Composer 5 User Guide
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Introduction
What's New in Version 5
What's New in previous versions
Getting Started
About the Trial Version of Notation Composer
Using Helps Provided in the Documentation and Software
Printing This Documentation
Installing, Backing up, and Reinstalling Notation Composer
Finding and Starting Notation Composer on Your System
Setting up Your Default MIDI Playback Device
Getting Free Software Updates to Composer
Uninstalling Notation Composer
Transferring Your Composer License to a Different Machine
How to Buy Notation Composer
The Purpose of Notation Composer
Comparison Between Notation Composer and Notation Musician
Quick Start Tutorial - Basics
Tutorial: Opening a File on Your System
Tutorial: Playing the Song
Tutorial: Using a Playlist of Multiple Songs
Tutorial: Correcting the Notes and Accidentals
Tutorial: Adding Lyrics
Tutorial: Saving Your Work in a File
Tutorial: Working with Parts
Tutorial: Creating a New Song
Tutorial: Adding Notes to a New Song
Tutorial: Adding Annotations
Tutorial: Viewing and Quantizing the Performance
Quick Start Tutorial - Band-in-a-Box® Plugin
Quick Start Tutorial - GraphOverNotes
Quick Start Tutorial - BandMates
Creating, Opening, Transcribing, Printing, Playing, Practicing, and Saving Songs
Music File Formats That You Can Use in Composer
Opening a MIDI or Karaoke File Already on Your System
Opening a MusicXML File Already on Your System
Opening Multiple Files at Once
Associating Notation Composer with Compatible Filetypes
Searching for and Downloading Song Files from the Internet
Transcribing MIDI Files and Recordings to Notation
Transcription Options
Re-Transcribing a MIDI File or Recording
ReBar: Correcting the Barlines for Files Recorded Without a Metronome.
How to Determine a "Metronomeless" File
Summary of Steps for Correcting Barlines Using the Rebar Feature
Using the Rebar Tools to Correct Barlines
Creating a New Song File
Creating Your Own Song Templates
Editing the Song Title and Author Information
Saving Your Work in a Notation .not
Exporting Your Work in Other File Formats
Sharing Your Music With Others so They Can View, Play, and Print Your Songs
Backing Up Your Work with Automatic Backup
Opening a Notation .not File
Viewing Multiple Song Files at a Time
Printing the Score
Playing the Song
Playback Location and Staff Focus Markers
Starting and Stopping Playback
Fast Forwarding
Using Staff Setup To Change Instruments and Settings
Setting Up the Metronome
Jumping to or Previewing Another Location in the Song During Playback
Setting the Focus on a Staff During Playback
Anticipating Page Turns
Playing or Ignoring Repeats and Endings
Highlighting Active Notes and Lyrics
Turning Off Stuck Notes
Viewing and Adjusting the Tempo
Controlling the Overall Volume Level
Muting and Soloing Staves
Adjusting the Volume Level of Selected Staves During Playback
Using Playlists (Jukebox)
Playlists Basics
Organizing Songs in a Playlist
Playing Songs in a Playlist
Moving Playlists
Practicing Music with Accompaniment
Playing Along with Your MIDI Instrument
Setting up Practice Loops
Starting and Stopping a Practice Session
Advancing to the Next (or Previous) Rehearsal Mark
Practicing a Part While Singing or Playing a non-MIDI Instrument
Practicing a Part Using Your MIDI Keyboard or MIDI Instrument
Controlling Notation Composer from Your Music Keyboard
Navigating through Composer and the Score
Parts of the Composer Window
Customizing Colors in Composer
Selecting the Default Font for the User Interface
Showing and Hiding Parts of the Composer Window
Menus (But Not Too Much)
Toolbar
Song Time
Playback and Paging Buttons
Metronome Button
Tempo and Volume Controls
Window and Page View Buttons
Mouse Mode Buttons
Undo and Redo Buttons
Zoom-In and Zoom-Out Buttons
Palettes
Keyboard Commands (shortcuts)
Executing Commands from Your MIDI Keyboard
Window View and Page View
Staff Controls
Play, Mute or Solo Staff
Instrument Sound Selection
Select Staff
Scrolling, Resizing and Zooming the Window
Scrolling the Window
Automatic Scrolling During Playback
Resizing the Window
Zooming the Window
Navigating through Pages of the Score
Viewing a Range of Measures
First Page, Next Page, Previous Page, and Last Page
Go to a Measure or Page
Go to a Rehearsal Mark
Editing Staves and Formatting Parts
Understanding Tracks, Staves, and Parts
Editing Staves
Adding New Staves
Deleting Staves
Editing Instrument (Staff) Names
Changing the Instrument Sound of a Staff
Assigning MIDI Channels
Cloning a Staff
Merging Staves
Adjusting Per-Staff Volume Level and Left-to-Right Pan
Transposing a Staff
Splitting Staves
Splitting a Staff into Right- and Left-Hand Staves
Splitting the Drum Staff into Individual Drum Staves
Splitting a Staff into Melody and Accompaniment
Splitting Double-Played Notes from Solo Instrument
Rearranging the Order of Staves
Shifting Notes Between Staves
Preparing Parts
Automatically Creating Parts
Creating a New Part
Selecting a Part
Renaming a Part
Changing Which Staves Are Displayed in a Part
Deleting a Part
Printing Parts
Wizard for Preparing Part
Sing-Along Part
Easy Notes Part
Fake Book Lead Sheet Part
Chord Chart
Customized Part
Preparing Parts for Piano, Voirce, Drums, and Guitar
Preparing a Keyboard Part
Preparing a Piano Reduction of a Score
Preparing a Vocal Part
Preparing a Drum Part
Preparing a Guitar Part
Formatting Parts
Page Setup
Adding Page Title, Headers and Footers
Overall Font Size
Horizontal and Vertical Spacing
Font Type and Size for Types of Text and Score Annotations
Showing and Hiding Types of Music Annotations
Showing and Hiding Instrument Names
Hiding Resting (Empty) Staves
Displaying Pitch Name (Easy Note) Letters in Noteheads
Formatting a Part Using a Template
Copying the Format of a Part to Other Parts
Laying out Pages of a Part
Tip: Postpone Doing Page Layout
Changing Font Size in Layout View
Changing Horizontal Spacing in Layout View
Specifying the Number of Bars Per Line
Forcing a System Break or Page Break
Moving a Measure to the Previous System
Moving a System to the Previous Page
Moving Barlines Within a System
Changing Vertical Spacing Between Staves and Systems
Freezing Line Breaks and Page Breaks for Entire Part
Restoring Default Pagination
Editing the Music Notation
Basic Editing Procedures
General Method for Adding, Changing, and Deleting Objects
Adding Objects Using Palettes
Selecting One or More Objects Before Editing Them
Changing Object Properties Using Palettes
Selecting and Editing Regions of a Score
Using the Clipboard
Copy, Cut, and Paste
Clearing a Region of the Score
Creating a New Song from the Clipboard
Undoing Editing Operations
Recovering Interrupted Song File Editing
Editing Measures
Inserting and Adding Measures
Deleting Measures
Splitting Measures
Joining Measures
Creating Upbeat Measures
Shifting Barlines
Editing Measure Numbers
Adding Notes
Adding Notes with the Mouse
Adding Notes with Mouse by Choosing Durations from the Note Palette
Adding Notes with the Virtual Piano Keyboard
Selecting the Note Duration
Using the Beat Ruler
Adding Notes Using the Sequential Note Entry Mode
Specifying the Stem Direction (Voice)
Determining the Pitch of a New Note
Determining the Loudness of a New Note
Adding Notes Using Only Your Computer Keyboard
Adding Notes Using Your Music (MIDI) or Virtual Keyboard
Recording Your Performance at MIDI Keyboard to Enter Notes
Adding Notes Using Step-Time Recording Mode
Using Step-Time Recording and Sequential Note Entry Modes Together
Selecting, Editing and Deleting Notes
Alternative Methods for Selecting Notes
Selecting Notes and Advancing to the Next or Previous Note
Automatically Playing Notes When Selected
Deleting Notes
Removing Silent Notes
Editing Note Pitch
8va Octaves
Editing Note Accidental (Sharp, Flat, etc.)
Editing the Rhythms of Notes
Editing Note Location (Attack)
Editing Note Duration
Editing Triplets and Quintuplets
Editing Swing Notation
Combining Separate Notes into Chords
Editing Accent Marks
Editing Beams
Editing Ties
Editing the Note Voice (Stem Direction)
Editing Drum Notes
Editing Notehead Shape
Transposing Notes
Transposing Actual Pitches
Transposing to the Key of an Instrument
Doubling and Scaling Note Durations
Editing Rests
Deleting Rests to Extend the Duration of Previous Notes
Dividing and Combining Rests
Changing the Voice of a Rest
Using Rests to Erase Notes
Eliminating Small Rests
Using Multiple Measure Rests
Hiding Rests
Editing Grace Notes
Understanding the Two Types of Grace Notes
Adding Grace Notes
Viewing Grace Notes as Written-Out Notes
Editing the Slash on Grace Note Stems
Converting Short Notes to Grace Notes
Editing the Timing of Grace Notes
Reverting Grace Notes to Written-Out Notes
Editing Ornaments
Adding Ornaments
Converting Written-Out Performances to Ornaments
Reverting Ornaments to Written-Out Notes
Deleting an Ornament
Viewing and Editing the Written-Out Performance of Ornaments
Editing and Transcribing Trills
Editing Turns
Editing Mordents
Editing Arpeggios
Editing and Transcribing Tremolos
Editing Staff Symbols
Brackets and Braces
Clefs
Key Signatures
Meters (Time Signatures)
Barlines
Repetition Marks
Barline Repeat Marks
Endings
D.S. and Other Go-To Marks
Repeat Instructions for Performances
Editing Music Annotations
Accents and Articulations
Dynamic Marks
Hairpin Crescendo Marks
Special Symbols
Slurs (Phrase Marks)
Adding Slurs
Deleting a Slur
Changing the Shape and Extent of a Slur
Lines and Glissandos
Adding Lines and Glissandos
Deleting a Line or Glissando
Changing the Extent or Angle of a Line or Glissando
Sustain Pedal Marks
Converting Pedal Performance to Pedal Marks
Converting Pedal Marks to Pedal Performance
Editing Types of Text
General Procedures for Editing Text
Adding Text
Editing Text
Deleting Text
Selecting Font Type, Size, and Properties
Moving a Text Object
Copying and Pasting Text
Showing and Hiding Types of Text
Adding International Characters in Text
Lyrics
Adding and Editing Lyrics
Advancing to the Next (or Previous) Lyric
Adding and Editing Multiple Verses
Lyric Hyphen and Melisma Characters
Copying and Pasting Lyrics
Correcting the Misalignment of Lyrics with Notes
Editing Lyrics Using an External Text Editor
Working with Karaoke (.kar) Files
Hiding Lyrics
Free Text
Adding and Editing Free Text
Mixing Music Symbols and Normal Text
Vertically Aligning Free Text
Page Text
Adding and Editing Page Text
Determining What Pages Show the Page Text
Aligning Page Text
Standard Page Text Such as Page Number
Specifying Page Text in Templates
Chord Names
Adding and Editing Chord Names
Analyzing (Transcribing) Chord Names
Advancing to the Next (or Previous) Beat While Editing Chord Names
Shifting Chord Names to the Right or Left
Formatting Chord Names
Temporarily Hiding or Permanently Removing Chord Names
Transposing Chord Names
Rehearsal Marks
Adding and Editing Rehearsal Marks
Using Rehearsal Marks as Editing Bookmarks
Using Rehearsal Marks for Practicing Music
Recording from a Music Keyboard
Setting Up Your Music Keyboard
Recording in Step-Time
Setting the Tempo for Real-Time Recording with a Metronome
Setting Up Pickup Beats
Recording Without the Metronome
Setting the Instrument Sound for Recording
Setting Up Transcription Options for Recording
Starting and Ending the First Recording (Using the Metronome)
Recording Into a Selected Region (Punch-In)
Recording from a Keyboard with Two Hands
Recording Multiple Alternative Takes
Recovering an Interrupted Recording
Editing Only the Notation or Performance of Recorded Notes
Cleaning up the Performance and/or Notation after a Recording
Recording MIDI events
Viewing and Editing the Music Performance
Viewing and Editing the Performance of Notes
Viewing and Editing the Attack and Release of Notes
Understanding Piano Roll Notation
Viewing Piano Roll Notation While Annotating a Score
Using the Piano Roll Palette
Displaying As-Performed Attack and Release Offset Data
Editing As-Performed Attack Location and Duration
Quantizing the Performance of Notes
Changing Only the As-Notated Location and Duration
Saving and Applying Note Duration Adjustments
Viewing and Editing the Loudness of Notes
Viewing the Loudness of Notes While Annotating the Score
Editing the Loudness of Notes
Filtering Notes Based on Notation
Inserting a Sound Change in the Middle of a Staff
Viewing and Editing Graphs of the Musical Performance
Tutorial on Graphical Music Editing
Tempo
Editing the Tempo Graphically
Applying a Constant Tempo, Accelerando, or Decelerando
Per-Staff Channel Volume Level
Left-to-Right Pan
Note Pitch Bend
Sustain Pedal Control
MIDI Controller Data
Configuring Your Sound Card and MIDI Equipment
Notation Software Internal Synthesizer
Quick MIDI Device Setup
What To Do If You Hear Static or Crackling
What To Do If You Do Not Hear Any Sound
What To Do If Recording or Play-Along Does Not Work
Procedures for Common MIDI Configuration Tasks
Assigning Device Names That Make Better Sense to You
Changing the Default Playback Device
Installing a USB or MIDI Cable Between Your Soundcard and Keyboard
Adding a New MIDI Instrument to Your Configuration
Deciding Whether or Not Your Keyboard Should Directly Produce Sound
Procedures for Advanced MIDI Configuration Tasks
Installing a Software Synthesizer or Sound Library
Preparing Bank, Patch, and Drum Note Names for a MIDI Device
Adjusting for the Delay of Some MIDI Output Devices
Configuring a New External MIDI Output Device
How to Handle Devices Connected with MIDI Thru Cables
How to Save Effort if You Rearrange Your MIDI Equipment Often
Using the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Understanding the Details of the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Understanding Ports and Devices in the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Common MIDI Device Configurations
Play-along or Recording Indicator in the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Menus in the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Testing Playback and Play-along Devices
Managing MIDI Ports
Connecting and Disconnecting Devices from an External Port
Specifying Whether a Port Is Internal or External
Managing MIDI Devices
Importing from a MIDI Device Description (.mdd) File
Importing from a Cakewalk Instrument Description (.ins) File
Adding an External Device
Removing a Device
Renaming a Device
Specifying Properties of a Device
Specifying the Default MIDI Output Device
Specifying a General MIDI (GM) Device
Tuning a Device to Specific MIDI Channels
Exporting to a MIDI Device Description (.mdd) File
Assigning Bank, Patch, and Drum Note Names to a MIDI Device
Assigning a Bank to a MIDI Device
Removing a Bank from a MIDI Device
Assigning Patch Names for a MIDI Device or Bank of a Device
Managing Drum Note Lists
Managing Alternative MIDI Device Configurations
Configuring Missing MIDI Devices
Saving a Configuration
Selecting a Configuration
Creating a New Configuration
Re-Initializing a Configuration
Cloning a Configuration
Renaming a Configuration
Deleting a Configuration
Restoring A Configuration
Configuring BandMates
BandMates Casting and Network Requirements
BandMates Parts and Assigning Screens
Configuring RealTime Audio (Advanced)
Audio driver management
JACK and Carla first-time setup
Carla management
Sound Design management
JACK interface and Manual Setup
Advanced Reverb and Chorus for Realtime Audio
VST Resources
Notation VST and Performance Recorder
Using the Band-in-a-Box Plugin
Appendices
Appendix A: Notation Composer Keyboard Shortcuts
Appendix B: What is MIDI?
Appendix C: Technical Support
Appendix D: Notation Composer License Agreement
Appendix E: 3rd Party Libraries and Acknowledgements
© 2025 Notation Software Germany GmbH