Music Software User Guide - "Pizzicato Beginner"

7/27/2019 Music Software User Guide - "Pizzicato Beginner"

1/354

Pizzicato

Beginner Version

Full Printable Documentation - Version 3.6 for Windows & Mac OS X


2/354

Pizzicato 3.6 Pizzicato Beginner User Manual Page

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table of contents

Table of contents.....................................................................................................................................................2

Introduction To Pizzicato......................................................................................................................................10

Versions of Pizzicato.........................................................................................................................................10

The user manual of Pizzicato............................................................................................................................11

Goals of Pizzicato..............................................................................................................................................12

The mouse.............................................................................................................................................................13

What is the mouse?............................................................................................................................................13

Buttons of the mouse.........................................................................................................................................13

Pointing ............................................................................................................................................................14

Clicking ............................................................................................................................................................14

Double-clicking ................................................................................................................................................14

Clicking/dragging..............................................................................................................................................14

Installing Pizzicato................................................................................................................................................15Installing Pizzicato............................................................................................................................................15

Starting Pizzicato...............................................................................................................................................16

License registration...........................................................................................................................................16

Exit Pizzicato.....................................................................................................................................................17

The computer and its interface (1)........................................................................................................................17

What is a computer?..........................................................................................................................................17

Communicating with a computer......................................................................................................................18

The screen and windows...................................................................................................................................18

Menus................................................................................................................................................................23

Dialog boxes......................................................................................................................................................25

The computer and its interface (2)........................................................................................................................26Buttons...............................................................................................................................................................26

Check boxes......................................................................................................................................................26

Radio buttons.....................................................................................................................................................27

Popup menus.....................................................................................................................................................27

Scroll bars..........................................................................................................................................................28

Sliders................................................................................................................................................................29

Lists...................................................................................................................................................................29

The computer and its interface (3)........................................................................................................................30

Using the keyboard............................................................................................................................................30

Text boxes.........................................................................................................................................................31

Using help..............................................................................................................................................................34What is help?.....................................................................................................................................................34

The help menu...................................................................................................................................................34

How to use help?...............................................................................................................................................34

Reaching contextual help..................................................................................................................................35

What's new in version 3.6......................................................................................................................................36

Pizzicato Beginner 3.6.......................................................................................................................................36

8 new Pizzicato versions in 3.6.........................................................................................................................39

MIDI Setup............................................................................................................................................................40

What is MIDI?...................................................................................................................................................40

MIDI configuration...........................................................................................................................................42

Select a synthesizer...........................................................................................................................................45

Introduction to the music course...........................................................................................................................46

The purpose of this course.................................................................................................................................46

Material needed.................................................................................................................................................46

How to use this course?.....................................................................................................................................47

2


3/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Music notation.......................................................................................................................................................48

What is music?..................................................................................................................................................48

Characteristics of a sound..................................................................................................................................48

Music notation...................................................................................................................................................49

The staff.............................................................................................................................................................50

The measure......................................................................................................................................................51

Summary...........................................................................................................................................................52Handling documents and windows (1)..................................................................................................................52

What is a document?.........................................................................................................................................53

The document manager.....................................................................................................................................53

Opening and creation of a document.................................................................................................................55

Musical notation examples....................................................................................................................................56

Note pitch - example.........................................................................................................................................56

What is a clef?...................................................................................................................................................57

Note duration - example....................................................................................................................................58

Instrument timbre - example.............................................................................................................................58

Note amplitude - example.................................................................................................................................59

Handling documents and windows (2)..................................................................................................................59Handling musical documents............................................................................................................................59

The various Pizzicato windows.........................................................................................................................60

The score view and the global view..................................................................................................................60

The instruments view........................................................................................................................................60

The sequencer view...........................................................................................................................................61

The piano roll view............................................................................................................................................62

The graphic view...............................................................................................................................................63

The musical effects view...................................................................................................................................64

Association of a comment.................................................................................................................................64

The scrolling score view....................................................................................................................................65

The lyrics window.............................................................................................................................................66

The chord progression window.........................................................................................................................66

Measures and staves (1)........................................................................................................................................66

The measures and staves tool............................................................................................................................66

Adding and deleting measures and staves.........................................................................................................67

The linear mode.................................................................................................................................................70

Creating a score in linear mode.........................................................................................................................71

Measures and staves (2)........................................................................................................................................73

How to move a staff?.........................................................................................................................................73

How to modify the width of a measure?...........................................................................................................74

Notes and rests.......................................................................................................................................................75The name and position of notes.........................................................................................................................75

Rhythmic values of notes..................................................................................................................................77

Rests..................................................................................................................................................................80

Summary...........................................................................................................................................................82

Introduction of notes and rests (1).........................................................................................................................82

How to introduce notes and rests?.....................................................................................................................82

How to delete a note or a rest?..........................................................................................................................83

How to move a note or a rest?...........................................................................................................................84

How to select tools with the keyboard?.............................................................................................................84

Automatic justification......................................................................................................................................85

Characteristics of music notation (1).....................................................................................................................86Note stems.........................................................................................................................................................86

Beams................................................................................................................................................................86

More than one rhythmic voice...........................................................................................................................87

Introduction of notes and rests (2).........................................................................................................................88

3


4/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to modify the stems orientation?..............................................................................................................88

How to modify the beams?................................................................................................................................89

Characteristics of music notation (2).....................................................................................................................90

Chords...............................................................................................................................................................90

Dotted notes and rests........................................................................................................................................91

Ties....................................................................................................................................................................92

Introduction of notes and rests (3).........................................................................................................................93Introducing chords.............................................................................................................................................94

Dotted notes and rests........................................................................................................................................95

The scale and the accidentals................................................................................................................................96

The scale and the musical keyboard..................................................................................................................96

Tones and half tones..........................................................................................................................................97

The sharp and the flat........................................................................................................................................98

The natural.........................................................................................................................................................99

The double sharp and the double flat..............................................................................................................100

Introduction of notes and rests (4).......................................................................................................................100

Placement of accidentals.................................................................................................................................100

Position of an accidental..................................................................................................................................101Ties..................................................................................................................................................................102

Adjustment of the stem length.........................................................................................................................103

Rhythmic voices..............................................................................................................................................104

Entering notes with a music keyboard................................................................................................................105

The keyboard window.....................................................................................................................................105

How you can introduce notes with the keyboard?..........................................................................................107

The music typing keyboard.................................................................................................................................110

Entering music faster.......................................................................................................................................110

Notes and rhythm............................................................................................................................................111

Other aspects of entering music......................................................................................................................113

Additional functions........................................................................................................................................115

Tuplets.................................................................................................................................................................116

Triplets.............................................................................................................................................................117

Introduction of notes and rests (5).......................................................................................................................118

Adding triplets and tuplets..............................................................................................................................118

The enharmonic tool........................................................................................................................................121

Using the arrow tool............................................................................................................................................122

Using the arrow tool........................................................................................................................................122

Deleting with the arrow tool............................................................................................................................123

Optimal use of tools........................................................................................................................................123

Graphic note entry tool on the staff.....................................................................................................................124Intuitive chords entry.......................................................................................................................................126

Viewing note colors according to chords........................................................................................................129

Using clefs...........................................................................................................................................................129

Octaves numbering..........................................................................................................................................129

Using the bass clef...........................................................................................................................................130

The instrument range.......................................................................................................................................130

Other clefs.......................................................................................................................................................131

Writing conventions........................................................................................................................................132

Using clefs...........................................................................................................................................................132

Changing the clef.............................................................................................................................................132

Clef characteristics..........................................................................................................................................133Characteristics of music notation (3)...................................................................................................................135

Braces and groups of staves............................................................................................................................135

Measure numbering and rehearsal marks........................................................................................................136

Special staves..................................................................................................................................................136

4


5/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Characteristics of staves......................................................................................................................................137

Changing the staff names................................................................................................................................137

Characteristics of staves..................................................................................................................................138

Braces and brackets.........................................................................................................................................140

Measure numbers............................................................................................................................................140

The document manager.......................................................................................................................................142

Customizing the displayed folders..................................................................................................................143Files and folders operations.............................................................................................................................144

Using templates...................................................................................................................................................145

What is a template?.........................................................................................................................................145

Pizzicato Beginner...........................................................................................................................................145

Automatic saving and backup.............................................................................................................................146

Automatic saving.............................................................................................................................................146

Automatic backups..........................................................................................................................................147

Restoring a backup..........................................................................................................................................148

The time signature...............................................................................................................................................148

Using time signature........................................................................................................................................148

Composite time signature................................................................................................................................149Conventions and examples..............................................................................................................................149

Changing the time signature................................................................................................................................150

Changing the rhythmic content of a measure..................................................................................................150

Up beat and incomplete measures...................................................................................................................152

Key signatures.....................................................................................................................................................152

The major scale of C.......................................................................................................................................152

Tonality...........................................................................................................................................................153

The major scales..............................................................................................................................................153

The minor scales..............................................................................................................................................156

Arbitrary key signatures..................................................................................................................................157

Using key signatures...........................................................................................................................................157

Selecting a key signature.................................................................................................................................157

Changing the key signature during a music work...........................................................................................159

Exercises..........................................................................................................................................................160

Selecting measures..............................................................................................................................................161

What is a selection?.........................................................................................................................................161

Copy and paste................................................................................................................................................161

Selecting several measures..............................................................................................................................163

Partial selection of measures...........................................................................................................................165

Working in the sequencer and main views..........................................................................................................167

Selecting measures..........................................................................................................................................167Adding/deleting measures and staves..............................................................................................................169

MIDI....................................................................................................................................................................170

The purpose of MIDI.......................................................................................................................................170

MIDI messages................................................................................................................................................170

MIDI channels.................................................................................................................................................171

The instruments view..........................................................................................................................................172

The instruments view......................................................................................................................................172

Elements of the instruments view...................................................................................................................173

Modifying the staves order..............................................................................................................................180

The scrolling score view......................................................................................................................................180

The scrolling score view..................................................................................................................................180Control of the scrolling score view.................................................................................................................181

How could you learn playing the keyboard ?..................................................................................................182

Global options and graphic copy.........................................................................................................................182

Basic global options........................................................................................................................................182

5


6/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Graphic copy...................................................................................................................................................183

Additional options...........................................................................................................................................184

Real time recording (1)........................................................................................................................................185

Real time recording.........................................................................................................................................185

The recorder and its options............................................................................................................................186

Start recording from the musical keyboard.....................................................................................................188

MIDI play options...........................................................................................................................................189Real time recording (2)........................................................................................................................................190

Tracks and staves.............................................................................................................................................191

Transcription...................................................................................................................................................191

Quantization....................................................................................................................................................195

Recording multiple voices - Correcting the notes...........................................................................................197

Transposition.......................................................................................................................................................199

Transposition...................................................................................................................................................199

Intervals...........................................................................................................................................................199

Diatonic and chromatic transposition..............................................................................................................201

Transposing and justifying measures..................................................................................................................201

Transposing measures.....................................................................................................................................202Justifying measures.........................................................................................................................................203

Justification options.........................................................................................................................................204

Page layout..........................................................................................................................................................207

What is page layout?.......................................................................................................................................207

Page setup structure in Pizzicato.....................................................................................................................207

Page layout dialog box....................................................................................................................................209

Page contextual menu......................................................................................................................................213

Modifying the layout of measures and systems..............................................................................................215

Printing the score.............................................................................................................................................216

Measures versions...............................................................................................................................................216

Measures versions...........................................................................................................................................217

Duplicate / delete a version.............................................................................................................................218

The main symbols...............................................................................................................................................218

Why add symbols?..........................................................................................................................................219

Nuances...........................................................................................................................................................219

Tempo markings..............................................................................................................................................220

Ornament.........................................................................................................................................................220

Other various symbols ....................................................................................................................................220

Graphic and MIDI symbols.................................................................................................................................222

Palettes, tools and symbols..............................................................................................................................222

Adding a symbol in the score..........................................................................................................................222Erasing a symbol.............................................................................................................................................224

Moving or resizing a symbol...........................................................................................................................224

The text tool.........................................................................................................................................................226

Creation of a text block...................................................................................................................................226

Moving, modifying and erasing a text block...................................................................................................228

Adding a title / Page numbers.........................................................................................................................229

Bar lines and repeats............................................................................................................................................231

The various bar lines.......................................................................................................................................231

Repeats............................................................................................................................................................231

Other repeat signs............................................................................................................................................232

Bar lines and repeats............................................................................................................................................233Modifying bar lines.........................................................................................................................................233

Simulation of repeats.......................................................................................................................................234

Lyrics...................................................................................................................................................................236

Introduction of lyrics in the score....................................................................................................................236

6


7/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Connecting or extending syllables..................................................................................................................237

Adjusting the position of lyrics lines - Note names........................................................................................238

The lyrics fast encoding window.....................................................................................................................239

The chords library...............................................................................................................................................241

Consulting the library......................................................................................................................................241

Modifying the symbols....................................................................................................................................242

The chord tool.....................................................................................................................................................242Adding, moving and erasing chords on the score...........................................................................................243

Adjusting chords globally...............................................................................................................................244

Converting chords into notes...........................................................................................................................245

The chords progression window..........................................................................................................................246

Fast encoding and visualization of chords......................................................................................................246

The use of rhythmic voices and colors................................................................................................................249

Rhythmic voices..............................................................................................................................................249

Using rhythmic voices.....................................................................................................................................249

Using colors.....................................................................................................................................................250

The guitar tools....................................................................................................................................................251

Principles of fretted instruments......................................................................................................................252The guitar fretboard window...........................................................................................................................252

Tablatures........................................................................................................................................................253

Using tablatures...............................................................................................................................................254

Tablature parameters.......................................................................................................................................255

Chords diagrams..............................................................................................................................................257

The diagrams library.......................................................................................................................................259

The tablatures library.......................................................................................................................................262

Graphic options and automatisms.......................................................................................................................263

Graphic options...............................................................................................................................................263

Automatisms....................................................................................................................................................265

Reading and writing Midi files............................................................................................................................266

The Midi file....................................................................................................................................................266

Exporting a Midi file.......................................................................................................................................267

Importing a Midi file.......................................................................................................................................267

MusicXML, NIFF and PDF files........................................................................................................................268

Export a score in MusicXML..........................................................................................................................269

Export to PDF..................................................................................................................................................269

Contextual menus and MIDI data modification..................................................................................................269

Contextual menu of a note...............................................................................................................................269

Contextual menu of a measures selection.......................................................................................................271

Modification of MIDI data..............................................................................................................................272The musical effects view.....................................................................................................................................273

Musical effects................................................................................................................................................273

The musical effects view.................................................................................................................................275

Modifying the symbol effects..........................................................................................................................277

Creating free musical effects...........................................................................................................................278

The graphic editor...............................................................................................................................................279

The graphic note editor view...........................................................................................................................279

The use of colours...........................................................................................................................................282

The global view...................................................................................................................................................284

How to open the global view?.........................................................................................................................284

The main header bar........................................................................................................................................285The staff header bar.........................................................................................................................................290

Modifying a symbol locally................................................................................................................................294

Local modifications.........................................................................................................................................294

Examples of local modifications.....................................................................................................................296

7


8/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learning the musical keyboard...........................................................................................................................297

How to learn the keyboard with Pizzicato?.....................................................................................................297

Organizing the screen......................................................................................................................................298

Progressive exercises generator.......................................................................................................................299

Listening to the exercise and learning how to play it......................................................................................301

Fingering.........................................................................................................................................................301

Sounds.............................................................................................................................................................302Learning progression.......................................................................................................................................303

Learning to play with an accompaniment.......................................................................................................304

Composition tools - The smart link.....................................................................................................................305

The composition tools.....................................................................................................................................305

The smart link..................................................................................................................................................306

Note parameters...............................................................................................................................................310

Rhythm parameters..........................................................................................................................................311

Chords influence..............................................................................................................................................312

Application example........................................................................................................................................312

Adding smart link templates............................................................................................................................315

Audio tracks........................................................................................................................................................317Audio or MIDI?...............................................................................................................................................318

What is an audio track?...................................................................................................................................319

Adding an audio track.....................................................................................................................................319

Audio setup......................................................................................................................................................320

Using an ASIO driver......................................................................................................................................321

Creating an audio file..........................................................................................................................................322

Export a score to an audio file.........................................................................................................................322

The audio editor...................................................................................................................................................325

Accessing the audio editor..............................................................................................................................325

The various parts of the audio window...........................................................................................................326

Specifying the file area to play........................................................................................................................327

Selecting the working area..............................................................................................................................328

Modifying the selected area............................................................................................................................328

Zooming..........................................................................................................................................................332

File operations.................................................................................................................................................333

Recording an audio file...................................................................................................................................334

Modifying the wave directly...........................................................................................................................335

Miscellaneous options of the editor.................................................................................................................336

The virtual instruments........................................................................................................................................337

What is a virtual instrument?...........................................................................................................................337

Using the virtual instruments..........................................................................................................................337The audio/Midi/Score window............................................................................................................................339

The purpose of the audio/midi/score window.................................................................................................340

Audio conversion - Example 1 - Guitar..........................................................................................................340

Audio conversion - Example 2 - Guitar..........................................................................................................346

Audio conversion - Example 3 - Flute............................................................................................................347

Audio conversion - Example 4 - Piano...........................................................................................................349

Audio conversion - Example 5 - Polyphony...................................................................................................349

Importing a MIDI file......................................................................................................................................351

Selection of an audio or MIDI section............................................................................................................352

Conversion parameters....................................................................................................................................353

8


9/354


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright 1992-2011ARPEGE-MUSIC

All right reserved.

29, rue de lEnseignement4800 Verviers - Belgium

9


10/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction To Pizzicato

Versions of Pizzicato

The user manual of Pizzicato

Goals of Pizzicato

Versions of Pizzicato

We thank you for buying Pizzicato and we wish you welcome in its new musical universe.

Pizzicato 3.6 is oriented around eleven versions. Pizzicato Professional contains every function you can find inthis manual. The other 10 versions contain only a specific set of these functions, oriented around a more specificuse of Pizzicato. Here is a short description of each version.

Pizzicato Light

It is a basic version making it possible to learn music, make exercises, write small scores (1 or 2pages) and use basic MIDI and audio recording features. You may also start to learn musiccomposition and the musical keyboard.

Pizzicato Beginner

It is basically a general score editor, up to 16 staves (instruments). It comprises more functionalitiesthan Pizzicato Light, like the fast encoding of lyrics and chords, MIDI functions, the global editing

view,.... It also contains the music course.

Pizzicato Professional

Contains a multitude of additional functions and possibilities, compared to the Beginner version.Among others, it contains a whole set of innovative and intuitive tools to help compose your ownmusic. It opens the door of music composition to everyone, even with little or no music knowledge.

The tools and options of this version give you a very powerful score editor as well as many tools torefine the interpretation of a score in MIDI, as well as many tools to practise music composition.

Pizzicato Notation

This is the full featured music notation version. It contains all the tools of Pizzicato Professionaloriented toward music notation.

Pizzicato Composition Light

This low cost version, as well as the next one, are designed specifically around music composition.Contains many tools to help the beginner to start composing his own music.

Pizzicato Composition Pro

Contains all the advanced intuitive composition tools of Pizzicato Professional. You can export yourcomposition as a MIDI file, a musicXML file or audio file, to be used by any other music notationor sequencer program.

Pizzicato Drums and Percussion

This low cost version is designed specifically for music notation of drums and percussioninstruments. Print and hear your drums and percussion scores.

Pizzicato Guitar

This low cost version is designed specifically for music notation of guitar. Print and hear your guitarscores, including tablatures and guitar chords diagrams.

10


11/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pizzicato Choir

This low cost version is designed specifically for music notation for the choir. Print and hear yourchoir sheet music, including lyrics.

Pizzicato Keyboard

This low cost version is designed specifically for music notation for the keyboard. Print and hearyour keyboard sheet music, including cross-staff beaming and many advanced keyboard notationfeatures.

Pizzicato Soloist

This low cost version is designed specifically for music notation for one staff. Print and hear yoursolo sheet music, including lyrics and chords. Fits any solo instrument written on one staff.

These versions are used under license, when you buy one of these versions of Pizzicato. These versions alsoexist in evaluation and shareware and they may be used free of charge. Here are their limitations, compared tothe licensed versions.

Pizzicato Shareware versionFree version of Pizzicato Light, during one month, starting with the installation of the program on acomputer. This version has all the features of Pizzicato Light. It nevertheless prints the scores with aPizzicato mosaic background. This version follows the guide lines of Shareware software andimplies that if the user wants to continue using it after the first month, he must buy the user license.

With this version, you may save audio files that are not longer than one minute. It does not containthe sound library.

Pizzicato - Evaluation versions of the other 10 Pizzicato versions

Does not allow to save your work, nor to export it in MIDI, audio, graphic or musicXML

Does not allow to print Does not contain the sound library

Does not permit chord finding for harmonization (if applicable).

When you install Pizzicato on your computer, whether from a DVD or after downloading it from the Internet,all versions are installed at the same time. In other words, these multiple versions are in fact the same software.

All free version may be used. You can switch from on version to the other through the Program version /Updates... itemof the Optionsmenu or directly through the Working modemenu of the Optionsmenu.

This can help you to try out any of the version. You may buy multiple licenses (for instance, Pizzicato Guitarand Pizzicato Drums) and by registering these two licenses, you will then be able to work with these two

licensed versions, as well as with the other 9 free evaluation versions.By installing the evaluation version, you can use it also as a reader for Pizzicato documents. If someone sendsyou a Pizzicato file, you can download the evaluation version for free and if you do not modify the document,you can print it, export to MIDI, audio or musicXML.

The user manual of Pizzicato

The instruction manual is designed as a progressive approach of music, computers and Pizzicato. It is dividedinto a series of lessons each one treating a particular subject. Most of these lessons are made of a succession ofpractical steps that you are asked to perform with Pizzicato. The attention is laid on a balance between practice

and theory.Each lesson covers music, computer or the use of Pizzicato. The tables of content contain the references of eachlesson. These divisions of the manual enable you to easily adapt your reading to your knowledge level. Theprofessional musician will skip the music lessons and the well-informed in computer will skip the pages relatedto the computer.

11


12/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a general way, the lessons follow a progressive order. If you want to have a total control of Pizzicato, weadvise you to study them in the exact sequence. If you are initially only interested by certain subjects of Pizzicato(music learning, score editor, Midi sequencer, composing or accompaniment), you can skip the lessons specificto the other fields. The introduction of a lesson shows each time the subjects covered and helps you estimate ifthe lesson is interesting for you or not.

You will also find a glossary that includes most of the words relating to music, computer or Pizzicato. Use iteach time you don't fully understand the meaning of a word. Continuing to study the course without

understanding the words can only create problems. Therefore, use the glossary abundantly! In the text of thelessons, the new introduced words are directly related to the glossary by a link. When dragging the mouse over it,the cursor becomes a hand. Click it and you get access to the definition of the word in the glossary.

According to the Pizzicato version you bought, a paper manual contains the main lessons required to learn toused the program. The screen documentation nevertheless includes all the lessons for each version. According tothe consulted manual, you only access the lessons concerning the version you have. Many lessons are commonto all versions and some indicate differences between versions. You will find for instance, a list of the Pizzicato

versions relevant to each main division of a lesson.

Goals of Pizzicato

The design and creation of Pizzicato began in 1992. With Pizzicato, our goal is to create a software to approachmusic and computer without any preliminary knowledge of these subjects, while offering a maximum number ofmusical features to the professional. The future releases of Pizzicato will continue in that direction.

In order to be informed on the evolution of Pizzicato and to be able to access our technical support, we kindlyrequest you to register yourself as an official user of Pizzicato. You can do so by returning the registration cardincluded in your software package or directly register on our Web site.

For any question regarding Pizzicato, you can contact our international technical support:

Arpege - Music29, rue de l'Enseignement

4800 VERVIERSBelgium

Tel ++32 87-55.23.60Fax ++32 87-26.80.10

or consult us on the Internet. Our site is:www.arpegemusic.com Our E-mail address [email protected]

Announce your license number to the support staff. If your question concerns an installation problem or isrelated to the use of the program, please be in front of your computer while calling. We will help you as best as

we can. The best way is an e-mail with full description of the problem. We usually answer within 24 hours inworking days.

Do not hesitate to report to us in writing all the improvements and new functionalities you can think of. We willtake your remarks into account for the development of future releases of Pizzicato. Our goal is to transformPizzicato into your ideal work platform for computer-assisted music. To this end, your point of view isimportant to us.

All this being said, you are now ready to get to the heart of the matter: music on your computer. We wish youmuch pleasure in your discovery of the musical and software universe of Pizzicato!

Dominique Vandenneucker

Designer of Pizzicato

12


13/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The mouse

What is the mouse?

Buttons of the mouse

Pointing

Clicking

Double-clicking

Clicking/dragging

What is the mouse?

The mouse is a small object attached to your computer or your keyboard by a cable. Its structure is made toeasily slide on a plane surface, next to your keyboard. In its lower part, it has a small ball which makes it possibleto collect the changes of position.

When you slide it from left to right or backwards and forwards, the ball collects your movements and transmitsthem to the computer through the connecting cable . The computer then interprets these movements to move asmall picture on your screen. This picture is called the mouse cursor. Most of the time, it is represented by anarrow, but according to the context, it can have various appearances:

If you move the mouse to the right, the cursor follows your movement and moves to the right of the screen.The same principle applies for all directions. You need to hold the mouse in the correct direction, with theconnection cable most distant from you.

Take care to have sufficient place beside your keyboard to handle the mouse. By moving it, you can bring thecursor to any place on the screen. If you are not yet accustomed to it, train yourself to move the cursor and tobring it to various precise locations on the screen. It is important to control the moving of the cursor well,because much of the operations will be carried out using the mouse. It is not difficult, it is a simple matter ofhabit.

Buttons of the mouse

On its upper part, the mouse has one or more buttons. When it has several buttons, it is usually the left buttonthat is used by most programs. The right button, when present, is often used to reach a contextual menu, i.e. a

list of actions related to the location where you clicked.For the Mac version of Pizzicato, if the mouse only has one button, when you are asked to use the right buttonin the manual, you can use the single button of the Macintosh mouse while holding down the "Option" (or"ALT") key of the Macintosh keyboard. It is the key located on the two sides of the space bar, between the"Apple" key and the "CTRL" key.

By pushing or releasing the button, you can carry out the most various operations, according to the location ofthe cursor at that time. Four types of operations can be carried out with the mouse:

point

click

double-click

click and drag

Here is a description of each operation. Be certain to understand them well, because they will very often appearin the manual.

13


14/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pointing

This operation simply consists of placing the mouse cursor at a precise location of the screen. It is important toknow that the active area of the cursor is its point. If you are asked to point a small square, you should thusplace the mouse in such a way that the point of the cursor is inside this square:

Correct Not correct

This operation of pointing is preliminary to the other operations. It is first necessary to place the cursor at thegood location before starting another operation.

Clicking

It is the most current operation. You press the button and release it immediately, without moving the mousebetween the two.

When you are asked to click on (or in) an item, it means that you must first point this item with the cursor (bymoving the mouse) and then push and release the mouse button.

The action to push and release the button is called a click. According to the type of the clicked item, the actionwill be different. It is often used to carry out a choice or to execute an action. We will later study the types ofgraphical items that you will run into.

Double-clicking

As its name may indicate it, one executes two clicks one after the other, at the same location (without movingthe mouse between the two) and without waiting between the two clicks. On average, this time between two

clicks will not exceed half a second. If you wait too long between the two, your action will be interpreted as twosimple clicks and not as a double-click.

The 4 actions must follow one another quickly:

press the button,

release the button,

press the button,

release the button.

The mouse should not be moved between these 4 operations otherwise the double-click will not be valid. Whenyou are asked to double-click an item, it means that you must first point this item with the cursor (by moving the

mouse) and then execute the 4 actions given above. When you execute a double-click that does not produce theexpected effect, it means that you either execute these 4 operations not fast enough or you move the mouseduring the operation. Train yourself!

This operation is called a double click. According to the type of the double-clicked item, the action will bedifferent. It is often used to open a graphic element and to see its contents.

Clicking/dragging

This operation makes it possible to move a graphic element on the screen. The principle is the same as movingan object on your desk: you seize it, move it to another location and put it down. With the mouse, the

operations become:

point the graphic object on the screen with the mouse,

push and hold down the mouse button (= seize the object),

drag the mouse to another location (= move the object),

release the mouse button (= release the object).

14


15/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The time that goes by between these operations is not important. You can take your time to move the mousebefore releasing the button.

When you are asked to click and drag an item, it means the four operations given above. The word "click" canalso be omitted and you will simply be asked to drag an item from one location to another.

This operation is used to move graphic objects on the screen, to change the size of a graphic object and to selecta choice among several available actions or options.

Installing Pizzicato


Starting Pizzicato

License registration

Exit Pizzicato


The installation of Pizzicato consists of copying all necessary files onto the hard disk of your computer. Thisoperation must be done before you can start using Pizzicato.

You need to follow the procedure explained in this lesson. If you cannot execute one or more steps, do nothesitate to contact our support department. Together, we will solve the problem.

The Pizzicato manual includes several lessons on computer basics. If computers are brand new to you, you canrefer to these pages as a first approach. We also advise you to read the introduction manual of Windows orMacintosh. Also play the guided tour offered by Windows or Mac. It will teach you the essential data to handleyour computer.

To install Pizzicato on Windows, execute the following steps (for Mac, see below):

Insert the Pizzicato DVD in your DVD drive or double-click the downloaded file if you possessthe electronic version of Pizzicato.

If the installation program does not start by itself, do the following:

1. Clickthe Startbutton in the Windows toolbar2. ClickExecute...3. Type D:setup using the keyboard (Dis the letter corresponding to your DVD drive) and click

OK4. If you don't know the letter associated with your DVD drive, click the Browse... button and

double-click the Working stationon the Desk. Then double-click the icon representing theDVD drive and double-click the Setup file (or Setup.exe)

Follow the instructions that appear on the screen

Once the installation is finished, you can withdraw the Pizzicato DVD from the drive

To install Pizzicato on Macintosh, do the following steps:

Insert the Pizzicato DVD in your DVD drive or double-click the downloaded file if you possessthe electronic version of Pizzicato.

With the DVD, double-click the "Pizzicato 3.6 - EN.zip". This will create a folder "Pizzicato 3.x"that will go by default into the downloaded file folder. You can drag it to the application folder ofthe Mac.

Once the installation is done, you can remove the Pizzicato DVD from the drive.

15


16/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Starting Pizzicato

The launching of Pizzicato (or starting) is the operation which makes it possible for Pizzicato to take the controlof the computer. From this moment, Pizzicato is active and you can use it as indicated in each lesson of thismanual.

To start Pizzicato under Windows, click the Startbutton, clickProgramsthen Pizzicato 3.xand again Pizzicato. Tostart Pizzicato on Mac OS X, open your Macintosh hard disk; in theApplicationsfolder, you will find the Pizzicato

3.xfolder. Inside this folder, double-click the "Pizzicato" file. The program starts.

The first time, on Mac or Windows, Pizzicato lets you choose the working version of Pizzicato and asks you tofill in your license and serial numbers. Let us see this in detail.

License registration

When starting Pizzicato for the first time, the following dialog box appears:

If you bought Pizzicato, select Licence registrationand fill in the three text boxes, respectively with:

The license number : it is located on the Pizzicato DVD box or in the instruction e-mail and contains 5digits

The serial number: also located on the DVD box or in the instruction e-mail, it contains 4 groups of 4digits separated by the minus sign "-". It is thus of the form: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx. It is important tointroduce these 19 characters (16 digits and three "-" signs) without intermediate spaces.

Your name: the name which will appear on the registration card (or Internet registration)

If you did not buy Pizzicato and got the program on a demo DVD, from Internet or through a friend, you canuse the options in the right column, which do not require a license number:

Shareware Version (free use of Pizzicato Light for one month starting with the installation)

The 10 other evaluation versions of Pizzicato (with save, print or export functions disabled)

ClickOK. If you do not have a licence (evaluation or shareware), Pizzicato starts.According to the version youhave, a dialog box may appear, asking for apersonal code. If it does not appear, the installation is finished.Otherwise, do the following.

16


17/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pizzicato is protected by apersonal code system. This personal code can be calculated by us only after theinstallation of Pizzicato on your computer. This is why you will not find this code on the original DVD nor inthe box of the software nor in the instruction e-mail of the electronic version.

So that we can communicate thispersonal code to you, please send us your license and identificationnumbers located on the top left corner of this dialog box.

If your computer is connected to the Internet, you will find in this dialog a button that will help you to send therequest for a personal code. Fill in that dialog and validate. It is the easiest method as you will receive the

personal code by e-mail usually within ten minutes.

You can use the software for 20 hours without the personal code. After that, it will run in Shareware mode(without license) or evaluation mode.

To receive your personal code, you can also go on the registration page and fill in the registration form,it is the fastest way to receive it :

www.arpegemusic.com/clients2.htm

You may also reach this page through the Help menu of Pizzicato, Online Registration...

As long as you do not introduce your personal code, this dialog box appears automatically when launchingPizzicato. When you receive your personal code, fill it into the text area of this dialog box and clickOK. Use thecopy/paste function to avoid any error. If the code is correct, this dialog will no more appear. Pizzicato ispermanently installed on your computer.

Exit Pizzicato

To exit (quit) Pizzicato, you must click in the Filemenu (for Mac, in the Pizzicato menu) located in the menu bar,and then on the Exititem. Pizzicato terminates. You can obtain the same result by holding down the ALT keyand pressing the F4 key on PC or "Apple" + "Q" on Mac.

If computers are very new for you, we advise you to read the lessons regarding computers, which follow thislesson. They explain to you the basics of computers and the various graphic elements which you will meet inyour work with Pizzicato. If you are accustomed to computers, go directly to the Pizzicato manual and/or to themusic course. Have a nice time!

The computer and its interface (1)

What is a computer?

Communicating with a computer

The screen and windows

Menus

Dialog boxes

What is a computer?

A computer is a machine which can very quickly execute a series of instructions that somebody gave it. It doesnot think by itself. It is limited to apply reasoning that a person (the programmer) thought and developed for it.

A computer program, also called a software, is a series of instructions and reasoning prepared to provide aservice in a specific field. Pizzicato is a software enabling you to compose, to play musical scores and to provide

you with a whole series of services related to music.To be used, a software must be introduced into the computer. By starting the software, its instructions takecontrol of the computer. The user can then direct the software and work with it to obtain results from it in therelated field.

Unlike a computer, a software is not a physical thing or an object. It is a series of reasoning, methods anddirectives which will control the computer. It is information. When you buy a software, it is provided to you on

17


18/354


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

one or more diskettes or CDs which are used as a support. The data on the disks constitute the instructions ofthe software. The software installation procedure simply consists in copying these data into the computer so thatthe computer can use them.

The hard disk of a computer is a permanent data medium, i.e. when you switch off the computer, informationwritten on the hard disk is preserved. It is on the hard disk that the software is copied during the installation, sothat it is once and for all in the computer. The capacity of a hard disk is indicated in Mega Bytes (MB) or GigaBytes (GB). 1 MB corresponds to one million text characters, which is equivalent to more than 200 pages of text

with 60 lines of 80 characters on each page . 1 GB equals 1000 MB. The smallest hard disks currently make tensof GB and go up to several hundreds of GB. 1 TB (Tera byte) corresponds to 1000 GB.

The random access memory of the computer is a data medium used during the execution of a program. Aprogram needs a certain a

Documents

Music Software User Guide - "Pizzicato Beginner"