Score display: Bug or feature?

[thorrild]

I usually work in the Pages Across view, and I've noticed in the current build (256) that during playback/performance, the score pages are moving around differently than they have in the past — and I don't consider this an improvement.

It is difficult for me to describe in detail how the score pages move around, but try this, just as an easy example:

1. Set up a piano grand staff on letter-size paper in landscape orientation. Enter some music, enough to fill several systems on page 1 and also spill onto page 2.
2. Play the score.
3. Notice how the score shift right as the playback cursor approaches the end of system 1, even though the entire system is visible on the screen. The screen then shifts again as the green cursor jumps to system 2. The new position now hides all or part of the top system.

On a page with 4 systems clearly visible at the start of the piece, the program will jerk your view of the score 8 times before it proceeds to page 2, and that is a terrible step backward for Notion. The above test was made on my MacBook at home (13 in. screen), but I see the same problem on my iMac at work (21.5 in. screen).

What I'd like to see is a score page that stays put as long as possible, and if the full page is visible at playback, it shouldn't move until the playback cursor goes to page 2. At that point page 2 should take the position that page 1 just had, and stay there until it's time to go to page 3. The goal should be to avoid as much as possible the display of partial pages, horizontally.

[thorrild]

I just realized that I've got more gripes related to the above post, and I might as well get them in now:

When a file is first opened (in Pages Across view), it displays very nicely: The entire top & left edges of the "paper" are visible, and the scroll bars are where they should be: vertical all the way up, and horizontal all the way left.

During playback/performance, all the screen shifts described in my previous harangue cause the left margin of each score page to become less and less visible. First you lose the edge of the "paper," then you lose the (abbreviated) instrument names, and eventually you can't see the clefs and key signatures. Can this be addressed as part of a fix that prioritizes as little screen movement as possible?

Best wishes,
Thorrild

[4tune]

I don`t usually use pages across mode but just tried it now. I can see exactly what you mean. Could certainly be improved.

I find that in pages down mode also there could be a bit of improvement as I find at `page width` zoom levels Notion will jump when it seems unnecessary i.e. when all bars are visible. It can happen with [ ] navigation keys aswell and becomes more of a hinderance than a help. As a result I tend to zoom out a bit more bit and on a 19" non-widescreen monitor the notes become fairly small at this level.
Not as severe as the issue you post but thought worth mentioning here.

[thorrild]

Thanks, 4tune, for making me try Pages Down instead: It does seem to work a bit better. Maybe this view is the preference among the programmers at Notion as well.

But in addition to the comments already posted regarding Pages Down, I must point out my dislike for Notion's general disregard of the *page* and its insistence instead on putting the first *downbeat* of the first measure at a certain spot in the upper left corner of the computer screen.

When reading a score, I want to see the top left corner of the *paper* every time I turn a page. The same should be true when Notion approximates the score-reading experience. Lots of non-playable items can be attached above the first bar of a page: various text (think, for example, of several lines of spoken dialogue over music, entered with the Text tool). Another example: Rehearsal marks and measure numbers can end up riding pretty high if some musical entry in that system is a really high note.

When playing or performing a score, you shouldn't have to wonder, "What is the written tempo indication here?" or "Are we at rehearsal mark C or D now?" or even, "I wonder how far along in his/her dialogue the actor on stage is..."

None of this is terribly important if Notion is used as an application for printed music. But if Notion is used because of its excellent playback features with simultaneous, not-so-bad, on-screen notation, it becomes an irritant. If items like these are are entered into the score and attached to a certain measure, it is because they are expected to be seen as the music plays back.

I get carried away a bit. Does it show that this is of some importance to me...?

[4tune]

All sounds pretty logical and reasonable to me

[wcreed51]

Why not use Continues View? Pages are for printing, and don’t really have anything to do with playback.

Bill

[thorrild]

Using Continuous View is not acceptable for my purposes.

I would challenge the developers at Notion to state that, by design, 2 of the 3 viewing modes in their software are not compatible with the playback function, or not intended to be used with each other. Somehow I don't think that is what they have in mind, even if it happens to suit some users.

[Admin]

Using Continuous View is not acceptable for my purposes.

I would challenge the developers at Notion to state that, by design, 2 of the 3 viewing modes in their software are not compatible with the playback function, or not intended to be used with each other. Somehow I don't think that is what they have in mind, even if it happens to suit some users.

I can understand that it may not be ideal to have the cursor move the page to the "top left" and I believe that the reasoning behind this decision was to get as much of the score on the page as possible (I could be wrong on that....but it make sense to me)

What in particular doesn't allow you to use Continuous view?

I'll certainly take a look into this this week and will bring it up with the developers.

Thanks for sharing!!
-Kyle

[thorrild]

What in particular doesn't allow you to use Continuous view?

Hi Kyle:

The music I am working on now is a multi-part thing with connected, yet separate "movements." In Continuous view, these chunks are strung together in a visually confusing way. In one of the Pages views, I can at least force a new system or page in order to separate the parts. And since I am preparing this for viewing and performing at the computer screen, not for printing, this is of some importance to me. Besides, this seems to have changed in the current build, and I wanted to be on record as liking it better in its previous incarnation.

I will send you further details via PM. Thanks for checking into this!

Best,
Thorrild