Join Measures

Command Location: Measures Menu

A given measure can be joined to the measure w hich follow s it, creating a single larger measure w ith a new time signature, from tw o smaller measures.

MidiIllustrator w ill automatically determine new time signature of the single measure once the join is completed.

Once the action is completed, you can (if desired) edit the Time Signature for the new measure.

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5.6.11 Barlines

Command Location: Measures Menu

This page covers the use of the follow ing measure/bar functions:

Barlines

o Special Barlines - Repeats o Setting the Number of Repeats Endings

o Special Notes on Ending Playback

Barlines

Each measure (or bar) can have a left barline style and a right barline style. Whilst all barline types have a decorative affect on the score, some also affect the w ay in w hich the score is played back.

Left barlines can be: Right barlines can be:

Single

Section Open Repeat Open

Single Double Section Close Repeat Close

In addition, right barlines of type ‘Repeat Close’ can have the follow ing attribute:

Repeat Count (the number of times a section should be repeated)

MidiIllustrator generally manages barlines for you automatically. For instance, a Section Close barline is placed at the end of the score w hen a MIDI file is first imported, or w hen measures are deleted from the score. Similarly, MidiIllustrator adds double barlines before clef changes to indicate the completion of a musical phrase. All of these settings can be overridden manually, and the style of all barlines in the score can be changed using the Measure Menu/Toolbar commands.

Special Barlines - Repeats

In addition to the decorative function of barlines (w hich usually instruct the reader in some w ay), ‘Repeat Barlines’ can be added to a score, and MidiIllustrator w ill observe these repeated section markers during playback.

Nested Repeats

MidiIllustrator supports nested repeats, w hich means repeat sections w ithin repeat sections. You can think of repeat barlines in much the same w ay as brackets in a mathematical formula. Consider the follow ing:

( ( x * 2) * 3)

The outer loop is repeated 3 times, the inner loop is repeated tw ice for every outer loop.

Similarly in the example below , the range bar 1 to bar 5 is repeated 3 times, the inner loop of bar 3 is repeated tw ice for every outer loop. As a result, bar 3 w ill be heard a total of 6 times (3 * 2).

Playback and Repeats

When playing back, MidiIllustrator only considers repeats w hich begin at or before the playback starting position. So in the example above, if playback begins at bar 2 or even half w ay through bar 1, only the inner repeat section (bar 3) w ill actually be repeated.

In general, you should make sure that there is a Repeat Close for every Repeat Open barline. If a score contains an uneven balance of left and right repeat barlines (open and close) then MidiIllustrator w ill try to make the best of calculating w hich sections to repeat.

Setting the Number of Repeats

Set the number of times a section should repeat by placing the cursor in the measure w ith the Repeat Close barline (right side), and choosing "Set Repeat Count" from the Measures/

Barline Right Menu. The repeat count is displayed in brackets just above the Repeat Close barline, using the same font as "Measure Numbers" (see Fonts).

This count can be hidden or show n using the Show Barline Repeat Count command on the Measures Menu.

Ignoring Repeats

You may w ant MidiIllustrator to ignore repeats during playback. You can toggle this behaviour using the "Ignore Barline Repeats" command in the Perform Menu.

Endings

Endings can be used w ith bar repeats to create very efficient scores w here only the ending of a particular passage varies from one verse to the next. In this case it is not necessary to score multiple verses in their entirety, but instead to score the common part of one or more verses only once and then add any different "endings" for each verse.

The basic method for using endings is as follow s:

1.Identify the range of measures w hich contains a passage w hich is to be repeated

2.Set the left barline on the first measure in the passage to be Repeat Open (see barlines above)

3.Set the right barline on the last measure including the first v erse ending in the passage to be Repeat Close

4.Set the repeat count on the last measure to the number of verses w ith different endings 5.Set the ending number for each measure in the first v erse ending to 1

6.If necessary, add new measures immediately after the first ending measures (and after the repeat close barline) and set the endings on these measures to 2

7.Repeat the last step for any new endings

The follow ing score example show s a possible ending arrangement w here one passage in the score is played three times but has a different ending each time:

In the example, the playback sequence w ould be:

Playba

begins w ith repeat

open barline

(loop 1/3)

close barline

(loop 2/3)

(loop 3/3)

1 2 3 4 5 3 6 3 7 8 9

During playback, endings can be applied w ithin nested repeat sequences. In this case each ending number applies to the count of the inner bar repeat sequence w hich hosts the ending, not to the total number of times a nested sequence is actually played. So if the outer measures in the example (1 and 9) w ere also marked as repeat open/close measures then the entire sequence above w ould simply be repeated:

1 2 [3 4 5] [3 6] [3 7] 8 9 1 2 [3 4 5] [3 6] [3 7] 8 9 Setting Endings in Power Edit Mode

In Pow er Edit Mode, the endings of a range of measures can be set w ith a single command.

Select the desired range of measures and assign an ending using the "Set Ending"

command (Measures Menu).

Special Notes on Ending Playback

As stated above in the barlines section: w hen playing back, MidiIllustrator only considers repeats w hich begin at or before the playback starting position.

Furthermore, w hen playback begins inside an ending measure, playback w ill continue from that point and will not play any measures earlier than the ending measure in which playback began. To hear a given ending played in the context of the w hole score you must begin playback from the start of the score or the start of the repeat loop w hich hosts the ending (measure 3 in the example above).

For the sake of simplicity, bar repeat instructions within endings greater than 1 w ill be ignored during playback; i.e. if measure 7 in the example above contained a Repeat Close barline then it w ould be ignored

If endings are not properly formed or repeat open/close barlines are incomplete in a score then they w ill be ignored during playback and each measure in the score w ill instead be played in sequence.

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w w w .MidiIllustrator.com.