NtEd new musical score editor for Linux.

NtED marks the return of Dr. Joerg Anders into the field of Linux music notation software. Professor Anders is perhaps best known for his pioneering NoteEdit. 

Many of that program's best features are present in NtED, and the list of planned improvement indicates that the good doctor intends to take special care of his project. NtED is advertised as a true WYSIWYG notation editor, with MusicXML import capability and MIDI and PostScript export functions (for printing scores directly from NtED). 

Four-part polyphonic staff entry is supported, along with score playback (via TiMidity or any synthesizer connected to an ALSA sequencer port) and a wide variety of rhythmic values and other staff directives. 

As I wrote this report I discovered that Dr. Anders has released version 0.19.1 of his program (Figure 1). I was a fan of his earlier work, and I must say that I continue to be impressed with this newer project. Of course, at this stage NtED is still evolving, but it is already stable and useful music software. On my personal wishlist, I'd like to see support for LilyPond and MusicXML as export targets, I think those features would greatly expand NtED's appeal and utility. Meanwhile, there's more than enough in NtED to keep me happy and productive.

Install:

1) Download source:

 nted-1.10.18.tar.gz (3998 K)

tar -xvzf nted-x.y.z.tgz
cd nted-x.y.z
./configure

If you want to install NtEd in a certain directory use:

./configure --prefix=

Type:

make

This should create NtEd

Type (as root):

make install

This should install NtEd.

If you don't like NtEd type (as root):

make uninstall

2) Terminal

sudo apt-get install nted

Properties.

creating score from playing MIDI keyboard

determine pitch by MIDI keyboard

breath symbols

guitar chord diagrams / chord annotation

extract staves

import MusicXML

import NoteEdit (implicit)

system layout (braces, brackets)

direct replay, whereby: Configurable music instruments per staff

muting staves

export midi

play transposed

import midi

export PostScript

export PDF

export PNG

export SVG

multiple windows

Library usage as little as possible (Cairo, Gtk, X11,

ALSA)

Note! Some more packages are needed for immediate help (see: Installation from source)

Antialiasing

simple installation tested on many Linuxes, i.e.:

./configure

make

make install

You may start NtEd by entering the following at the command prompt:

% nted &

Once NtEd starts, you will see a window like the following:

NtEd offers 4 different block instructions:

Block copy

Block delete

Empty block 

Insert block

Select a block

To select a block make sure NtEd is in edit mode (see The 3 modes). Draw a diagonal with left mouse button such that the appropriate rectangle encloses all elements you like to work with:

The selected elements appear in violet color.

If there is a selection rectangle you can deselect some staves from selection by right clicking on the staff:

This is especially useful if you for example want to copy only the 1st and the 3rd staff of 3 staves:

Block copy

To copy a block select some elements as described in Select a block. Choose:

Edit → Copy

or press Ctrl+C. The selected items are copied into an internal clipboard.

Block paste

To paste a block select a note or rest as described in Shifting notes. This selected chord or rest is the upper left corner of a virtual destination rectangle:

Choose:

Edit → Paste

or press Ctrl+V. The items from internal clipboard are copied to this virtual destination rectangle:

Delete a block

To delete a block select some elements as described in Select a block. Choose:

Edit → Delete Block

Or simply press Ctrl + X. The block is deleted.

Note

Independent of the concrete selection the delete operation influences all staves. Only whole measures are deleted.

Empty a block

To empty a block means to convert all notes groups to rests of appropriate length. Select some elements as described in Select a block:

Again, you can deselect some staves by right clicking them:

Choose:

Edit → Empty Block

Or simply press Ctrl + E. The block is emptied:

Insert a block of empty measures

To insert a block of empty measures choose an arbitrary note or rest as described in Shifting notes.

Choose:

Insert → Insert block

Determine the number of measures you wish to insert on insert dialog. Click OK!

The measures are inserted after the measure with the selected note or rest.

If you liked this article, subscribe to the feed by clicking the image below to keep informed about new contents of the blog: