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| Melys User's Guide | ||
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The part display pane
This pane shows the recorded parts. A part is a set of notes and control information that exists in a track. Each part is represented by a rectangle in the display. A scale at the top displays the bar numbers. As the piece plays or during recording a pointer moves across the display to show the current position in the song.
There are two kinds of parts. Original parts, which are represented with a solid border and reference parts which are represented with a dotted border. Reference parts are linked to some other part and when the original part is changed all parts that reference it will change as well.
From the part display pane, you can slice parts into smaller pieces, join parts together and move parts about. Parts can be moved within the same track, across different tracks and even between different songs.
Right click menu
Clicking on a part with the right menu button brings up a context menu of operations that can be performed on that part.
- Slice
The part is cut into two at the point where the mouse was clicked. The point where the part is cut is currently forced to the nearest beat boundary. It is not yet possible to configure this.
- Join
The part is joined to the next one in the track. If there is no next part then nothing happens. If you have moved a short part so that it is entirely sitting on top of a larger part, then the effect of this command will be to merge the two parts together into one.
- Delete
The part that you clicked on is deleted. If the part that was clicked is selected, then in addition all currently selected parts will be deleted.
- Properties...
The part property box is brought up for the part that was clicked on. See part properties.
Part drag and drop
Much of the power of editing in the part display comes from using drag and drop to manipulate parts. It will be possible to move, copy and link parts together. Parts can be moved just as easily from one song to another. It is also possible to select a number of parts and move them as a group, preserving the relative positioning between them. The following describes what is currently implemented.
Move a single part
To move a single part it is not necessary to select the part first. However if other parts are selected and the part you want to move is also selected, then you should click on the part to be moved to ensure that only it is selected.
Press the left mouse button on the part that you wish to move, holding the button down drag the part to where you want it to go. An outline of the part will be displayed at the current mouse position to help you position it.
Hold the shift button down while releasing the mouse button. You can drag the part anywhere in the song or to another song altogether, as long as it is another window of the same application.
Move a set of parts
Select all the parts to be moved. This can be done by holding down the control key while left-clicking parts. As long as the control key is down, clicking on an unselected part will select it and clicking on a part that is already selected will de-select that part.
Once all the parts are selected that are to be moved, click with the left button one of the selected parts. Keep the button down and drag it to desired location. Make sure that the Shift key is held down when releasing the mouse button. All the selected parts will move as a unit and keep the same positions relative to each other. Outlines of all the parts will be displayed as the move is performed to show where the parts will land when the mouse button is released.
For example if the two parts are selected on the same track, then when they are moved they will maintain the same time difference relative to each other at the destination. Likewise if parts are on different tracks, say three tracks apart then the parts will remain three tracks apart at their final destination.
Copying parts
The way to copy a single or several parts is very similar to the way that parts are moved. Instead of holding down the Shift key, you should hold down the Control key. The symbol on the drag icon will change to a plus sign to show that a copy will be performed. In fact the default action is to copy so no keys need to be held down at all.
Caveats
Linking is not implemented yet. Do not allow parts to overlap, although nothing bad will happen the behaviour is currently difficult to predict and will be changed. If parts overlap then saving in midi format may not be successful. Slicing or dragging snaps to the nearest beat boundary. This is not yet configurable.
Part properties
Double clicking on a part in the parts display brings up the part properties box.
The box consists of the following fields that can be changed.
- Name
The name of the part. Part names default to the name of the track when they are first added to it.
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