Harmonic Entropy |

User Manual

Editor: Andy Stefik

Melissa Harris

Contributors: Andy Stefik

Melissa Harris

Date: 3/01/04

Client: Jerry Connolly

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gellenbeck

# Table Of Contents

Table Of Contents. 1

Introduction. 1

Project Identification. 1

Document Introduction. 1

Target Audience. 1

Multiple User Types. 1

Installation. 2

System Requirements. 2

Installation Procedure. 3

Advanced installation. 6

Basic Procedures. 7

Starting the program.. 7

Exiting the program.. 7

Using the IntelliKeys keyboard. 7

Step by step instructions. 8

Logging in to the program.. 8

The Main Menu Screen. 9

The Make a Score Wizard. 11

Composition Screen. 14

General Description of the Music Composition Screen. 14

The Top Row Toolbar 14

The Left Side Toolbar 17

Adding and Deleting Notes. 20

Adding and Deleting Instruments. 25

Special Note for Administrators. 27

Administrator Screen. 27

Appendix A Basic Music Terminology. 29

Appendix B Keyboard Shortcuts. 30

# Introduction

## Project Identification

Harmonic entropy is creating a music composition system, including MIDI playback and a visual representation of a musical score. This product is designed for users with physical disabilities in mind, although it is not exclusive to those users, and therefore is accessible entirely from the keyboard. The client for this project is Jerry Connolly, who works in the special education and technology center on campus.

## Document Introduction

This user manual will describe the basic functionality of the music composition system, and the steps required to do each action. To state it broadly, this computer program will allow the user to make an account on the system, store personal files like a musical score, compose music, and playback music on the users speakers.

## Target Audience

The target audience of this document is the non-technical user on both the musical and computer science levels. More specifically, we are targeting users, from adults to young children, with little to no musical ability, and only the most basic competence with a computer. The user should be able to turn on the computer and load our program, but that is about the limit. We expect this to be largely a kids program, and thus it should be full of graphics and pictures.

The document is intentionally simplifying several musical concepts in order to make it understandable to this non-technical audience. For example, the term time signature, in music, implies a lot more than what note gets the beat in a particular grouping of notes. In fact, it is difficult to quantify even the simple term of “beat” when dealing with more complex music like that of Elliot Carter, who was a 20th century composer that essentially destroyed all conception of beat in his music from the 1970’s. Because of these inherent difficulties, even with simple concepts like a time signature, terms will be simplified, even though the authors of this document are well aware of the academic problems with the current definitions.

## Multiple User Types

There are three user types on this system, users, guests, and administrators. The administrator, of which there can only be one, can add, delete, or modify accounts. The administrator, by default, has a password of “administrator,” but can change that password to be something of his or her own choosing, including nothing. The user account has full access to the system with the exception of adjusting accounts. This account may or may not have a password, and only the administrator adjusts this property. The guest account is identical to the user account, except that it can never have a password.

# Installation

## System Requirements

In order to install the Harmonic Entropy Music Composition System you must have a PC compatible, also sometimes called x86, computer and a working soundcard. The minimum requirements to run the program are the following:

Minimum Requirements
CPU Speed | 1 GHZ
Memory | 256 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space | 50 MB
Sound Device | SoundBlaster compatible

##

##

Table 1: Minimum requirements to run the software

For the best performance we recommend the following system or better:

Recommended Requirements
CPU Speed | 1.7 GHZ
Memory | 512 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space | 50 MB
Sound Device | SoundBlaster Live or newer Soundcard and good PC speakers

Table 2: Satisfying the recommended requirements will give better playback, performance, and a higher quality sound output.

## Installation Procedure

The following is a detailed description of each step in the installation process:

1. Insert the Harmonic entropy CD into the CD or DVD player in your computer.

2. If AutoPlay is enabled the installation procedure will begin immediately. If installation does not begin skip to the end of this section, entitled Advanced Installation. You know the installation process has begun if you see the following graphic appear on screen:

3. The next screen that appears will be the introduction screen. Please press next to continue.

4. The next screen allows you to choose where you want to install the program. If you do not know where you want to install the program, use the default location by pressing next.

5. The next screen lets you adjust how Windows handles installing your program. By default, the program is put into the start menu in Windows. You can adjust where you want shortcuts placed on your computer by clicking the radio buttons on the left hand side of the white pane. For example, if you want a shortcut to appear on your desktop after completing installation click the on the desktop radio button. After you have made your choice, or if you just want the default, press next.

6. You are now ready to install. Press the install button to continue.

## Advanced installation

If the program does not automatically install, which can happen if AutoPlay is disabled in Windows, or you want additional control over your installation, browse to the Harmonic Entropy install CD. You will notice a file called install.exe. Click on this file to begin the default installation.

NOTEFOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY: By default, the installer installs Java Virtual Machine 1.4.2_03 onto your system. This virtual machine in no way affects your current Java setup, and does not override any settings currently on your computer. This is done only to ensure compatibility, and to ensure the user has the correct version of Java installed. If, however, you would prefer to not have this extra virtual machine installed, browse to the CD and look for the folder labeled NoVM. This folder contains another file called install.exe. By installing this file no extra virtual machine is installed, and it is up to you to ensure that your Java installation is compatible with our product. The installation procedure is identical to the default procedure, except that no extra virtual machine is added. If you don’t know what a Java Virtual Machine is, or how to test if your system is compatible, then this file is not for you! Use the default installation instead.

# Basic Procedures

## Starting the program

If you chose the default installation you can start the program from the start menu in Windows. To do this in WindowsXP go to start, all programs, Harmonic Entropy, and select the Harmonic Entropy Icon. This will load the main window and allow you to login to the program.

## Exiting the program

Mouse users: Click on the x in the top right corner of the screen to exit the program.

Keyboard users: Most screens have an exit button where you can click to exit the program. Here is an example from the main menu of the Harmonic Entropy program.

## Using the IntelliKeys keyboard

The IntelliKeys keyboard is a special keyboard which has templates used to navigate a graphical user interface. The IntelliKeys keyboard can be used either in conjunction with, or on its own, as an input device to this program. Each user can define his or her own templates as an input to the program, and as such we will not be trying to describe each possible template in the course of this user manual. However, as a general rule the easiest way to make a template is to create graphics resembling the graphic user interface in the main music composition screen, or the screen where you actually compose the music. The Harmonic entropy team did make one custom template that has keys matching those in the user interface. To know what key to press for a certain action please reference appendix B for a listing of all of these keys used in the user interface.

# Step by step instructions

## Logging in to the program

Once you have started the program you must log in to use it. To log in do the following:

Mouse users and keyboard users:

1. Press the button with your account name on it, the administrator button, or the guest button. Notice that if you are using the keyboard that the currently selected button is highlighted in yellow.

2. (Optional) Enter a password if necessary and press ok

## The Main Menu Screen

The main menu screen consists of the main options the user has available for creating scores, opening templates, or opening previously saved scores. There are several options available at this screen.

1. To create a truly customized score click the Make a Score wizard. This button will take you to a series of screens that will allow you to make a score with a variety of options. For more information on the wizard see the section labeled “Make a Score Wizard.”

2. The easiest way to make a score is to select the Create a Default Score button, either with the keyboard or the mouse. This option will make a default score with a tempo of 100, a time signature of 4/4, and only one instrument, namely the piano. This button will take you directly to the main composition screen. For more information about the composition screen see the section labeled “Composition Screen.”

3. The Open a Template button brings you to a list of possible templates. A template is defined as a blank musical score, and so each template essentially allows you to create a new score with default instrumentation, like a string quartet or rock band. Note that on this screen, the name of the template is located on the left side of the screen, and if the template is highlighted, the instruments in that score show up on the right side of the screen. The following is an example of the string quartet template:

4. The open a score screen will open scores for a particular user. For example, if you always log in under the guest username and save your files under the simple save option, see the “Simple Save” section for more details, then all of your files will be saved in a special folder for the guest account. When you log in under guest and click the open a score button you will be shown all scores that were created under that account and saved using simple save. Another bonus is that by highlighting a score in the open save screen the score will be played back, through your speakers, so you can hear what the score sounds like.

5. The last button on the Main Menu is the Logout button. This button will log you out of the program and bring you back to the “login screen”. You can then log into another account or exit the program.

## The Make a Score Wizard

The make a score wizard allows you to make a customized and individual score. This section of the document will describe each individual screen in the make a score wizard. To get to the wizard click the make a score wizard button on the main screen.

1. The first screen in the wizard is an introduction screen. To continue press the next button, or press cancel to go back to the main menu.

2. The second screen allows you to adjust what instruments are added to the score. For more information on adding and deleting instruments from the score see the section titled “Adding and Deleting Instruments Screen.”

3. The third screen allows you to adjust the time signature and tempo of the musical score. A time signature is how many beats the measure has, and a tempo is how fast the music plays. When you have selected the time signature and tempo, select the next button to go on to the next screen.

4. The fourth screen is the finish screen. If you are finished selecting the instruments, time signature, and tempo then press the finish button to create your score. If you are not finished you can go back to change your options or cancel out of the Make a Score Wizard.

# Composition Screen

The composition screen is by far the most complex aspect of the music composition program. It is in this screen that the user actually composes the music they wish to save or have the computer play back. This screen has many subcomponents, and thus it seems warranted to give it its own section in this document.

## General Description of the Music Composition Screen

The music composition screen controls most of the features for editing, saving, and playing music. Essentially, the screen allows creation of new documents, copy pasting of parts of the document, adding measures, changing instruments, and of course composing music.

## The Top Row Toolbar

The following section will discuss the top row of toolbar buttons, including their functions and keyboard shortcuts. The order of the buttons will be from left to right. Each button will have a description and a keyboard shortcut. A keyboard shortcut is a key that you press on the keyboard to have that button take an action. For a complete listing of the shortcut keys, reference appendix B.

1. New Button: Creates a new default score, which has a tempo of 100, a time signature of 4/4, and a piano as an instrument.

Keyboard Shortcut: N

2. Open Button: This button opens a score using the simple open option.

Keyboard Shortcut: O

3. Save Button: This button saves a score using the simple save option, or if the user already has a score saved this button saves the score to the location it was last saved.

Keyboard Shortcut: S

4. Cut Button: The cut button cuts the notes from the currently visible track to be pasted into another track.

Keyboard Shortcut: X

5. Copy Button: The copy button copies notes from the currently visible track to be pasted into another track.

Keyboard Shortcut: C

6. Paste Button: The paste button pastes one measure of notes currently on the clipboard into another track, replacing that measures data.

Keyboard Shortcut: P

7. Undo Button: This button undoes virtually any operation in the program, from adding new instruments, to notes, to measures, changing tempos, etc. If the undo button is disabled, or grayed out, there is nothing to undo.

(Enabled) (Disabled)

Keyboard Shortcut: U

8. Redo Button: This button redoes virtually any operation in the program, from adding new instruments, to notes, to measures, changing tempos, etc. If the undo button is disabled, or grayed out, there is nothing to undo.

(Enabled) (Disabled)

Keyboard Shortcut: R

9. Pause Button: This button pauses the MIDI playback if it is currently running.

Keyboard Shortcut: F5

10. Stop Button: This button stops the MIDI playback if it is currently running.

Keyboard Shortcut: F6

11. Play Measure Button: This button plays only the measure currently displayed on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: F7

12. Play Button: This button starts MIDI playback from the beginning of the musical score.

Keyboard Shortcut: F8

13. Help Button: This button brings up the help screen, which contains a copy of this document.

Keyboard Shortcut: F1

14. Exit Button: This button exits to the main menu, after issuing a warning. If you exit without saving you could potentially lose some music.

Keyboard Shortcut: Esc

## The Left Side Toolbar

The following section will discuss the left side of the screen toolbar buttons, including their functions and keyboard shortcuts. The order of the buttons will be from top to bottom. Each button will have a description and a keyboard shortcut. A keyboard shortcut is a key that you press on the keyboard to have that button take an action. For a complete listing of the shortcut keys, reference appendix B.

1. Sixteenth Note Button: Clicking this note or pressing the keyboard shortcut tells the musical score that if a note is added it should be a sixteenth note. In this case a sixteenth note is equivalent to one Box on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: 1

2. Eighth Note Button: Clicking this note or pressing the keyboard shortcut tells the musical score that if a note is added it should be an eighth note. In this case an eighth note is equivalent to two Boxes on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: 2

3. Quarter Note Button: Clicking this note or pressing the keyboard shortcut tells the musical score that if a note is added it should be a quarter note. In this case a quarter note is equivalent to four Boxes on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: 3

4. Half Note Button: Clicking this note or pressing the keyboard shortcut tells the musical score that if a note is added it should be a half note. In this case a half note is equivalent to eight Boxes on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: 4

5. Whole Note Button: Clicking this note or pressing the keyboard shortcut tells the musical score that if a note is added it should be a whole note. In this case a whole note is equivalent to 16 Boxes on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: 5

6. Add a Measure Button: This button adds a measure to the end of the score.

Keyboard Shortcut: A

7. Insert a Measure Button: This button inserts a measure right before the measure currently on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut: M

8. Delete a measure button: This button deletes the measure currently displayed on the screen

Keyboard Shortcut: D

9. Clear Measure Button: Clears the notes out of the currently selected track panel.

Keyboard Shortcut: B

10. Change Tempo Button: This button pulls up a screen allowing you to change the tempo of the current measure, or a range of measures.

Keyboard Shortcut: E

11. Change Time Signature Button: This button pulls up a screen allowing you to change the time signature of the current measure or a range of measures.

Keyboard Shortcut: T

12. Add or Delete Instruments Button: This button pulls up a screen allowing you to add or delete instruments from the score.

Keyboard Shortcut: I

The Bottom Toolbar

1. Previous Measure Button: This button displays the previous measure for all the instruments in your score.

Keyboard Shortcut K

2. Current Measure Display: This button displays the current measure number.

3. Next Measure Button: This button displays the previous measure for all the instruments in your score.

Keyboard Shortcut L

## Adding and Deleting Notes

Adding deleting notes involves what are called track panels. Track panels can be thought of as musical instruments and have two main states, open and closed. In order to open a track panel you must highlight the “+” button and press the space bar or the enter key. To close the track panel you can press the backspace key. The following is a picture of a closed track panel:

And the following is a picture of an open track panel:

To add a note to the track, which is also called a measure, press either the space bar, the enter key, or click the left mouse button where you want the new note to occur. Mouse users can also click the right mouse button to reset which button is highlighted. Here is an example of a user adding a C major chord to the track panel.

First add the note C5 as a whole note. We do this by first pressing the 5 key on the keyboard or by pressing the Whole Note Button with the mouse. The whole note button should now be highlighted in the left toolbar. Now click the spacebar button on the note C5, which is the note C in the middle of a standard keyboard. You should now see the following:

Now switch to a half note by pressing the 4 key on the keyboard and move the highlighted button, using the left, right, up, and down arrows, to the E5 button. Move the highlighted button to where it appears blue on the screen. Now press the space bar or enter key. If you would prefer, you can also click here with the mouse. You should now see the following:

To finish our major chord, move the highlighted button to the gray portion 4 boxes to the right of the current location on G5 and press enter. You should now see the following:

Notice that the line E5 only extends through 8 boxes. To fix this we are going to add a quarter note to the end of the note on E5. Start by pressing the 3 key on the keyboard. Then move to the blue button right after our note finishes on E5. Now press the space bar key, enter key, or click with the mouse on that location. You should now see the following:

Notice the button we clicked has a red beginning and all subsequent notes are pink. This means it is a new note and does not continue from the previous note, but we want this note to continue to the end of the measure. To change this, click in the same position one more time. You should now see the following:

We now have a major chord. Lets now delete the notes. Pressing enter or spacebar a third time removes the sixteenth note that is highlighted. You should now see the following:

Notice the note disapears, meaning off, and the note after it turned red, indicating it is the start of a new note. Scroll back up to the G5, at the beginning of the note. Now press the delete key. Pressing delete forces the entire note to be deleted from the score. If you decide that you would rather keep the notes, however, you can always undo your actions by pressing the U key. You should now see the following:

## Adding and Deleting Instruments

To add or delete instruments open the add/delete instruments screen from the composition window or use the make a score wizard. This window looks like the following:

To navigate the list of instruments to add to the list on the right press the up and down arrow keys, or use the mouse. To add an instrument press the space key, and for a more complete list of instruments press the tab key. Here is what the screen would look like after pressing tab and then adding two flutes:

To remove instrument use the arrow keys or the mouse to navigate to the right list and press spacebar or enter. Or you can highlight something on the right list, navigate to remove, and then press spacebar or enter. Here is what the screen would look like after removing one of the flutes:

If this window was opened from the composition screen press ok, and the score will now look like so:

Notice that pressing the page up key, from the flute, will take you to the piano, and pressing page down key, from the piano, will take you to the flute.

# Special Note for Administrators

The administrator can add, delete, or otherwise adjust accounts on the system. To adjust accounts log in as administrator and you will notice that the main menu has one extra button labeled administrator options. Click this button to begin adjusting accounts

## Administrator Screen

The administrator screen allows the user to adjust user accounts and looks like so:

The add account button will add a new student to the list. The delete an account button will delete a student account, but will not delete that user’s files. The rename an account button will change the name on a given account. The change a password button will change any password on the system, including the administrators, and the view password will show the password of any user.

The final note is that if the administrator is to lose his or her password completely they can look in the resources folder for the file called LogInOut.class. This file contains the passwords for the system in plaintext. To adjust this file browse to it in windows, right click on it, and click the “open with” option. A box will pop up like so:

Click “Select the program from a list” and press ok. Choose WordPad from the list and make sure the box saying “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” is NOT selected. Now press ok and look at the file, which will appear as so:

The field Administrator : Administrator : 0, circled in red in the picture for clarity, is the administrator password, which in this case is Administrator.

# Appendix A Basic Music Terminology

This appendix is intended to give the reader a common sense idea of what a few basic musical terms mean.

Instrument: A musical instrument is typically a physical device that can produce sound. This can be anything from a guitar to a simple drum.

Note: A particular pitch or sound over time.

Time Signature: How the beat is divided up in a measure of music. In a 4/4 measure the beat is divided up into two main parts, duple, and in 3/4 the beat is divided into 3 main parts, or triple.

Tempo: How fast the music is played.

Track: A term used in computer music to indicate a collection of notes over time.

# Appendix B Keyboard Shortcuts

Button | Keyboard Shortcut | Effect
New | N | Creates a new blank score
Open | O | Opens a saved Score
Save | S | Saves the current score
Cut | X | Cuts the musical data out of the currently selected track into the clipboard, leaving the currently selected track blank
Copy | C | Copies the musical data out of the currently selected track into the clipboard
Paste | V | Pastes the musical data from the clipboard into the currently selected track
Undo | U | Undoes an action.
Redo | R | Redoes an action.
Pause | F5 | Pauses any current playback. Pressing play will then continue the song from the point it was paused
Stop | F6 | Stops any current playback. Pressing play will then continue the song from the start of the song.
Play Measure | F7 | Plays the currently selected measure
Play | F8 | Plays the whole song from the beginning
Help | F1 | Brings up the help screen.
Key Help | F2 | Brings up a list of keys and what they map to.
Exit | Esc | Exits out of the composition screen and pulls up the main menu.

Sixteenth Note | 1 | Enters a sixteenth note. A sixteenth note represents one box in the track panel.
Eighth Note | 2 | Enters an eight note. An eight note represents two boxes in the track panel.
Quarter Note | 3 | Enters a quarter note. A quarter note represents three boxes in the track panel.
Half Note | 4 | Enters a half note. A half note represents four boxes in the track panel.
Whole Note | 5 | Enters a whole note. A whole note represents five boxes in the track panel.
Add measure | A | Adds another measure to the end of the composition
Delete Measure | D | Removes the currently selected measure
Insert Measure | M | Inserts a measure before the currently selected measure.
Clear Measure | B | Clears the currently selected measure.
Change Tempo | E | Pulls up the change tempo screen.
Add/Delete Instruments | I | Pulls up the Add/Delete Instrument screen.
Change Time Signature | T | Pulls up the Change Time Signature screen.
Next Measure | L | Displays the next measure on the screen.
Previous Measure | K | Displays the previous measure on the screen.
Increase Volume | + | Increases the volume of a particular note.
Decrease Volume | - | Decreases the volume of a particular note.
Track Below | Page down | Navigates to the instrument track below the current selected track.
Track Above | Page up | Navigates to the instrument track above the current selected track.