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N (Note) Record
 


The N (Note) record is the first record in the group of fingering records that define a particular note. It specifies which note is being described - the name (e.g. B flat) and the octave.

Format:
Nnao[;uuuuu]
where:
n = the note(a,b,c,d,e,f,g)
a = accidental (n = natural, f=flat)
o = octave (1,2,3)
uuuuu = optional user-defined name for this note (see "Renaming Notes" below)

Example:
Naf2
(this defines the octave 2 A flat)

The N record specifies alto recorder notes - i.e. the lowest note on the recorder is Nfn1 - note f natural, octave 1. This is always the case, even if you have an R (Recorder-Type) Record to change the recorder type when the program starts. All the R record does is pick a different Record-Type radio button, which causes the button labels and scale display to change. The actual fingerings are always specified in terms of the alto recorder.

Therefore, the values for na would be:
fn = F
gf = G flat
gn = G natural
af = A flat
an = A natural
bf = B flat
bn = B natural
C = C
df = D flat
dn = D natural
ef = E flat
en = E natural

Normally you would not be entering your own N records. A much easier way is to use any of the external fingering files that come with the program (e.g. the Supplied file - LEARN.TXT) as a starting point, or use the File Menu's Save Built-in option to dump the program's built-in alternate fingerings to an external file and use that as a starting point. See Getting Started - Saving Built-In Fingerings for more info.

A special N record (combined with regular F records) is used to create External ReadMe information (see External ReadMe - Creating).


Renaming Notes:

New with version 2.85, users have the ability to give different names to the notes. This causes the names displayed on the buttons to change, and all Text Variables used to refer to those notes to change also.

For example:
Nfn1;G

This renames the note to "G" instead of the normal F natural (or C natural if the recorder type is soprano/tenor). 

As usual, the N record continues to specify which note is being defined relative to the alto F recorder, but the name can now be changed once the note is specified. The first part, "fn1" really just specifies which note we are defining, in this case the lowest note in octave 1 (f natural on the alto recorder),  and the ";G" part says to use the name "G" for it instead of the normal F or C.

The O (Octave Bitmap) Record is designed to allow the user to specify a new scale image to match up with the new note names.

Rules for renaming:

The new name (following the ";") must be 5 characters or less. If the name exceeds 5 characters, the record will be flagged with an error in the Loading Errors logfile and the name will be blank.

If you supply a new name for any note, you must at a minimum supply new names for all notes in Octave 1. Any Octave 1 note which is not given a new name will have a blank name (and a blank note button).

You do not have to supply new names for Octave 2 and 3. If you specify new names for just Octave 1, by default the same new names will be used for Octaves 2 and 3. You can, if you wish, give a new name for any or all notes in Octaves 2 and 3, which will override the new name given in Octave 1.

When you rename notes, the Recorder Type buttons are no longer available, because you have defined a new "custom" recorder type, not alto, soprano, tenor, or bass.

When you rename notes, the items on the Enharmonics menu are greyed because your names contain the enharmonic flavor you desire.

You would probably want to also supply new bitmap images for the Octave scale displays to match your new note names. See Octave Bitmap Record for how to do this.

Take special note of the fact that Text Variables do use the new names. For example, If you have given the name "A" to the bottom note on the recorder, a text variable of %%+00 used in any text for that note (e.g. an I (Information) Record) will result in the name "A".

The one area where the new names are not used is in the Keyboard Navigation hot keys for picking notes. They use whatever recorder type was last used before the external file with the new names was loaded. For example, if the alto recorder type was in effect and then you loaded an external file that renamed the lowest note on the recorder an "A", when you then pressed the "A" key, you would not get the lowest note button on the recorder, you would get the 5th note button, which is the A note in alto fingering. There is no easy way to fix this.

Example of renaming - creating a G recorder:

The following example just show the N records for simplicity. Naturally, the full set of Fingering records must be used (see Fingering Records Group - General Description).

Nfn1;G
...
Ngf1;G#
...
Ngn1;A
...
...
Nen1;F#

Resulting in a Note Buttons display for all 3 octaves: