Melody Assistant 7.6.2k

Melody Assistant is a very easy to use but powerful application for computer-assisted music-making.

Melody Assistant allows you to enter, play and print musical scores without too much hustle.

Melody Assistant includes many other useful capabilities: a digital sound database is integrated so you can hear your tunes with high-quality sounds, even if you do not own professional hardware or an external MIDI keyboard.

Melody Assistant's technology will also allow you to record your own sounds and use them as instruments in your tunes.

An extended "Gold" sound database, even more complete, can be ordered.
Guitar, Bass and Harmonica players will also be happy with Melody Assistant, since it is possible to calculate tablatures and chord diagrams automatically from a tune.

Here are some key features of "Melody Assistant":

· Melody manages a wide range of music symbols, and above all takes account for you to hear them as well.
· Thus, grace notes, glissando, trills, mordants, vibrato, pedal, ottava, dynamics, etc, are played.
· A powerful editor lets you insert, delete and move notes easily on staves.
· A complete digital instrument sound database is included to Melody, which provides a very good quality of sound to playback your music,, even if you do not own professional hardware.
· Very elaborate digital effects (Reverb, Chorus, Distortion, Wah...) can be applied at any location on score.
· You can limit access to your document by a password, and doing so protect your work. For example, your score can be played but not modified.
· When working on a file, its different versions can be kept on your hard disk so that you can cancel your changes in case of mistake.
· Many document templates, covering the most usual needs, are provided. You can also define your own templates.
· It is possible to record your own sounds from a CD or a microphone (or to import a sound in WAV or AIFF format), and use them as instruments in your tune.
· You can also record complete digital tracks from a CD or a microphone (or import a sound in WAV, AIFF, OGG or MP3 format), then work on it using the software. These digital tracks can be mixed with regular or MIDI staves.
· Your tune files can be played either on PC or Macintosh, since Melody exists on both platforms.
· Melody enables also to import and export music in MIDI, Rich Midi, ABC,TAB,KAR format as well as in digital audio formats like AIFF, WAV,Vorbis Ogg or MP3.
· Scores can be used in word processors, picture editors or publication software through the PICT, BMP or EPS export.
· Melody can also read MOD and S3M files.
· For example, you can then convert easily a MIDI file to MP3.
· KaraokeYou can add lyrics to your tune, then play it in Karaoke mode: words scroll while you are singing.
· Of course, Melody imports and exports in MIDI Karaoke format (.KAR).
· Melody manages karaokes with several sung voices, ideal for choirs.
· You can also record a complete piece from a CD, then soften the singer's voice and sing in place of him.
· "Shape note" notation is also managed.
· Using Virtual Singer, lyrics will even be automatically sung.
· If you own a MIDI keyboard, you can perform real-time MIDI input. Above this, because Melody Assistant also manages digital tracks, you can record at the same time a digital audio track. You can then record your voice with the microphone while you play on keyboard.
· Guitarists, bassists and harmonicists haven't been forgotten: Melody calculates tablatures and displays the guitar chord diagrams. You can even define your own stringed instrument and calculate tablatures for it!
· Melody Assistant can also compute tablatures for all fretted string instruments (Banjo, Balalaika, Ukulele ...) but also for Harmonica, Appalachian Dulcimer and Baroque Lute.
· A complete library of chord diagrams is included in Melody. You can complete this library by defining easily your own chords.
· Pictures, in black and white or color (in BMP or PICT format) can be inserted at any point on score.
· All music symbols can be colorized, globally or individually, in order to enhance the attractiveness of your document.
· For example, you can set all "C" to blue, and "D" to green... Useful if you're learning musical notation.
· You can drop texts and comments where you want on the score, and define your own background patterns.
· Printing is widely user-definable. You can define what staves you want to be printed or not, whether you want the ruler, tune name, or the complete lyrics below the score.
· You can also print the complete sorted list of guitar chord diagrams to make a very useful customized handbook.

Limitations:

· No clef or time signature change.
· Export limited to a few seconds.
· Watermark on printed pages.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

New:
· Now possible to extract and export pictures that are used in free objects

Improvements:
· Better sorting of fonts names in the text style palette.
· MusicXML import : management of multiple styles in Title/Composer/Remarks
· MusicXML import/export : better page settings, better positioning of text objects
· Windows : when selecting a font through a pop-up menu, they are sorted alphabetically
· Windows : MP3 export : Exported lyrics didn't show in Windows Media Player

Fixes:
· Possible crash when making a change to the score while setting a special beam or a slur.
· In a score sung by Virtual Singer, when the music starting point was set to bar #1, the program ignored the selected repeat number.
· Fixed chord display in harmonica tablatures
· Small glitches in ABC import/export
· Merged staff curve edit in page mode : only the first and last staff could be edited
· Fixed accented user name in page footer
· Harmony Assistant : fixed MP3 export of drum staves with a lyrics line
· Harmony Assistant / MyrSc...