This help file is designed to guide you through the use of the Decibel ScoreCreator, the companion app that allows you to create score files for use with the Decibel ScorePlayer. It explains what the various fields in the program mean, and how they affect the way the score is read by the ScorePlayer. This page will guide you through the options contained within the main window. To find out more about the advanced settings for each type of score, check out the following links:
Scrolling Scores
Talking Board Scores
When you first open the program, you will be presented with two windows: the main window, where you input all of the details for your score, and the preview window, which shows what your score will look like on the iPad. You can view this in both landscape and portrait modes by selecting your desired orientation from the view menu.
The main window as it first appears. By default, the score to be created is a scrolling score.
Some of these fields are required to create a score, while others are optional, with sensible defaults being used where any values are omitted. This is indicated in the heading describing each field below.
These fields are used to enter the name and the composer of the work. It is important that they form a unique combination, since the ScorePlayer app uses them to determine whether any other iPads on the same network are viewing the same score. Because of this, no two works of any composer should share the exact same name. In the ScorePlayer's score selection screen, scores are sorted first by composer surname and then by the title of the work. The ScorePlayer assumes that the final space that occurs in the composer's name separates their surname from any given names. To override this, you can instead specify the surname first, separating it from any given names with a comma. For example, "Cat Hope" can also be entered as "Hope, Cat". Where a work has more than one composer, these should be separated by a semicolon. The ScorePlayer will expand this to a more natural, human-readable form. "Cat Hope; Lindsay Vickery" will appear in the player as "Cat Hope and Lindsay Vickery".
The duration specifies the length of the piece, in seconds. To take a scrolling score as an example, this would determines the rate at which the selected score image moves across the screen.
At present, the start offset only applies to scrolling scores, and the field will be disabled when another score type is selected. This option specifies the size of a score's left margin, in pixels. If nothing is entered here, then the score will start scrolling from the very left edge of the image. Entering a value here is particularly useful in cases where instructions are placed at the left hand side of the score, or where there is a large left margin that would leave a considerable silence at the start of a performance. This is also the point that the score will be brought back to when the reset button in the ScorePlayer is tapped. The preview window shows the current position of the score in the label at the bottom of the window so that you can easily determine the value that should be entered here, by scrolling through the score and positioning your desired starting point against the playhead. Additionally, on entering a value, the image in the preview window will jump to show the exact starting point.
The start of Noise in the Clouds, by Stuart James. The score has a start offset of 450 pixels, and this is shown in the preview window as the point where the playhead crosses the image. This causes the score to start from the left edge of the stave so that the musicians do not have to unnecessarily wait for the instrument labels to scroll past the playhead at the start of a performance.
As with the start offset, the playhead offset only applies to scrolling scores at present. It adjusts the position of the vertical playhead on the screen, and can be entered into the field as a value in pixels or as a percentage by selecting the adjacent checkbox. (This can be useful if you want the playhead to divide the screen in the same proportions in both landscape and portrait mode.) These are both measured from the left edge of the screen as shown by the accompanying diagram. The width of the iPad screen is 1024 or 768 pixels depending on the orientation, so this should be kept in mind when choosing a suitable value. Increasing the value allows the performer to see more of the material that has already been played for reference, while decreasing the value allows them to see more of what is coming up. You should find a balance that suits your specific material. The default value of 150 pixels is used if nothing is specified here.
Juanita Neilsen, by Cat Hope, showing the playhead positioned in the middle of the screen. (A setting of 50%.) It also provides another demonstration of the use of the start offset to position the starting point of the score to the right of the instructions that appear at the left edge of the image.
The image file field allows you to select the image that contains the score's content. (For a scrolling score, this is the image that will be scrolled across the screen.) It must be a PNG or JPEG file. Rather than entering the filename directly, you can use the button to the right of the text field to browse for your image. When selecting an image, the ScoreCreator will check to see if it is part of a larger set of images (named using the format filename_1.jpg (or .png), filename_2.jpg, etc) if the current score can make use of one. A scrolling score, for example, can tile together such a set of images to create a single, long scrolling score. (For this to work, the images must all be the same size.)
When a set of images is found, the ScoreCreator can automatically adjust any necessary advanced settings to make use of them.
The preview window of the ScoreCreator will show exactly how any images will be scaled to fit the screen of the iPad. While images are scaled down in the ScorePlayer, they are generally not scaled up, so you should make sure that any images you use are of high enough resolution. The minimum height required for a scrolling score to fill the screen in landscape mode is 715 pixels, while in portrait mode it is 971 pixels. (For information on suggested resolutions of other score types, see their respective pages.) Due to the memory constraints of the iPad, you should avoid making images too large. That said, the ScoreCreator now takes this into account, and can automatically resize large images and cut them into tiles if necessary. You will be prompted about this at score creation time and it is strongly advised that you answer yes when asked about it.
Another excerpt from Noise in the Clouds, by Stuart James. The ScoreCreator has detected that the image file used for the score is overly large for display on the iPad, and is offering to scale and tile the score. "Yes" is always the right answer here.
The instructions file is an image that can be used to accommodate instructions about notations and other information relevant to the interpretation of the score. If it is included, the ScorePlayer will display a button in the upper right hand corner of the score (while it is stopped) that allows performers to access this information. This image should be under 540 pixels in width, but can be as tall as desired since the view that displays it can be scrolled vertically. The preview window mimics the display of this instruction file as it would occur in the ScorePlayer so that you can see how it will look in the app.
The instructions for Speechless, by Cat Hope. By pressing the instructions button that appears in the top right hand corner of the preview window, you can see how these will look on the iPad.
This allows you to embed an audio file into the score. Playback will begin right at the start of the score, so any necessary lead in time must be included as silence at the start of the audio file itself. Audio should be in wav or aiff format.
This allows you to select the background colour which, for a scrolling score, is visible at the bottom of the screen, and becomes visible to the sides of the screen at the beginning and end of the score. While mostly cosmetic, it can help to give a score a more unified feel.
agitation techniques in a closed system, by Lindsay Vickery, showing the colour selection window displayed. The eyedropper tool at the bottom of the window can be used to help exactly match the background colour of the score's image file.
Parts as PNG or JPEG files can be added and removed in the parts table. This allows the performer to cycle between the score and individual parts by swiping up and down on the iPad. (To simulate this in the preview window, click and drag up or down.) These images should be the same width, and have the same margins as the score to ensure that events align with one another. Including parts is particularly useful for complex scores where it is clearer for each performer to see only their own part.
Juanita Neilsen, by Cat Hope, as seen earlier in the playhead offset example. The cello one part has been selected and can be seen in greater detail here than on the score (see above), which has to be scaled down to fit on the iPad's screen.
Once all of the required fields have been completed, the create button will be enabled. This will allow you to export the score as a DSZ file, which can then be imported into the ScorePlayer app on the iPad via the file sharing feature of iTunes.
If you have any troubleshooting enquiries, please forward them to:
info@decibel.waapamusic.com