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TAKE NOTE

Jon L. Jacobi

Take Note Opening Screen

Take Note

Ear Training and Educational application
By Jon L. Jacobi
Released as Freeware October 1st, 2000
Atari version now available October 2002

Recently a certain Alexander Maas contacted me and told me about a program that has been in the Public Domain, but was not represented on my site. he even sent me the program files for which I am very grateful as "Take Note" is an excellent program. Not only can you use it for it's intended application but you can also use it as an alternate Mouse controller as it has several grids that the mouse can be interactive including a Guitar Grid. You can also draw in notes in the notation or guitar grid and they will loop. This program however is not 030 compatable, but will probably work under Steem. There is also a Windows version available in which you can use the HELP files for further instruction on the program. Below is what I was able to edit from the enclosed readme files which gives all the keyboard shortcuts and menu items. Jon L. Jacobi ( the author) also has a web site devoted to it, so please check out the Link section. Thanks go to Alexander Maas for bringing it to my attention.


TAKE NOTE Features:

- Practicing, ear training, and note/form spelling over a range of 5 octaves.
- Highly configurable user interface including floating and compact window layouts.
- Enter and display music directly into the guitar, staff or piano windows.
- Easy to use windows for entering complex musical forms.
- Transposing 24 fret guitar window with open, closed, and extended positioning.
- Adjustable loop points, and real-time tempo control.
- Midi in, out, and thru. Midi control for all vital program functions.
- Mix and match different musical forms in the same drill.
- Extensive help files covering all aspects of the program.
- Keep score for current, previous, and all sessions to date.
- Assign sounds as penalties and rewards.
- Save/load user scales, scores, setup, instruments, and songs.
- Drills:

- Pitch.
- Intervals (harmonic and melodic).
- Chords and Arpeggios.
- Scales (over 30 preset, plus user definable sets).
- Key Signatures
- Instruments
- Guitar positions.
- Rhythm.
- Songs (by .mid file).
- Note and Form Spelling.

Take Note arpegiator Screen

* KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS *

Almost all of the programs functions may now be accessed via the keyboard and are listed beside the corresponding menu entry on screen. The next page lists all the keystrokes used by the program.

^=Control

"S" - Stop/start drills.
"R" - Redo.
Space Bar - Clear screen/step through drills.
CR - Play a form/Play form "Again" in drills.
F1 - Move to Sample mode.
F2 - Move to Spell Mode.
F3 - Move to Study Mode.
F5 - Pitch.
F6 - Intervals.
F7 - Harmonic, melodic or both.
F8 - Chords.
F9 - Arpeggios.
F10 - Scales.

^I - Toggles midi input on and off.
^O - Toggles between Atari and midi output.
^G - Cycles through the guitar positions.
^R - Toggles random root notes.
^F - Toggles forcing the user to name root notes.
^L - Toggles looping on and off
^V - Toggles reversing of forms on and off.
^U - Cycles through ascending/descending playback of forms.
^N - Toggles random reversing of forms in Study Mode.
^S - Toggles scoring on and off.
^E - Toggles entry of notes on and off.
^T - Cycles guitar translation and sound.
^Z - Cycles staff accidentals.
^A - Toggles note name grid accidentals.
^8 - Cycles note name grid octaves.
^P - Cycles the Spell Mode grid.

Alt I - Intervals dialog box.
Alt C - Chords dialog box.
Alt A - Arpeggios dialog box.
Alt S - Scales dialog box.
Alt R - Ranges dialog box.
Alt D - Durations dialog box.
Alt M - Midi dialog box.
Alt H - Colors dialog box or toggles colors.
Alt / - Scores dialog box.

When a melodic form IS playing.
Cursor Up - Scroll name grid up.
Cursor Down - Scroll name grid down
Cursor Right - Scroll scale box up
Cursor Left - Scroll scale box down

When a melodic form IS NOT playing.
Cursor Up - shorten note (FASTER loop)
Cursor Down - lengthen note (SLOWER loop)
Cursor Right - shorten rest (FASTER loop)
Cursor Left - lengthen rest (SLOWER loop)
GUITAR POS.

There are still three available guitar positions even though there is now only one menu item. Clicking on this item will change the text of the item and cycle through the three positions; "Open", "Closed" and "Extended".

OUTPUT

Clicking on this item will toggle the text and function between "Atari Out" and "Midi Out". Previously there were two menu items.

SCORING

This menu item has been changed so that it reads "Keep Score" when your scores are being tracked and "Practice" when they are not.

Take note Menu Screen

MENU

LOAD SCORES/SETUP

Selecting this option calls the ST's file selector allowing you to load a previously saved score or setup file. Previous versions of Take Note used "SCORES.DAT" as the default score file name and "TAKENOTE.CFG" as the configuration file. The default score file name has been changed to "TAKENOTE.SCO". To make an old score file load as default simply load it and save it with the new extender. You will be asked if you wish to backup a file with the same name. If you choose to backup the old file it's new extender will be ".SCB"

SAVE SCORES/SETUP

Selecting this option brings up the file selector and allows you to save a score or setup file. If new scores have been added you will also be prompted upon exiting the program to save or abandon them.

LOOP

Selecting this item will cause forms to play continuously until you CLICK THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON or PRESS THE SPACE BAR. This item affects both Sample and Study modes. While a form is looping you may CHANGE THE PLAYBACK SPEED by using the cursor keys as listed under keystrokes.

REVERSE

When both "Ascending" and "Descending" are selected this item allows you to reverse the order that a melodic form is played in from ascending/descending to descending/ascending. Otherwise this item will appear in lightened text.

RANDOM

Selecting this menu item tells Take Note that you want melodic forms played randomly reversed/unreversed in "Study" mode as opposed to always reversed which will be the case if you only have reverse selected.

HELP

There is a new menu title "Help" which contains several menu items whose main purpose is to list new keystrokes for several functions that are available from the the main screen with the mouse. However, you may select these items and they will have the same effect.

Marking - Toggle marking on and off.
Staff Acc. - Cycle the staff accidentals.
Name Acc. - Toggle the note name grid accidentals.
Name Oct. - Cycle the note name grid octave.
G.Translate - Change the way the guitar grid sounds and transcribes.
Spell Grid - Change the grid notes are being placed on in Spell mode.

DIALOG BOX

You may now exit a dialog box by hitting the RETURN key (Okaying changes made within a dialog box) or SPACE BAR (Cancelling any changes). Alert Boxes are always exited with the return key.

DATE/TIME

The Date/Time setter has been moved to a dialog box. Previously you could only use the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON to increase a value. You may now use the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON to decrease any value. All values are now linked so increasing or decreasing a value will change all related values. (Ex. 01/01/1991 will become 12/31/1990 if you decrease the day by one.). The maximum year limit has been removed just in case this program somehow finds it's way into a time capsule.

This program was developed in part using GFA basic copyright 1988, GFA Systemtechnik.


DOWNLOAD AND LINKS

Download Atari Take Note

Take Note Software: Download the Windows version.