~s-cecilio/lenmus/v5.3

LenMus ChangeLog

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LenMus Phonascus 4.1

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LenMus Phonascus 4.0 (January 17th, 2009)

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As the version number change suggests, release 4.0 is major update in

the program code and functionality. The main changes are:

Inclusion of a score editor (beta status)

The major change from previous release 3.6 is the inclusion of a score

editor (althoug in beta status). The score editor is not yet finished, 

as much more features have to be added, but the included features are 

operational, and allows to create simple scores, even with several 

instruments and voices. Nevertheless, the editor is in a preliminary state

(beta status) and it is mainly useful deal with simple scores with one 

voice per staff. Many voices per staff are also supported but facilities 

to automate layouting task and taking automated decisions, such as 

automatic voice assignment, automatically setting up stem direction in 

notes to avoid collisions between stems, and other facilities, are not 

fully operational and in some cases produce poor results. Also, at 

current development stage, it is not possible to deal with:

    * lyric lines

    * slurs

    * dynamics, articulations and other symbols

    * cue/grace notes

    * rehearsal marks, coda, segno and related symbols

    * nested tuples

    * figures: lines, boxes, circles, other

These missing features will be added in coming releases. The basements 

are now there, so I expect to add much more features in short time.

One of the issues that has demanding me a lot of time is the user interface.

I would like to find a simple and intuitive interface, but the complexities

involved in editing a score makes this difficult to achieve. Therefore, do

not assume the user interface is finished as I will continue experimenting

with different approaches. Your suggestions are extremelly welcome,

specially if you have experience in using other score editors.

Change of license to GPL v3+

The extensive code re-writing required to include the score editor and the

fact that including a score editor is a major change in program features are

the main reasons to change release number to 4.0 instead of 3.7.

With release 4.0 I also have changed the program license to the new Free

Software Foundation GPL V3+. With this change, I expect to better ensure

your rights to use LenMus for free, to have access to source code, and to be

able to distribute it to others and to modify it. The change to GPL v3+ is

also a reason to change the release number to 4.0. With this change it will

be more identifiable which license applies to which lenmus version:

    * lenmus 1.x - freeware. Source code not available

    * lenmus 2.x & 3.x - GPL v2+

    * lenmus 4.x - GPL v3+

Welcome page

A welcome page has been added to facilitate access to the different features

and to have easily available on startup:

    * eBooks

    * The score editor

    * Latest open scores

    * Useful links and documentation

Other changes

Version 4.0 does not include new music eBooks or exercises. But bugs

detected in previous versions have been fixed.

Three new translations has been added: Basque, Galician and Italian.

LenMus Phonascus 3.6 (December 1st, 2007)

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Some new features and changes are introduced:

    * A new eBook with theory and exercises on cadences.

    * The automatic composer algorithm has been rewritten to take into

      account harmony rules. Scores in music reading exercises are now 

      'singable' and takes tonality into account.

    * Some errors corrected in Music Reading Level 1 eBook

    * French translation has been totally reviewed.

    * Some bug fixes and other technical improvements:

          o Bug fixed [#1742061]: Occasional crash on Ear Interval exercise.

          o Bug fixed [#1742062]: Intervals: theory exercise. No button 

            for 2dim answer.

          o Bug fixed [#1823932]: Score symbols bad positioned when no

            standard screen resolution.

          o Bug fixed [#1742064]: Scales identification: ambiguity in 

            answer buttons.

LenMus Phonascus 3.5 (June 17th, 2007)

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Some new features are introduced that affect the users' experience of 

the software:

    * A new eMusicBook is included: Music Reading level 1

    * Playback: a rhythmic accent was added. Higher volume on stronger 

      beats.

    * The MDI user interface was replaced by a notebook tabbed interface.

    * The lenmus program now includes the Dutch language translation.

Additionally, the new version has a lot of technical changes and some 

bug fixes:

    * Support was added to include images in eMusicBook texts.

    * Score parameters in eBooks: added tag to specify a fixed metronome

      rate to play the score instead of using a user specified value in the

      metronome control.

    * Improvements in the automatic music composer:

          o The composer was modified so that in the final measure it never

            adds a note longer that a quarter note if the composed piece

            only uses quarter notes. This was needed for Music Reading Level

            1 eBook, for the initial lessons.

    * Improvements in the internal score model to support more features:

          o Support to include graphical objects (arrows, lines, circles,

            etc.) in a score. For now only lines are implemented.

          o Implemented metronome mark notations.

          o Added support to set up the size of a measure by specifying 

            the barline position.

          o Added support for fermatas on notes and rests.

          o Added support to have global, inheritable options in all 

            score elements. Implemented support for the following options:

                + Option 'Staff.DrawLeftBarline' to control left barline 

                  drawing.

                + Option 'StaffLines.Hide' to control staff lines drawing.

                + Option 'StaffLines.StopAtFinalBarline' to allow for staff

                  lines going to the right paper margin instead of finishing

                  at the final barline.

                + Option 'Staff.UpperLegerLines.Displacement' to shift the

                  first upper leger line so that it is closer/further than

                  normal spacing. The other leger lines spacing is not

                  changed.

                + Options 'Render.SpacingMethod' and 'Render.SpacingValue',

                  to allow for more control of score renderization.

    * Improvements in score renderization:

          o Fixed spacing method implemented.

          o Fixed bug [#1715968]. Proportional spacing of notes is 

            now working.

          o Do not add spacing after barline if barline is not visible.

    * Improvements in LDP language to support the new features. New 

      tags added:

          o Implemented simple notation 'fermata', and compound notation

            '(fermata [above | below])' on notes and rests.

          o tag 'metronome' to define metronome notations.

          o tag 'graphic line' to add lines on a score.

          o tag 'spacer' for better controlling staff space.

          o tag 'opt' to add global, inheritable options to all other tags.

          o Added support for strings enclosed in double simple quotes as 

            an alternative to double quotes.

    * Several bug fixes:

          o Bug fixed [#1724988]: Crash if program is closed while playing

            intervals in aural training compare intervals exercise.

          o Bug fixed [#1715979]: When you have a score open, the 'show/hide

            navigation panel' button shows as active but you cannot click

            on it.

          o Bug fixed [#1715953]: In the Midi configuration wizard the 

            drop downs in the wizard should not be editable.

          o Bug fixed [#1715959]: Focus problem. In the configuration 

            window when you check the proxy configuration but do not fill it

            in and then change the focus to section 'language', the category

            selector changes but the focus remains on the Internet section.

            Alternatively you could generate a warning message and leave the

            focus on the Internet section.

          o Bug fixed [#1715963]: Repeated quick acceleration letters in

            options, menu labels. The English text has the same letter as

            quick key for bottom and right labels.

          o Bug fixed [#1715965]: Rests in a group of tied notes are not 

            rendered in the right position.

          o Bug fixed [#1715968]: Proportional spacing of notes is 

            not working.

          o Bug fixed [#176634]: Program crash if closed while playing 

            a score.

          o Bug fixed [#176635]: Crash if program is closed while playing

            an exercise (L2_MusicReading).

          o Bug fixed [#1590088]: Program crash if move to another 

            exercise while playing an exercise.

LenMus Phonascus 3.4 (5/Feb/07)

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    * A new eMusicBooks source format, based on XML and DocBook, has been

      developed with three objectives in mind:

          o To simplify writing eMusicBooks.

          o To simplify the translation of eMusicBooks.

          o To enable new features.

    * The controller to display eMusicBooks has been rewritten to adapt to

      the new eMusicBooks format. Now the index panel can also display

      images.

    * New buttons to increase/decrease font size on eMusicBooks. They 

      scale also the scores on the books.

    * All toolbar icons has been reviewed to improve the disable images.

    * A program, named LangTool, has been developed to compile eMusicBooks

      and to automate the translation process.

    * Supporting wxWidgets libraries upgraded to version 2.8.0

    * Bug fixed: In the options panel, key signature 'D mayor/B minor' is 

      duplicated and 'D b Mayor/B b minor' is missing [1610190].

    * Bug fixed: Minor scales, in scales exercises, have wrong key 

      signature [1604535].

    * Bug fixed: No ascending intervals in aural training [1601350].

    * Bug fixed: Spanish translation error in aural training 

      exercises [1610186].

    * Bug fixed: Metronome lose previous run settings. Always initialised

      at 20.

    * Bug fixed: Some navigation buttons on eMusicBooks didn't work.

LenMus Phonascus 3.3 (10/Nov/06)

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    * A new exercise for aural training: identify scales.

    * Theory exercise on scales identification improved: now it is 

      user configurable and more scales have been included.

    * Software updater improved: now it takes proxies into account (user

      request, task #130256).

    * Options dialog modified to include Internet settings. Updater 

      settings moved from 'Other settings' to 'Internet settings'.

    * French and Turkish translations now included.

    * Changing to another language is now immediate. In previous versions 

      it was delayed to the next run of the program.

    * New option to enable/disable right/wrong answer sounds in exercises

      (user request #1559450).

    * New option to do exercises in teams: two answer counters are displayed

      and each new problem is assigned to a different team.

    * New option to show the solution also when the answer was right.

    * Now, at first run, the program detects the language chosen for 

      installer interface and configures program to use also this language

      as default.

    * Screen renderization code modified to deal with fractions of a pixel

      and add anti-aliasing. This technique greatly improves visual quality

      of displayed scores.

    * Bug fixed: Metronome not synchronized with the score in compound 

      times (user reported bug #1581743)

    * Bug fixed: Occasionally, crash when displaying and exercise.

    * Bug fixed: When printing a score, in occasions, it is not adjusted

      to page size.

LenMus Phonascus 3.2 (26/Aug/06)

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    * New exercise for ear training: identify chords.

    * New theory exercise: identify chords.

    * Ear intervals exercise now allows to play intervals while not 

      expecting an answer

    * eBooks navigation toolbar now integrated with the main toolbars.

    * Print button and menu print option now also works for eBooks.

    * Unicode build, to fully support internationalization.

LenMus Phonascus 3.1 (4/Aug/06)

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    * First release oriented to support score edition:

          o LenMus scores imported from text files.

          o New toolbars for the score editor: play back, zoom.

          o Export scores as bmp or jpg images.

    * Toolbars are now draggable and dockable.

    * Improvements in score layout.

    * Bug fixed: Frequency to check for program updates changes if 

      language is changed.

    * Bug fixed: When playing back a score, accidentals not always

      propagated along the measure.

LenMus Phonascus 3.0 (May/06)

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    * All eBooks are now available in English and Spanish.

    * Buttons for answers added to 'identify scales' and 'build interval'

      exercises.

    * Name of intervals now displayed in ear training exercises when

      requesting to show the solution.

    * The exercise on intervals (theory) has been improved.

    * The piano keyboard has been removed.

    * Now, at start, automatically checks if a new version of the program

      is available.

In addition:

    * Project changed to GNU free software, hosted at Sourceforge.net

    * Totally reprogrammed, from Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to wxWidgets and

      C++. This opens the possibility to launch releases for all Linux

      variants, Mac OS X, and Windows, and relief the project from version

      2.0 technical constrains to improve.

    * Teaching material now written in Windows help format

LenMus Phonascus 2.0 (Oct/04):

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    * Polyphonic capabilities added.

    * Support for scores with several instruments added to external 

      language LDP

    * Developed an architecture for integration between scores, interactive

      exercises and written text book material, so that all exercises are

      fully integrated into the text and music scores are not just images or

      pictures but fully interactive operational music scores that the

      student can hear, in whole or just the measures selected by the

      student.

    * Internationalization support added. First English release.

    * For more details click here.

LenMus 1.0 (Jan/04):

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    * First release.

    * A collection of non-integrated music exercises for ear-training and

      music reading.

    * Only Spanish version. No internationalization support