Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation

Subject: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Nan
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 02:13 PM

Hi, Have a GREAT program called Cakewalk that lets me put midi files in and it spits out the musical notation. Now, I'd like to create gifs so i can e-mail the notation to friends. I can't seem to figure it out....anyone out there have this program and can help me out? Thanks! Nancy

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Allan C.
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 02:48 PM

Rats! I saw the word, "cake" and just naturally clicked in only to find that it was not yet another food thread;-]

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Bert C.
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 02:48 PM

Hi Nan,

I'm not sure if I have the same version of Cakewalk that you're using, but I'll check it out tonight.

I have found it to be a bit rough around the edges and occasionally unstable, i.e. save early and save often, but it seems quite powerful. However, I'm using it in the opposite direction from you. I type in scores and see how they sound. Then I can pass the files to another member of the band for an opinion.

Yeah, I know, I should learn to play keyboard, but I have enough trouble keeping up with my string collection.

Stay Tuned,

Bert C.

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 02:59 PM

I think CakeWalk is an excellent program but with my version (3) short of doiing screen captures, it is imossible to create gif files from it.

If you are looking to email, why not send as midi and let the person the other end worry about printng or view the dots.

Anther format that is worth looking at if you want to produce the music is ABC. It is actually stronger than the MIDI based programs like Cakewalk when it comes to producing notataion and programs are available to convert ABC to gif.

Jon

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Cara
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 03:12 PM

All of you should know that there's some big controversy surrounding gifs right now. UNISYS is trying to get $5000 from webmasters who use gifs created with unlicensed software. All of this means nothing to me, but apparently all sorts of technologically adept folks are quite up in arms over it. I'm just putting thisa out there as an FYI.

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Bert C
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 10:40 PM

My particular version is Cakewalk Score Writer, version 1.0 for Windows. However I found a way to do it that should work with almost any version of any program. The key is using a faxing program like WinFax or RapidComm. Any program that allows you to print out a score will also let you choose the fax program as your "printer". These fax programs will generally allow you to save the image as a file in "fax" format instead of sending it. Then you can use Microsoft Photo Editor or some other graphics program to open the fax file and re-save it in almost any graphic format, including GIF. I tried it with RapidComm and Photo Editor and it worked like a charm.

The only drawback is that Cakewalk uses very thin lines, so as soon as you attempt to shrink the image to less than 100% of the original size, you begin to lose lines. A one-page score was 27Kb.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to write me at [e-mail]

Bert C.

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 08 Sep 99 - 10:46 PM

G'day,
A pretty easy way that I use is Paintshop Pro's capture function. You can capture any portion of the screen and save it in any format you like. If there is a legal problem with gifs consider jpeg.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 99 - 02:57 PM

wow...Alan & Bert C...those are both neat ideas!..There are many ways it seems, if you just look at the tools and see what can be done...thanks

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 99 - 03:06 PM

after posting, I went to PaintShop Pro....all you need to do is set or find the 'hot key'...and it is an amazing trick!! you can save it MANY formats..I can type a tune into Noteworthy or some other program, and very quickly copy it with PSP...and if someone NEEDS to see it as a GIF or JPG, I can email it or post it on a website....

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: Bert C.
Date: 09 Sep 99 - 03:59 PM

I also thought of the screen capture idea, but you would have to shrink the page to fit on one screen before you capture it. By the way, this can be done with any version of Windows Paint by pressing the <Print Screen> key. That puts a BMP image of the current screen on the clipboard, from which you can paste it into Paint (or other graphics program). If you have Windows 98, Paint can save in most common graphics formats, including GIF & JPEG.

Subject: RE: Cakewalk program,create gifs of notation
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 10 Sep 99 - 06:43 PM

I don't use Cakewalk--but do use Finale, Musicshop, and Overture, and have used the FAX method very sucessfully--It is also possible to convert the FAX to an Adobe PDF file--(though I just tried it and lost the notation font for some reason)-- anyway, I have spoken to people at CODA Software who say that they will offer reader program before the end of the year that will allow people who don't have notation software to read and print music files--