Re: [Rosegarden-devel] Laundry list of guitar chord editor fixes

[Stephen T. <st...@to...>]

On Tue, 2005-12-27 at 18:00 +0100, Guillaume Laurent wrote:
> On Monday 12 December 2005 01:30, Stephen Torri wrote:
> > I am a bit fuzzy on who had a laundry list of things to be done to the
> > guitar chord editor. I would appreciate that list on Thursday. My final=
s
>=20
> Better late than never, here's mine (after an update of your branch). Mos=
t are=20
> details (but then again that's where the devil lies :-) ).

No worries. I appreciate the input.

> The chord editor :
>=20
> - some layout nitpicks : buttons on the right look too big, I'd stack the=
m on=20
> the bottom of the dialog. It's also probably better to disallow resizing =
of=20
> the dialog.

Done. Changes in CVS. I find with KDE 3.4 I can modify the windows only
slighly like there is some kind of slack in the window.

> - the scale names with "_Sharp" or "_Flat" would look much better with ac=
tual=20
> '#' and 'b'.

For the scale name of the guitar chord editor I can use '#' and 'b' to
denote sharp or flat. Its the XML files where I think that "_Sharp" and
"_Flat" would be fine and just convert the string before displaying.
Contrary it might be simpler all around to just use the '#' and 'b'
characters. I need to think about this more.

> - I'm not sure the scrollbar is the right control to select the fret numb=
er of=20
> the fingering, a spinbox would probably be more appropriate, and strange=20
> things sometimes happen when you set open strings along with a barr=E9, a=
nd=20
> then use that scrollbar.

Changed. Using a spinbox now for setting the first fret.

The odd behavior occurs if you have a barre and set either a open or
muted string. The problem lies in the way in which the barre is stored
in the Fingering. I have a map that gives the relation between fret
number and a Barre object. This helps in searching the Fingering to see
if there exists a Barre object at a particular fret number. So to keep
things updated I must remove and add the adjusted Barre object to the
map. When I do this I update the status of the guitar strings affected
(See Fingering::setFirstFret). I call addBarre to add the adjusted barre
back into the map. Perhaps I need to do that work locally in
setFirstFret. Again I will ponder that one.

> - the fingering editor itself still needs work. There is no way to remove=
 a=20
> dot (except by adding one on another fret on the same string). When "draw=
ing"=20
> a barr=E9, there's no visual feedback of the mouse move. It lets you add =
a dot=20
> (and even a muted or an open string) *behind* a barr=E9.

Done. First draft at least. I provide a button for toggling between
'Insert' and 'Delete' mode in the editor. At the bottom of the dialog is
a status bar for letting the user know which mode they are in. Also the
cursor changes from an arrow (Insert) to a cross (Delete). I can delete
a note or barre with this method. Give it a try and let me know what
people think.

> - it's possible that eventually you'll have to support custom tunings, bu=
t I=20
> wouldn't worry about it for now.

Sure. I believe this belongs as part of the 'Guitar' and 'GuitarString'
classes. After reviewing KGuitar I noticed that I would need to do that
so I provided these classes for that purpose.

> - I'm not at all comfortable with the Scale/Modifier/Suffix  representati=
on of=20
> a chord. That's my biggest gripe. I'm sorry if this was already discussed=
 and=20
> I glanced over it, but as a guitar player this really doesn't make sense =
to=20
> me. A chord should be defined with a tonic, an "extension" (can't find a=20
> better term), and an altered bass.

I am honest when I say I did not know what to call them at first. I have
a few guitar chord books and I have never seen a breakdown of the chord
names. Is there a music theory book which breaks down the name?

> For instance with your current scheme I don't see how I can make the=20
> distinction between a C7 and a Cmaj7. Also, it doesn't make sense to let =
one=20
> add any kind of "suffix" after a 'sus' (only sus2 and sus4 exist) or a=20
> 'dim' (only dim or dim7). It lacks 'add' (Cadd9, Cadd11 - or is that=20
> 'plus' ?), and finally you can add only one modifier while in practice yo=
u=20
> can have two (C7sus4, C6/9, Cmaj7#5). I suggest you take a look at a chor=
d=20
> dictionnary before going on, I found this one to be rather good :
>=20
> http://www.jmdl.com/howard/guitarchords/C_chords.html

Thanks. I will work on the naming.

> About the chord selector :
>=20
> - apparently some of the fingerings are wrong, and some are missing, like=
 the=20
> A form for C major (x13330).

Which ones are wrong?

I have not given all chords right now.=20

> - same comment about the buttons than with the chord editor, layout proba=
bly=20
> needs some rethinking, the aliases field is probably too large too

Buttons layout has been changed. The alias field is sized to fit the
'cell' in the layout. Should it be half the height?

> - 'Create' should be 'New' I think

Done. Changed in CVS.

Stephen