#44 Note Highlight Color - Chromatic scale

[Richard J Scarff]

Hi Pedro,

Version 5.12.10 dosen't seem to have Preferences - Note Highlight Color - Chromatic scale as an option.

[Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas]

First: there is no version 5.12.10, the latest VMPK version is 0.8.0; maybe you are confused with the Qt version 5.12.10 ?

Second: there should have never been an option for chromatic scale note highlighting. Highlighting means the color used to paint a key when its note is playing. The three options are the same as before: single color, two colors and one color for each MIDI channel. And now, the "colors..." button filters the palettes to only show/edit the highlighting palettes in the preferences dialog.

On the other hand, the menu option "Edit"->"Color palette" shows a dialog with six options:

• The three highlight palettes mentioned above,
• Chromatic scale background (12 colors)
• Keys backgound (2 colors)
• Font foreground (4 colors)

Maybe you are looking for the "Chromatic scale background" palette?

This palette was already available in past releases, but now all palette names specify highligh/background/foreground to explain its function.

The "Chromatic scale background" palette is used when the menu option "view"->"color scale" is checked. The background palettes are used to paint the keys that are not playing. The other background palette: "Keys background", has two default colors: white, for the natural notes and black for the accidentals, but now you can configure whatever colors you prefer, for instance to paint black the natural notes and white the accidentals, like in some ancient harpsichords. The font foreground palette is used to paint the note names.

[Richard J Scarff]

Hi Pedro,
Thanks very much for replying and I think VMPK is brilliant.
Yes I was confusing the version number with Qt version.

I am a bit confused though, I've attached a couple of screen shots, the first one clearly shows chromatic scale note highlighting as an option in the preferences. and the second one is version 0.8.0. Where am I going wrong here?
Thanks from Richard

[Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas]

The old version was wrong, because it offered a choice as a highligh palette that should have not been a highlight palette at all, it was a background palette. The new version 0.8.0 fixed the names and the place.

The problem was that all other palettes except the "chromatic scale" were for highlighting purposes only. The four were placed together out of lazyness.

There was indeed an ugly result when the user selected the "chromatic scale" palette in preferences for highlighting, and then view->color scale at the same time.

[Richard J Scarff]

Okay thanks. So just to clarify - I've attached a few seconds video which I think is 'Chromatic highlighting' (i.e. a key is painted when it is pressed down).
I use this alot when I'm teaching, especially for beginners as I have music where the note colours correspond to note colours on the score.
Are you saying that the new version can't do this? Or do I do it another way?
If so I shall have to stick (at least sometimes) to the old version to use this but the features in the new version are very useful especially being able to select #'s or b's for the black notes names or not have them showing at all.

[Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas]

The new version 0.8.0 can't do the same highlighting.

The only thing that you can do in 0.8.0 is to paint the keys background with the "chromatic scale background" palette, view->color scale.

There are only three highlighting modes now, that you can choose in the Preferences dialog.