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capella professional Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction -
Installation - Note Editing -
Lyrics -
Sound / MIDI -
Text / Graphics -
Printing
This list of FAQ's refers to capella professional 5.3.
Before you search this list for a solution to your problem . . .
- . . . please confirm, that you are using the latest version of capella: Load capella and open menu
H. The version number will be displayed. Compare your version number with the version in our
Download section. If necessary, download the current version and install it on your PC. This might already solve your problem.
This list of FAQ's does not cover any problems that have been resolved through
service packs and maintenance releases.
- This list of FAQ's cannot replace the manual. You should also have acquired a fair knowledge of capella and be familiar with the workings of Microsoft Windows and you should have an understanding of music terminology (voice, staff, system, chord, etc.); see manual pages 10ff.
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Installation / Configuration |
| When I download a service pack or a maintenance release, does it include all previously released
service packs? |
Yes, you only need to install the most recent update.
You can find it here. |
| What about this product activation? |
Detailed information on this issue is available here . |
| The license doesn't work. In spite of correctly entering the license data (no typos), capella remains in demo mode.
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There could be several reasons for this to happen. Please
e-mail us with further details.
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| Is the license data incomplete? There is only one long serial number . . .
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That is correct. Only this serial number is required to license capella. You'll see it immediately, when the licensing dialog opens.
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| Should I reinstall capella when a problem arises? |
No! Reinstallation is often seen as a cure-all, which is rarely the case. This list of FAQ's will tell you whether re-installation would solve your specific problem. |
| Can I remove individual icons from the toolbars to save space? |
No, only entire toolbars can be de-selected from view.
All toolbars can be placed anywhere on your screen.
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| Regardless of where I place the toolbars, they re-appear in their default position whenever I re-start capella. |
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
Please de-activate this
feature in menu View | Toolbars... |
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Error message "capella caused an error through invalid page module MFC42.DLL . . ." or "File MSVCP60.DLL could not be found" and capella freezes.
| Parts of your operating system are outdated. Please get an update directly from Microsoft here. Please watch out for correct language selection and then choose "Download here".
In general we recommend to use capella professional only with Windows 98SE upwards.
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| Do I need to have the previous version installed, when I upgrade to capella professional? |
No, technically speaking, all our updates are complete new releases, that do not patch into any existing installations. You are therefore free to decide, when you want to uninstall the previous version, allowing you any amount of time to familiarize yourself with the new release. |
| I cannot open "Help". Nothing happens, when I try to call up help. |
capella's help requires Microsoft Internet Explorer to be installed on your system. This program is automatically installed on all Windows systems. Should it not have been installed on your system, please go here to download the current version.
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| When I try to select a different style, capella informs me of a missing font. |
See manual page 98 or help section 8.8: "Notes about capella fonts". |
| How can I change the gap between the staff lines and thereby influence the size of the notes? |
Open the template system (menu Vi) and open menu
T and enter a value
for "staff line spacing". To deviate from values in the drop down list, enter preferred numeric value directly. |
| How can I change the gap between two staves from the standard gap that has been set for the entire score?
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Select menu F. Here you can increase (but not decrease) the value from the one set in the template system.
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| How can I change the tempo within a score?
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The tempo can be changed at the beginning of each new system. To change the speed for the entire score, choose menu
E to select the entire score and then choose menu to set the new tempo.
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| How do I write drum rolls? |
Please see manual page 64, Tremolo Bars. |
| How can I delete one voice or one stave from a system? |
Place the cursor on the relevant voice. Select menu E. Repeat this step, until the last voice has been deleted. Together with the last voice, the relevant stave will have been deleted. Only once this stave has been removed from the entire score, can you remove it from the relevant template system as well. This is intended as a safety feature, to prevent your score from getting corrupted.
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| How can I configure capella, that whenever I start the program, it loads my preferred system of notation as a default score? |
Save your preferred template as "standard.cap" in the template folder below the capella program folder. |
| After setting the left and right margins, the score looks dreadful: In the right margin, some notes are suspended in midair! |
capella indicates that there are too many notes within the system. Re-distribute the notes amongst all systems (i.e. with menu
E) or select F and tick "allow extra compression". In this case notes will be forced to fit into the system, possibly to the point of illegibility.
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| How can I select individual note heads to format them separately? |
Hold down CTRL and click the relevant note head. A small marker appears. In case you cannot "hit" the note head, zoom in to increase the display size. |
| Several notes have been marked and an articulation sign, i.e. an accent, has been selected, but only the first note receives the sign. |
Do not generate the accent via the music symbol tool (letter S on blue dot), but instead via menu . This way all the notes receive the accent or whichever sign you choose. |
| The bar of a singing voice contains a whole rest, while the piano roll shows a chord of whole notes. While the rest is centered, the chord is pushed to the left bar-line. |
Select menu to change this behavior. However, this representation is commonly used. Notes are always positioned, where they begin to sound, while whole rests are normally centered (probably because whole rests do not necessarily have four strokes, like whole notes). |
| When I enter notes with the mouse, and I click too high above the stave, the note appears as belonging to the stave above. |
The distance between the staves is crucial. The visible distance is invisibly divided into an area above the current stave and an area below the upper stave. When you select , (F11) you can see these areas represented by a grey bar in the left margin. You can set these distances in the Template System. Leger lines will also indicate the mouse cursor's position relative to which stave. |
| The dot behind a dotted note melts into the quaver flag. |
This will only happen, when the note is placed on a line as opposed to between two lines. Lengthen the stem of the note by holding down "N" and touching the relevant cursor key. |
| How can I alternate quavers and rests in such a way, that the beam connects the notes bridging the rest? |
Currently this can only be achieved with a bit of magic: Type three notes and format the middle note as invisible and mute. Now insert the rest as a graphic symbol over the - invisible - middle note. If this configuration is required regularly, you can copy it and adapt it via transposition. Alternatively you can adjust individual notes with O or P and the arrow keys. There is also a suitable script on Mr Becker's website.
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| A system must be split, to indicate the start of a coda. |
Select and place it in the required position over the system. Then format it with white fill and no border. |
| Older music scores in particular tend to change the time signature continuously, i.e. alternating between 2/2 and 3/2. |
Set up your system for the larger time signature (3/2) and insert the sign for 2/2 from the menu and insert a fixed bar line ( ) where required. |
| How do I set a score, that is neither Major not Minor, i.e. has only b and Cis as accidentals? |
In this case you could set F-major and insert the sharp at the beginning of the stave as a graphic symbol. In order to also correct the playback, you need to set Cis and suppress the accidental via menu . |
| When I format a triplet, the results are unpredictable, including a program crash, when the triplet contains a rest at the beginning. |
Work-around: Mark the notes / rests and do not click on the triplet symbol but instead select menu and select triplet but deselect the bracket! You can insert the bracket subsequently in graphics mode without anchoring it to the rest. Alternatively download the "triplet-fix" script from Mr Becker's website.
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| If I want to change the key for one voice, I have to work my way from stave to stave and on top of it all notes are octaved. |
Don't modify the key individually for each system, but rather modify the key for this stave in the template system instead. The problem with octaving however remains: capella modifies the notes according to key to a different octave position. It has to be like this, otherwise you end up with ten
leger lines when you change from treble clef to bass clef. Use CTRL+ cursor key to jump within a voice from stave to stave and transpose by one or two octaves.
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| Why does the slur not wrap around into the next system? |
Please distinguish between slur and tie, capella does it as well. The tie, which is created with "=", will split, wrap around and play back correctly. To split a slur, which has no effect on playback, you can use this script.
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| Why can't I copy and paste an entire system? The clipboard remains empty. Do I have to treat each stave individually? |
You can select most parts of a score directly with the mouse. However, to select an entire system, you need to hold down ALT at the same time. See help or manual chapter 5, Block operations. |
| How can I move barlines? |
You can't. Choose placeholders instead (see help). |
| The barlines / note stems are too thick / thin. How can I change that? |
You need to modify the file CAPELLA.DAT. Please backup before you edit this file. Details can be found in the manual and help under "capella.dat". |
| How can I create and print an empty score sheet? |
You can find a relevant script at Mr Villiger's website here.
Alternatively, proceed as follows:
- Select "no bar"
- Switch on margin setting
- Fill the stave with some notes or rests
- Format the notes/rests "invisible"
- Repeatedly press "enter" to create new staves
- Cut and paste the invisible notes/rests from the first stave into the additional staves.
You can set all dimensions for line spacing etc in the template system.
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| How can I shift lyrics vertically? |
See menu , where you can use negative numbers to move lyrics text upwards (even on top of the notes), or positive numbers to move it down. |
| I enter lyric text and when I move to the next stave, the text is always formatted in Times New Roman as standard font. |
If you want to change the standard font for a score, you should set it for the empty score. It will then apply to all staves as you enter the text. If you change your mind half way through entering the text, it is best to finish with the currently selected standard font and afterwards select menu and then select menu , where you can select a different font. See help or manual page 72 on how to change the default font in CAPELLA.DAT. |
| Text for maximum 9 verses can allegedly be entered, however, after 3 to 4 verses there is no space left. |
Click the "L" button on the note editing tool bar. The text cursor appears below the note, where you can enter the text directly. Pressing the down arrow takes you into the next line below, which would be verse two. Because you can only enter 9 verses, you can only step down 8 times. If you find that the text is too close to the stave, you might step lower two or three times, effectively entering the text for the first verse in the 2nd or 3rd verse's line, thereby reducing the possible 9 lines to 6 or 7. Please use one line only for each verse and start in the first line without skipping empty lines. If you want to modify the gap between the stave and the first line of text or between the lines of text, go to menu . |
| I want to use two different fonts to enter lyrics in two different languages; i.e. English in normal and German in italic font style. |
This can only be achieved with a little magic: If your stave contains two reasonably homophone voices, then you can add the normal text to the one voice and the italic text to the second voice. All you need to do then, is to adjust the spacing for each voice separately in menu .
If you have only one voice on your staff: Add a second voice via copy and pasting from the first voice, while the original voice maintains its status as "main voice". Next you format the second voice to be invisible and mute. Then you attach text to the second voice and format it in whatever font style you whish.
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| How can I enter text for more than 9 verses? |
Similar to the "magic" solution above, you can create a second voice, format it invisible and mute and attach a further 9 verses to it. Remember to modify the spacing at menu . |
| When entering lyrics, some characters are superimposed on to each other, the text is illegible. |
Quick fix: Refresh the display with F9.
Permanent fix: Modify the template system to provide more space below the stave (assuming that the lyrics are to be below the notes). There should be sufficient space to accommodate the entire text including all verses. The areas above and below a stave are indicated by a grey bar in the left margin, once color information is switched on (F11).
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| During play back capella remains silent. |
- Check whether the master volume is erroneously set to 0 at menu . If so, increase to 127.
- Try the various drivers, that are offered in the above dialogue.
- Check whether your sound card can play MIDI files independently from capella. If not, your sound card could be defect or incorrectly installed. Check the manufacturer's website for updated drivers for your current operating system.
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| Which sound card do you recommend? |
We do not endorse any specific product. The sound card should be General - MIDI compatible and support simultaneous input and output, to enable listening to the metronome during rhythmic playing in.
Sound cards are available from a wide price range. The more expensive ones usually sound a lot better, which is what a musician would look out for. You need to find a balance between your personal requirements and the affordability. Ask your dealer for advice and read a product test in one of the trade publications. |
| Why does capella's play back sound poor and unnatural, while playing a music CD on my PC sounds normal? |
capella itself does not generate the sound. The sound card alone is responsible for this, more specifically its MIDI functionality. You can improve the sound with a good wave-table-sound card (see above) although the sound will never be 100% realistic. Playback of a music CD is technically a totally different process. |
| What is your opinion of "on-board-sound"? |
We do not receive much positive feedback from users with this type of system. Sound quality is usually comparable to a low cost sound card, and we have had reports of breakdowns and complete failure. Not recommended for musicians. |
| Some sound cards have more than the standard 128 MIDI sounds. How can I use these with capella? |
capella passes its output via Windows to the MIDI driver of your sound card. capella therefore does not directly communicate with the sound card. As a result, capella cannot address the special features of your sound card. You can however do a MIDI-export from capella and process the file further with a sequencer that meets your sound card's requirements. |
| Play-back of ties is not correct. The second note is attacked separately. |
Please distinguish between slur and tie, capella does it as well. The tie, which is created with "=", will split, wrap around and play back correctly. A slur, is treated differently. |
| I want to play back only some voices from a larger score, but capella can only play "one" or "all". |
There is no specific function to achieve this. You can get the required result as follows:
- Create a voice extraction of the required voices and play back. No need to save the extraction.
- Set the play back volume to 0 (zero) in the template system for those voices, which you want to suppress.
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| Playing in (normal entry or step-entry) with the MIDI keyboard doesn't work. (If step-entry doesn't work, you don't need to try real-time entry). |
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix available. Please check the following:
- select menu
- check menu for the correct driver installation. Has the driver been installed at all?
- Are all cables connected correctly? Very often MIDI-in and MIDI-out are swapped incorrectly.
|
| I encounter problems with MIDI -import and -export. |
Midi -import and -export are handled by capella with the file capconv.dll. This file is updated regularly by the developers, but always corresponding to our step-up releases. Please check the developer's website for the current version. |
| How can I set different sounds for different voices within one stave?
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You can't! The sounds are allocated per stave in the template system. Changes within a stave are not possible.
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| How can I modify an existing graphics or text object? |
Click the object with the mouse to display its blue borderlines or blue editing handles. Now right-click the object and select "edit" from the context menu. |
| What is the difference between "plain text" and "formatted text field"? |
Plain text cannot be formatted and therefore requires a lot less file space. Formatted text can include different fonts and text styles, such as italics or bold, but occupies more disk space. We recommend you use plain text whenever practical. |
| The score contains "ghost" objects. They appear on-screen and/or on hard copy, but cannot be selected and/or deleted. |
This can happen, when the object had been moved by more than two systems from its anchor note. By pressing TAB repeatedly, capella highlights all anchor notes within a stave/voice consecutively. Tab through the score until you have located the anchor note and then edit, move or delete the object. |
| Does capella require each graphics object to be attached to an anchor note?
|
Yes. Except for those objects, that are anchored to the page and thereby have special properties, all other objects must be attached to a note/rest or a group of notes/rests. If that should pose a problem, you can always make notes/rests invisible and mute, but still use them as anchor notes/rests.
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| Page numbering doesn't work. The text field is anchored to the page footer, but the placeholder "#" is not replaced with the page number.
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You cannot the use the text field for page numbers. Only plain text is allowed.
In step 3 of the score wizard, select "page numbers".
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| Triplet brackets and slurs are incorrectly drawn in the centre of the stave and don't adjust automatically to the notes. |
Mark the affected area and select menu and tick both options in "Adapt to the new position of the notes". Exit the dialogue by clicking on "Adapt without transposition".
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| How can I prevent TIFF-export from including the grey page borders?
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Make the line white, and thereby invisible. Select menu and modify "margins in page layout view".
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| How can I print sideways in two columns?
|
This is not possible.
Some users have had excellent results with FinePrint, to achieve this solution.
You could also process each sheet of paper twice: Go to menu and select landscape page orientation. Set margins to 10mm top left and bottom and set right margin to 158mm. You can then print on the left half of the sheet of paper. Then set page margins to 10mm top, right and bottom and set left margin to 158mm and print onto the right half of the paper. Naturally, you must first set the matching dimensions in the template system. |
| How can I create and print an empty score sheet? |
You can find a relevant script at Mr Villiger's website here.
Alternatively, proceed as follows:
- Select "no bar"
- Switch on margin setting
- Fill the stave with some notes or rests
- Format the notes/rests "invisible"
- Repeatedly press "enter" to create new staves
- Cut and paste the invisible notes/rests from the first stave into the additional staves.
You can set all dimensions for line spacing etc in the template system.
|
| Notes are displayed large on screen, but print tiny. What is wrong?
|
The size you see on the monitor is not the same as the printed size. Both are set separately.
(see above) |
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Copyright © 2010 capella-software GmbH and Recordare LLC.
Last updated January 2, 2010. |
