--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "keller_91711" <keller@...> wrote:
>
> I just posted a brief write-up on improvisation that I provided for
my improvisation class:
>
> http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/HowToImproviseJazz.pdf
>
> The examples are screen-shots from Impro-Visor.
>
> I welcome your comments.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bob
>
I just joined this group.
Bob, thanks for the great information. I am viewing your class
article on improvisation right now.
Thanks again,
Chris
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, luis apodaca <jlapodaca@...> wrote:
>
> Is there a way to tie two eighth notes together with
> Improvisor-Visor rather than separate eighth notes
> with their own flag?
>
(That's called "beaming" the notes.)
I'm sorry, but there isn't a way to do this currently.
It is on our list for the future, but no time estimate yet.
If you really need to see the notes this way,
one possibility is to save the melody as MIDI,
then read it into another tool that does beaming.
If you do this, you will want to set the swing
value to .5 in preferences, so that the notes
appear to have the original values.
Bob
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "keller_91711" <keller@...>
wrote:
>
> Impro-Visor version 2.03 was posted tonight.
>
> This fixes a minor bug having to do with MIDI percussion
> instruments when playback transposition is being used.
>
>
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/download/improvisor203.
zip
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bob
>
Just found this program and group and looks really good for help
with improv skills. Is there a way to loop the tune so it plays
through more than once? I'll down the tutorial but did not find
this while skimming it online.
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "tsan10us" <tsan10us@...> wrote:
>
> Just found this program and group and looks really good for help
> with improv skills. Is there a way to loop the tune so it plays
> through more than once? I'll down the tutorial but did not find
> this while skimming it online.
>
There is no continuous loop function, but you can create as many choruses as you
wish by
pressing the "+ page" icon on the toolbar. If you just want to use it for
backing, just don't
create any melody line.
Bob
Can someone help me to load the program --Impro-Visor. I keep getting
this message as an "error log text file along with the unZipped files.
When I try to open all I get is the loading icon with the scrololong
action as though its loading BUT it doesn't load. I ahve the correct
Java runtime. I am on Windows XP w/IE7;
ERROR LOG
*** Warning: Cannot open preferences file; generating default
preference file 'vocab/My.prefs'. Thanks for any assistance
PD
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "pdegenova" <pdegenova@...> wrote:
>
> Can someone help me to load the program --Impro-Visor. I keep getting
> this message as an "error log text file along with the unZipped files.
> When I try to open all I get is the loading icon with the scrololong
> action as though its loading BUT it doesn't load. I ahve the correct
> Java runtime. I am on Windows XP w/IE7;
>
> ERROR LOG
> *** Warning: Cannot open preferences file; generating default
> preference file 'vocab/My.prefs'. Thanks for any assistance
> PD
>
When you download the zip file, e.g. improvisor204.zip, extract
all files intod a directory improvisor204. Inside that directory
you should see the following:
improvisor.jar
leadsheets
vocab
README.txt
READMEpc.txt
When inside that directory, you should be able to double-click
on improvisor.jar and the program will open. This is the way
to start it; don't click on other files, because that won't work.
My.prefs should be inside of vocab. If it is not, something may
be wrong with your unzip program.
I have installed it this way on XP without difficulty. If you
go through the process again and it still doesn't work, please
let me know.
Thanks. I'm sorry you are having problems, but I hope it will have
been worth it once you get started.
Regards,
Bob Keller
A new version of Impro-Visor (2.05) is available at:
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/download/
An intended fix, in v. 2.04, for turning off drums during NC,
was not effective on certain styles, particularly latin. So for now,
NC will only turn off the bass, not the drums. We will look at
this issue more this summer.
There is some improvement in the file chooser menu handler.
When a new directory is chosen during save, it no longer
blanks out any file name that may have been typed.
Loading is a little faster too.
Most of the leadsheets that were in the leadsheets/chords directory
(aka "The Imaginary Book") are now in a separate zip file
available in the Files directory of this group. This speeds
up the download and unzip time on PCs considerably.
Please contribute leadsheets to the Files. Sharing is one of
the purposes of having a group. We have a good start with
now over 2150 tunes in The Imaginary Book. You can attribute
yourself in the Comments section of the file.
Thanks.
Best regards,
Bob Keller
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "Breckenridge" <varen28@...> wrote:
>
> Can I loop an entire lead sheet? I'd like to keep a track playing in a
> loop to improvise over.
>
Currently there is no looping provision. However, there is a way to replicate
a track as many times as you wish: Just add addiitonal choruses (press the
page + icon on the tool bar). This works about as well.
Regards,
Bob Keller
Thanks, This is fantastic!
>
> Welcome to the Impro-Visor group.
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/impro-visor
>
> Impro-Visor is free software that can help musicians
> create lead sheets and jazz solos. The official home page for Impro-Visor is
here:
>
> http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/
>
> The main page, download page, and solos page have just been updated
> and a new tutorial posted.
>
> The development of Impro-Visor began in June 2005 at Harvey Mudd College,
> thanks to the help of Prof. Belinda Thom, Steven Jones, and Aaron Wolin.
> We are moving forward with David Morrison added as a new developer,
> and will be adding more features and intelligence this summer.
>
> Bob Keller
>
Hello,
This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the impro-visor
group.
File : /My.voc
Uploaded by : keller_91711 <keller@...>
Description : U
You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/impro-visor/files/My.voc
To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files
Regards,
keller_91711 <keller@...>
Hello,
This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the impro-visor
group.
File : /My.voc
Uploaded by : keller_91711 <keller@...>
Description : Updated vocabulary file
You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/impro-visor/files/My.voc
To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files
Regards,
keller_91711 <keller@...>
Impro-Visor users:
I've uploaded to the files area a new Impro-Visor
vocabulary file: My.voc. This file can replace the
file with the same name in the vocab folder.
It is not a critical thing, so you can let it ride
at your option.
(If you've saved any of your own licks, etc.
you may wish to move the old file out of the
way before installing, and copy your stuff into
the new one.)
There are just a few changes in the new file:
Fixed omissions of fifth in spelling of complex
dominant chords, such as C7#11.
The various types of entries were regrouped
for faster loading.
Chord voicing types have been changed from closed
to open in most styles.
Two new styles have been added: shuffle and reggae,
courtesy of Brandy and Jim, our summer research
students.
Thanks.
Regards,
Bob Keller
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "Breckenridge" <varen28@...> wrote:
>
> Can I loop an entire lead sheet? I'd like to keep a track playing in a
> loop to improvise over.
>
Would you consider exporting the lead sheet as a midi file and playing
it in a media-player that does provide looping?
REPLY: Yes, you can do that. We will try to add a looping feature in
a future release. Meanwhile, just add as many choruses as you
wish (click the "page +" icon multiple times) to provide the
effect of looping.
Bob
I have just found this program and am impressed by the philosophy
behind it.
The one problem I have is that I cannot hear the music :-)
And yes, I am able to hear midi files through other apps (including
midi files created by exporting a lead-sheet), and yes I have set the
Midi preferences in Impro-visor to the same device as in the other apps.
Can you think of any other reason why I might not hear the lead sheets?
REPLY: It is undoubtedly an issue of Java not working with your
particular MIDI setup (maybe a soundcard/driver issue).
All of our MIDI stuff is generated through the Java libraries.
We've seen this before, with people having special cards/drivers.
Maybe try updating your driver.
Thanks.
Bob Keller
Thanks for the response, but I'm embarrassed :-(
Of course, as soon as I had posted this, I found an answer. I actually
have two MIDI devices available, Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth which
works for all other apps, and Microsoft MIDI Mapper which seems too
be the only one that works for Impro-visor. I had never used the MIDI
Mapper before, and never thought to look beyond the SW Synth!!
Can the "Generate" function be optioned to favour quarter notes (to
make a "walking bass" line, for instance)?
REPLY:
Yes, but it requires editing the grammar. Look in file
vocab/My.grammar. You can reduce the weights
on productions that generate other notes, or remove
those productions.
For example, this production
(rule (V4) (V8 V8) 0.72)
splits quarter-note values into eight-note values, so if
you don't want any of the later, you can take it out, or
you can change the weight 0.72 to 0.
It is a little tricky modifying the grammar, so I suggest
backing up your file.
Bob Keller
I got it - I didn't have the latest Java so had to install that first.
Looks nice...I need to lay low for a while until I have time to learn
it & then may have more comments/questions. Thanks for a great job!
Impro-Visor 2.06 zipped has been posted to the files section
of the impro-visor Yahoo! group. I am considering using this
as the means of distribution from here on, so that I have a
better way of keeping in touch with our users.
V. 2.06 contains a preliminary version of a frequently-requested
feature: looping. Now the selected bars, or the entire piece,
can be looped any number of times, including forever.
To stop looped play, hit the usual stop button, or use the
k (kill) key.
Additional features: The ambient chord, if any, will be played
whenever notes are entered, transposed, etc., so that the
effect can be heard immediately.
A problem was fixed where the playback of the selection was
cut off abruptly.
The Imaginary Book was modified only slightly, and is included
in the leadsheets/chords directory of 2.06.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if there are problems, but
it should be installable just like 2.05 was.
Thanks.
Bob
Hello Bob,
thanks a lot for this new feature, it's great!
Greetings
Holger
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "keller_91711" <keller@...> wrote:
>
> Impro-Visor 2.06 zipped has been posted to the files section
> of the impro-visor Yahoo! group. I am considering using this
> as the means of distribution from here on, so that I have a
> better way of keeping in touch with our users.
>
> V. 2.06 contains a preliminary version of a frequently-requested
> feature: looping. Now the selected bars, or the entire piece,
> can be looped any number of times, including forever.
>
> To stop looped play, hit the usual stop button, or use the
> k (kill) key.
>
> Additional features: The ambient chord, if any, will be played
> whenever notes are entered, transposed, etc., so that the
> effect can be heard immediately.
>
> A problem was fixed where the playback of the selection was
> cut off abruptly.
>
> The Imaginary Book was modified only slightly, and is included
> in the leadsheets/chords directory of 2.06.
>
> I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if there are problems, but
> it should be installable just like 2.05 was.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bob
>
Hello, I downloaded Impro-Visor yesterday and I already am almost
addicted to it.
I namely play jazz so this is going to be useful to me for practicing
standards and writing choruses, no doubt about it.
I also happen to play with a band of traditional music from the Basque
country (in the south west of France) and we have an accordionist. As
you know accordion and guitar are difficult to blend, a little bit
like piano and guitar, mainly because they are both polyphonic
instruments. So what I did was to write the accordionist's scores to
Impro-Visor and using the playback function gave me the opportunity to
write proper arrangements both in terms of rhythm and voicings.
It is also very easy to edit accompaniment styles (not like my
hardware sequencer). I mean it is obvious that this piece of software
was made by musicians for musicians.
The color codes are very helpful too.
Here are some features which I think would be useful (at least to me):
- to be able to adjust the page setting before printing because it
comes out a little small and I have to get close to be able to read
the score.
- to be able to print out chord only charts as I use them a lot for
improvisation and comping (I know it is not really consistant with the
initial purpose of Impro-Visor, but still).
Thanks for creating that tool.
Luc
Reply from Bob Keller:
Yes, I agree with you on both of those points. We will try to
address them as time permits.
Thanks.
Bob
Hi...finally getting around to reading the help files & have some
questions:
I'm not getting how to use the looping - unless it just automatically
loops the whole song. I've been using the chorus tab to do that. I'd
like to loop a couple of measures of chords to practice playing over
hard changes...
The first note sounds when I start a song - why is that?
Not sure what freeze/thaw is - only for song creation? I just use
improvisor to play bk the real book songs - not to create my own.
How do I get rid of the little grid lines that appear where the currsor
is?
To open a real book song I have to navigate up a couple of levels each
time - is there a way to click open leadsheet & have it go directly to
imaginary?
Thanks for yr help!!
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "charles kasler"
<charleskasler@...> wrote:
>
> Hi...finally getting around to reading the help files & have some
> questions:
>
> I'm not getting how to use the looping - unless it just automatically
> loops the whole song. I've been using the chorus tab to do that. I'd
> like to loop a couple of measures of chords to practice playing over
> hard changes...
It will either loop the whole song or the current selection
(highlighted slots):
There are two ways to play the whole song:
a) Pressing the play button on the tool bar, or
b) Pressing the i key.
If looping is turned on, whatever is played will be looped the
specified number of times (default 2).
Setting the times to 0 will play forever.
To stop playback, either:
c) Press the stop button, or
d) Press the k (kill) key.
To play the current selection (highlighted slots), either
e) Press the return/enter key to play just the selection, or
f) Press the shift-return/enter to play the selection and
continue to the end.
In either case, playback can be stopped using the k key or
the stop button.
>
> The first note sounds when I start a song - why is that?
I'm not sure of the question. Whenever you enter a note by
clicking, it will sound, unless you have the entry volume
slider turned to 0 or muted.
If you mean the notes that are pre-entered on many of the
leadsheets, those are just a guide for the first note of the
head of the song. If you are writing a solo, you'd probably
want to erase that note. Select the note (e.g. by shift-clicking
over its slot) then press x to erase it.
>
> Not sure what freeze/thaw is - only for song creation? I just use
> improvisor to play bk the real book songs - not to create my own.
>
Freeze freezes the layout of the chorus at its current number of
bars on each line. Otherwise Impro-Visor may adjust the number
of bars per line as you enter more notes. Thaw un-freezes the
layout.
The layout can be specified numerically by going into the
Preferences and entering the number of bars desired for each
line. If any numbers are specified, this is equivalent to
freezing.
> How do I get rid of the little grid lines that appear where the currsor
> is?
Press escape, or click in the gutters to the left or right of
the staves.
>
> To open a real book song I have to navigate up a couple of levels each
> time - is there a way to click open leadsheet & have it go directly to
> imaginary?
The basic installation should have it set up so that when you
click open, it will go to the Leadsheets directory. Then you
just go down a level if you've put your imaginary book within
that directory. If you double click the jar file in the same
directory where the Leadsheets directory is, you should not
have to navigate any further.
I'm sorry, but currently there is no way to just click a
leadsheet outside of Impro-Visor and have it open.
>
> Thanks for yr help!!
>
I hope that I answered most of your questions.
Thanks for the inquiry.
Bob Keller
--- In impro-visor@yahoogroups.com, "Charles Kasler"
<charleskasler@...> wrote:
>
> OK I think I have most of it but still not sure how to highlight a
couple of measures to have them loop? Thanks!!
>
REPLY: (This is in the tutorial, I believe, but just in case ...)
When the window first opens, the first slot is the selection.
To extend the selection, shift-click on any slot OUTSIDE the selection.
To start a new selection, extend, then shift-click again.
(Shift-clicking INSIDE a selection selects just that one slot.)
You can also extend the selection by dragging on the corners
of the box that surrounds it. There are implicit handles there.
I hope this helps.
Bob
I've discovered Impro-visor today and I'm very excited with this
program. I want to arrive at home, tune the double bass and test it
intensively -- I'm at work now ;-)
My thoughts: long time ago I developed a similar program
(pymprovisator) with a similar goal: auto-generate compin' tracks.
I've suspended the development because I found a better program: MMA (
Musical MIDI Accompaniment), but the interface is very
Unix-compiler-like: write text, "compile" and launch the MIDI player
with the generated MIDI file.
I've no problem with this kind of software (since I'm primary software
developer, not musician), but I think that there is a bit unusable for
most people. In fact, I have a small project (WinMMA) for easing its
usage.
I must to recognize the merits of Band in a Box (although its
UI-design was very poor and no-intuitive). In a single program you
have all the features and you can ear in realtime your work. This is
very valuable for me. Also, you don't need to learn a
programming-language-like sintax for use it.
Well, your program seems to cover all my expectations. It looks
wonderful. In next weeks I'll post my impressions and suggestions.
Thank you for your work.
One question: is it Open-Source?
Best,
--
David
http://davidasorey.net
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