Jetstream Finale Controller

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MowingDevil
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Post by MowingDevil » Thu Nov 07, 2019 4:59 am

Any thoughts on this? Looks promising.
http://jetstreamfinale.com


Nick Mazuk
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Post by Nick Mazuk » Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:12 am

I'm part of the team working on the JetStream. There are many people working every day to make it a reality.

http://jetstreamfinale.com/development-team/

Anything you'd like to know? Ask me anything.
Nick

MowingDevil
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Post by MowingDevil » Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:25 am

Please make it for the iPad, that makes the most sense out of any option. Be a great use of a second screen.

jwink
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Post by jwink » Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:32 am

(Disclaimer: I am also part of the group developing JetStream)

You'll be able to use it on the iPad using Elgato's iOS version of Stream Deck. https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/stream-deck-mobile

There is a subscription cost associated with it, and having used the mobile version, regular Stream Deck, and the Stream Deck XL, the hardware really is worth the cost. Those of us working on JetStream have already seen a bump in productivity using it, so on that level the hardware feels like it's paying for itself!

MowingDevil
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Post by MowingDevil » Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:39 am

Unfortunately, I'm likely out w/ a subscription cost.

Does this include quarter tone accidentals?

Nick Mazuk
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Post by Nick Mazuk » Thu Nov 07, 2019 6:19 am

MowingDevil wrote:
Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:39 am
Unfortunately, I'm likely out w/ a subscription cost.

Does this include quarter tone accidentals?
That's entirely up to you if you decide not to use the JetStream. No hard feelings.

The subscription is not up to us; it's from the Stream Deck that we've built the JetStream on top of. With that said, it's only $2.99/month. I can only tell you that the JetStream has saved me hours every month consistently. That alone has justified such a small cost.

Currently, it does not include quarter-tone accidentals. For version 2, we are planning on an entire aleatoric and contemporary task set, including:

- determinate clusters
- indeterminate clusters
- potentially quarter-tones

Any features you'd find useful?
Nick

MowingDevil
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Post by MowingDevil » Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:06 am

- I would say having quarter tone flats & sharps with the accidentals would be a big time saver for me, especially if they changed the frequency playback as well (but I suspect that's not possible on the controller end). The quarter tone accidentals are included w/ regular accidentals in Sibelius, hard to believe Finale hasn't at least made this an selectable option.

- Would there be a way to quickly change fonts? Perhaps the user determines a couple of alternative fonts like Maestro Percussion & (especially) Aruvarb or make those presets so the user could quickly jump into those for contemporary symbols.

- Another would be for custom lines. If you have one or two that are being switched back & forth between it would be very helpful to have buttons to toggle between them.

- Button for applying staff styles.

Nick Mazuk
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Post by Nick Mazuk » Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:45 pm

MowingDevil wrote:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:06 am
- I would say having quarter tone flats & sharps with the accidentals would be a big time saver for me, especially if they changed the frequency playback as well (but I suspect that's not possible on the controller end). The quarter tone accidentals are included w/ regular accidentals in Sibelius, hard to believe Finale hasn't at least made this an selectable option.

- Would there be a way to quickly change fonts? Perhaps the user determines a couple of alternative fonts like Maestro Percussion & (especially) Aruvarb or make those presets so the user could quickly jump into those for contemporary symbols.

- Another would be for custom lines. If you have one or two that are being switched back & forth between it would be very helpful to have buttons to toggle between them.

- Button for applying staff styles.
Quarter Tones

I completely agree. Finale should have this as a default behavior and I've put it on our to-do list for new features. We're working on polishing all the bugs for current features, but once we finish that, we'll start going through adding new features like quarter tones.

Changing Fonts

Interesting idea. Much of the contemporary notation we have and will implement won't require you to switch fonts manually. For instance, with the graphic mallet types, those are simply built-in. No need to switch to a custom font. The font is applied for you.

Is there a particular instance that you'd prefer to switch the font manually rather than everything being built-in?

Custom Lines

Are you talking about custom Smart Shapes? or something else?

There is already a menu to apply pre-defined Smart Shapes at the press of a button.

Customs Smart Shapes is hard to do because we don't know what yours are. However, the JetStream includes a "custom profile" where you can add new functionality like custom Smart Shapes. It's designed to allow you to switch between the two profiles at a button press (it's seamless). In the custom profile, you can create your own page for these custom Smart Shapes.

Staff Styles

Already included! There is an entire screen for adding many different staff styles. I personally use this feature regularly because applying staff styles normally (even with keyboard shortcuts) is way too much work.
Nick

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N Grossingink
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Post by N Grossingink » Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:32 pm

Nick Mazuk wrote:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:45 pm
Staff StylesAlready included! There is an entire screen for adding many different staff styles. I personally use this feature regularly because applying staff styles normally (even with keyboard shortcuts) is way too much work.
To enter a Staff Style within Finale, you highlight the measure(s) and press the predefined Metatool key. How is that too much work? It sounds as quick as your Jetstream controller, which may be a valuable tool, but Finale has some pretty powerful aids built in out of the box.
N. Grossingink
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MowingDevil
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Post by MowingDevil » Sat Nov 09, 2019 6:31 am

Nick Mazuk wrote:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:45 pm
Changing Fonts

Interesting idea. Much of the contemporary notation we have and will implement won't require you to switch fonts manually. For instance, with the graphic mallet types, those are simply built-in. No need to switch to a custom font. The font is applied for you.

Is there a particular instance that you'd prefer to switch the font manually rather than everything being built-in?
For example I prefer using the Maestro font overall but have recently been using Aruvarb for it's extensive library of symbols/graphics. It would be very efficient to be able to select the symbols/articulations in another font at the touch of a button rather than go through the song & dance currently required each and every time.
Nick Mazuk wrote:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:45 pm
Custom Lines

Are you talking about custom Smart Shapes? or something else?

There is already a menu to apply pre-defined Smart Shapes at the press of a button.

Customs Smart Shapes is hard to do because we don't know what yours are. However, the JetStream includes a "custom profile" where you can add new functionality like custom Smart Shapes. It's designed to allow you to switch between the two profiles at a button press (it's seamless). In the custom profile, you can create your own page for these custom Smart Shapes.
Yes the custom smart shapes. I was thinking there could possibly be presets of a few custom lines that you could bounce back and forth between. Perhaps the user could select a few shapes and assign them to buttons somehow? Not sure if this is possible to implement with your program.

Nick Mazuk
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Post by Nick Mazuk » Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:15 pm

Those two questions deal with part of the JetStream architecture I'm not familiar with. I'll ask others on the team who know more about this and get back to you with an answer.

Most of my work has been with JW Lua and the logistical work with releasing the JetStream.
Nick

Nick Mazuk
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Post by Nick Mazuk » Sat Dec 14, 2019 1:21 am

Ok, this took me way too long to get around to posting, but here's the answer to several of your questions:

I would say having quarter tone flats & sharps with the accidentals would be a big time saver for me, especially if they changed the frequency playback as well (but I suspect that’s not possible on the controller end).

This is all very easily programmable for playback with pitch bend. The application of the quarter-tone symbols is more problematic, though, as they would currently have to be done with either an articulation character or an expression (not ideal). But certainly doable with the right workaround. Maybe find out how these are created manually by this guy ... This is a Finale limitation that we might be able to fix though in v2.

Would there be a way to quickly change fonts? Perhaps the user determines a couple of alternative fonts like Maestro Percussion & (especially) Aruvarb or makes those presets so the user could quickly jump into those for contemporary symbols.

It would be trivial to change the default music font, but I think this is referring to changing the font for a specific character or occurrence. More discussion is needed.

For instance, the percussion pictograms are an example of assigning a custom font to expressions. One thought is that in the custom popovers for entering technique and expression text we could include a popup for fonts which would allow the user to enter a keystroke or sequence in Aruvarb or whatever. But I question whether this is (a) possible and (b) advisable...

Another would be for custom lines. If you have one or two that are being switched back & forth between it would be very helpful to have buttons to toggle between them.

Version 1 we are sticking with existing staff styles, but for version 2 we will plan to create custom characters such as trill 1/2 or multi-segmented lines for modern scores. we could certainly include a couple of meta-tool buttons easily even in version 1 - just push the button for the meta-tool you set up in the score and you get your custom line.
Nick

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