Improving the way note spellings are handled

[wildmatsu]

First, I'd like to say I'm very glad that DN-Famitracker supports the ability to spell black piano keys as flats. It's a huge help when working in flat key signatures, and it's a feature most trackers lack. However, I think there is room for further improvement in the way note spellings are handled.

One major flaw in this scheme is that it must be manually changed when switching between a song with a sharp key and one with a flat key--or two different sections of a single song that changes keys. There are also times when you want both sharps and flats in a single key--for instance, Bb and C# in the key of D minor.

Additionally, it's not unheard of to see notes like E#, Fb, B#, Cb, or double sharps and double flats in sheet music. Ideally, I'd like all of those to be supported, but it'd be a lot of effort for something that is only rarely useful. It's probably reasonable to draw the line here, but I thought I'd mention it, at least.

Given what I've discussed above, I'd like to propose several different potential ways to address the handling of note spellings:

• Just add a shortcut that toggles the global setting for how black keys are spelled, so that users can instantly switch between sharp and flat spellings on the fly. (A very simple change that mitigates MANY of the problems with the existing solution, and avoids much of the complexity of the following solutions.)
• Add a per-song setting for whether to spell black keys as sharps or flats. (A significant improvement over the first solution, and not much more complicated to implement, but still has some deficiencies, and requires changing the save format of the song to support an additional global setting.)
• Add an effect that changes the way black keys are spelled through the end of the song or until the next time that effect is used. Either "all sharp" or "all flat." (A minor improvement over the above, and wouldn't necessitate changing the save format.)
• Add an effect that sets the key of the piece, and sets each note to the "most reasonable" spelling for that key. For instance, in D minor, this would involve the spellings Bb and C#. If you decide to pursue this solution, and you're not sure what I mean by "the most reasonable spellings," I'd be happy to explain further.
• Allow the user to manually set the spelling of each note, perhaps with the shortcut keys Ctrl+F5 and Ctrl+F6. For example, C could be spelled as C, B#, or Dbb. (The most complex but most complete solution, but would involve significantly altering the save format, and would be overkill for most users.)

Thank you for your time and consideration. I have also submitted a similar request to BambooTracker. I mention this only because BambooTracker shares a lot of code with DN-Famitracker, and hopefully it is possible to avoid duplicated effort.

[nyanpasu64]

BambooTracker shares a lot of code with DN-Famitracker

they are written in different gui frameworks, using different audio libraries, and different emulation cores. there is no code shared as far as I'm aware.

[wildmatsu]

BambooTracker shares a lot of code with DN-Famitracker

they are written in different gui frameworks, using different audio libraries, and different emulation cores. there is no code shared as far as I'm aware.

Ah, my mistake. Thanks for the clarification.