Starting today, new scores will be “zoomed” a little more, and will look bigger on the screen.  Our hope is that this will make a positive difference for those using the mouse.

This only changes the screen magnification, and only for newly created scores.  All scores will print exactly the way they used to, and you can always use the Zoom control to work with scores at a smaller size if you prefer.

It’s been a long, cool, rainy summer in Boston…. but the good weather has finally arrived at the very end of the season, and along with the bright sunlight comes a new Noteflight release.

What’s in this one?  Let’s hit the highlights:

• MIDI File Import. At long last, you can import standard MIDI files from your computer directly into Noteflight.  MIDI import means that Noteflight has to do a lot of extra work to turn a musical performance back into notation, such as guessing the intended rhythms and figuring out what instruments to use.  These challenges are tricky and we expect to continue improviing this feature over time, but we think it’s best to put our best foot forward and get something out to our users sooner rather than later!
• Figured Bass and Enhanced Chord Symbols. Many people have wanted to use traditional figured bass notation in Noteflight, and now it’s possible.  We’ve extended our easy-to-use chord symbol feature to let you enter figured bass notation in the same simple way (”6/5/b3″, for example, does exactly what you would expect).  The same approach also now allows you to use “stacked scale degree” notation for jazz chords (”C6/9″).  We’ve also switched to a clearer sans-serif font.
• Noteflight Newsletter. We’ve introduced a new, monthly email newsletter for our members.  Along with the newsletter has come the responsibility of keeping track of who wants to hear from us, and who doesn’t.  You can control this setting by going to your “Edit My Profile” page.

If you’re feeling like there should have been more — well, we always feel the same way!  There are a lot of things to do, and we never feel like we’ve quite done enough.  There are a number of key features that we’re working on that are not ready for release yet, but which are actively being developed.  The most important of these are:

• Playback of repeats, endings, codas, D.S./D.C. instructions
• Slurs
• Score comments, plus other kinds of social connections between people and music

And as always, don’t forget to vote for (or add) your favorite feature requests at our feedback site.