A. The short answer is no.

The music to be transcribed can be entered into Lime by playing it on an electronic musical keyboard attached to the PC via a MIDI interface or by scanning the hardcopy sheet music using SharpEye.

Both blind and sighted musicians can use Lime or a MIDI sequencer like SONAR to input notes with a keyboard. A sighted assistant must learn to scan print hardcopy music, correct any scanning errors and prepare the resulting music notation files for automatic transcription by GOODFEEL. Although a blind user can use the basic music scanning functions of the SharpEye Music Reader software, it is impossible for a blind person to correct scanning errors independently at the current stage of development. However, such errors can typically be corrected in a matter of seconds by an experienced sighted user. Accordingly, it is important to understand that a blind musician will need the help of a sighted assistant sooner or later when scanning printed music with SharpEye.

A. "If you have the .gf file created by GOODFEEL, you can actually highlight the file name, press the Applications Key or perform a right mouse click, arrow down to "Open with" and select Duxbury. Duxbury should recognize it as a formatted braille file. Simply open and press CONTROL+E to emboss. I am running Duxbury Braille Translator version 11.1 which recognizes the .gf file as formatted braille. If older versions do not, simply rename the file from .gf to .brf and it should work fine. If your file is flute.gf just rename it to flute.brf and Duxbury will open the .brf file without any problem. However, you can install the demo version of GOODFEEL as well as the Windows Generic/Text-only printer and then emboss your .gf from within GOODFEEL. Although the demo version will only transcribe 10 or so bars of any input file and then stop, it has no limitation on embossing .gf files already prepared.

• Run the unauthorized copy of GOODFEEL.
• OK the message that tells you that GOODFEEL it is running in demo mode.
• File | Open Braille File or Press ALT+F, O
• Tab to Emboss and press space bar.

To disable User Account Control:

• Press Windows Key to open Start Menu.
• Type: UAC Into the search box and press ENTER.
• Press Tab to move to the Notification level and set it to 0.
• Windows will ask you to confirm with y or ALT+Y and you will need to restart your PC.

To suppress that unwanted speech:

• Press JAWS KEY + V to open the JAWS Quick Settings dialog.
• Type the word: progress into the search box
• Press the TAB key to move to the list and you should hear only 1 entry, Progress Bar.
• Press space to toggle settings. When the setting is set to "Silent", press TAB until you reach the OK button. Press space to save this setting.

Lime Aloud users must still install GOODFEEL for a couple of reasons. First, the function to authorize all programs in both suites is part of GOODFEEL. That is, you access the authorization function through GOODFEEL’s File menu. The other advantage is that you can still launch GOODFEEL and read the list of warnings and errors about your Lime file.

Because you ordered Lime Aloud, your GOODFEEL software is not authorized. However, you can disregard the error about no authorization for GOODFEEL and still refer to that list of errors about your Lime file. Without authorization, GOODFEEL will revert to demo mode and transcribe only the first 10 measures of your Lime file into the equivalent braille music. However, it will still check the entire file for errors which should be useful information for correcting the Lime file you want to read or create.

If you ever want to upgrade from Lime aloud to GOODFEEL Lite or Standard, you can do so for the current price of GOODFEEL Lite or GOODFEEL Standard minus what you paid for Lime Aloud. You may first have to upgrade to the current version if we have released upgrades since time of your original purchase.

Specific Steps for Assigning Instrumental Sounds in Lime

1. Move to the first note or rest of the part.
2. Press ALT+V, C and enter a number from 1 to 16 to set MIDI channel for that part.
3. Press ALT+A, X, I and select instrument sound for that part. Lime now enters a General MIDI annotation into your score.

If you do not want the text of that annotation to appear on the screen and to be printed on the music, you can hide it by following these steps:

• Press ALT+LEFT ARROW or ALT+RIGHT ARROW to select the General MIDI annotation
• Press ALT+A, S, H for Annotation | Style | Hidden

A: If you didn't do much work on it, you can just assemble it again. The next time you work on a piece with many pages, consider using SharpEye's Batch process. We don't talk about Batch process a lot because we want people to concentrate on the basics.

First make a backup copy of what you have and move it somewhere else so you won't overwrite it by mistake.

If you mistakenly appended a page more than once, delete all the systems of any pages using Edit Music, Delete system, Current system only. For each system on the redundant page, select a note or rest on the system and delete the current system (Alt+M, D, C).

If you mistakenly left out a page:

• Save two copies of the whole piece. Name one to indicate that it includes the music before the missing page and name the other to indicate that it includes the music after the missing page.
• Use File, Open Music (and then Replace if you're asked) to open the file that includes the music after the missing page.
• For each system before the missing page, select a note or rest on the system and delete the current system (Alt+M, D, C).
• Save this Music file.
• Use File, Open Music and then Replace to open the file that includes the music before the missing page.
• Use Delete system, All systems from here on to delete all the trailing music.
• Save this Music file.
• Use File, Save Music As... to start the new, complete music file and give it a good name like 'SongXpage4'.
• Use the normal process for putting files together but in this case you'll be starting with the file that has all the music before the missing page (it's already loaded), then you'll append the missing page, and then you'll append the file that has all the music after the missing page.
• Save this Music file.

A. If you have not opened an existing Lime file with File | Open or if you have not chosen File | New to create a new Lime file, you will see “No music to display” on your braille display. If you are certain that there is a file open in Lime, try the following:

• Press Numpad 9/PAGE-UP key a few times to move ahead in the score a few measures.
• Press ALT+TAB once and release the keys.
• Now, press ALT+TAB a second time to return to Lime.
• Press INSERT+CONTROL+ESCAPE to refresh the JAWS scripts.
• With Lime open, unload JAWS and restart it. Before doing so, make sure that you have set up a hot key for restarting JAWS such as ALT+CONTROL+J or have a sighted assistant to help you.

If none of the steps above remove the “no music to display message” from your braille display, please send a copy of the problem Lime file to info@DancingDots.com and we will follow up with you.

A. To my knowledge, there is no way to disable the message that warns you that there is not enough time left in the measure to insert a note of the specified duration. That is, you have never seen it before because you have never tried to add a note of a duration that was too long to fit into the measure. Congratulations because I actually get this message fairly often when I am working in Lime. It's one of those cases where the computer keeps doing what I tell it to do and not what I want it to do. As an example, let's say that I am composing something in 2-2 time. The figure I want is quarter, half, quarter or crotchet, minim, crotchet.

Here are the steps:

• I type the letter b as in box to make sure that I am positioned at the start of the measure. That is, I want to start entering notes on beat 1.
• Press CONTROL+N to go into Note Entry mode.
• Type 3 on Numbers Row to set duration to quarter/crotchet.
• Enter note, rest, or chord.
• Type 2 on Numbers Row to set up for half/minim.
• Enter note, rest, or chord.

"What is this silly computer talking about?" I say to myself, then I have to come back to Earth and realize that this big, dumb, adding machine I am using to express my inspired creative ideas is doing just what I have told it to do. And so now I have to tell it just what to do to get what I really want. Here's what I recommend to do when you get this message. Notice that I say "when you get this message" because you absolutely will get it sooner or later.

• Press space bar to clear the message.
• Type the letter B to learn the value of your current position in the measure. Beat 2.5 means that the next note to be entered starts on the second half of beat 2. In other words, I only have enough room for a note or notes that occupy .5 beats. Also, realize that "beat 2.5" does not mean that after you add in a note that is half a beat in duration that you will have a measure that is 3 beats long. The report you get when you press the letter b just tells you your position.
• Type the letter n to learn the value of the current duration to be entered.
• Compare it to the amount of room remaining and you will find that there just is not enough space left to add a note of that duration.

In my example, I type the letter b and find out that I am positioned on beat 2.5. I type the letter n and learn that I am set to enter a half-note, or minim, which gets one beat in 2-2 time. I add 2.5 to 1 and get 3.5. But I am only allowed to squeeze two beats of music into that measure of 2-2 time. Fortunately, in most cases, the remedy is simple. Just type the key on the Numbers Row for the duration you want. That is, type the key that you should have typed in the first place had you not been distracted by listening to the music in your head, or (just as likely in my own case) by spilling your coffee on your desk, by getting a phone call, by some kind person bringing you your coffee, etc. In our example, I would just type a 3, enter my quarter-note/crotchet, reach for my coffee and... Oh no! I'll have to stop right here.

A. Yes, you can use the Part Control dialog to select only certain parts to be transcribed. From GOODFEEL's Intermediate Dialog screen

• Press CONTROL+TAB to the "Options" page.
• Press ALT+C or tab to "Part Control." to make the "Part Format Control" dialog appear.
• Use down/up arrow to move through list of parts.
• Press right arrow to move over to the "Process" column. Press ENTER to toggle from "Yes" to "No."

A. We can see braille music while using Lime because Lime is integrated with GOODFEEL. GOODFEEL 3.2 and earlier uses the same value for line length for embossing the score as for displaying it.

Take the following steps to set characters per line:

• Run GOODFEEL
• Choose Embosser Setup under GOODFEEL's Options menu.
• The first field in the dialog is "Characters per Line." To view the braille score on your braille display, enter the number of cells that your display has. For example, if you have a 32-cell display, enter 32 in this field.
• Tab to "Save as Defaults" and press SPACE BAR to save.

A. Yes, once properly configured, you can see the braille music for the current measure on your display while in Lime. It's important to understand that you must detach the braille display from the PAC Mate unit in order to use it as a braille display. You'll need a special mini USB cable to connect the PAC Mate to your PC. One end is a standard USB connector that mates up with a USB port on your PC. The other end is a mini plug that fits into a port on the left side of the PAC Mate braille display. Contact the dealer from whom you ordered PAC Mate if you need this cable or help with this physical connection.

Once you're connected, you must tell JAWS that you want it to use the PAC Mate display.

• Press INSERT+J to move focus to JAWS.
• Go to Options | Braille and then tab to Add Braille Display.
• Add drivers for PAC Mate 40-cell display. Restart JAWS.
• Then INSERT+J to move to JAWS again. Go to Options | Braille and choose PAC Mate as your default display.

A. Yes, it is possible but not from within the Lime program. Usually, you can set the volume for the JAWS speech and the volume for Lime’s playback that uses the Microsoft Wavetable synthesizer separately. However, you must open the Windows Volume Control to do so. First, run Lime and open any Lime file.

I am sure my instructions that follow are correct for Windows7, but the instructions for older editions this may not work, please let me know if they do not.

To open the Volume Mixer under Windows7 and, I believe, Windows Vista too:

• Press the Windows Key and type the following into the Search Box: Adjust system volume and press ENTER.
• In XP and earlier versions of Windows, open the Volume Control dialog with Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume.
• Press the TAB key to move through the Volume Mixer dialog. In Windows7 and Vista, you should find a field that says “Volume for Lime.” XP calls it MS Wavetable synth or something like that.
• Press the Page Up key to increase volume; Page Down to decrease. Use up and down arrows to increase/decrease by small degrees.
• In Windows7 and Vista, you should tab to the “Volume for JAWS” field and adjust it in the same way. I cannot remember what XP calls it. You may just have to adjust the overall system volume in relation to the Wavetable volume.
• Leave the Volume dialog open and move back to Lime using ALT+TAB. Test the volume levels and if you still need to change them further, just ALT+TAB back to the Volume page, make adjustments, and back to Lime again to audition volume levels until you have the mix you like.

• At times, the Lime Aloud scripts get confused somehow. Generally, the scripts are set up not to pronounce the letter names when you type in Lime’s main window.
• When you hear that unwanted speech, hold down the INSERT key and press the number 2 until JAWS says “None.” That is the 2 above the letter w.

A. You can use any screen reader to operate GOODFEEL, Lime, and SharpEye, the three main programs of the suite of software we call GOODFEEL® Standard. That is, you can use any screen reader to read the menus and dialogs of these three programs. However, in order to access the features we call Lime Aloud, you must currently install scripts for the JAWS for Windows screen reader. These scripts present the braille music for the current measure of music on your braille display as you use standard cursor keys to navigate through the score. They also allow you to hear each note verbally described.

Remember that, using GOODFEEL, sighted people who can read print music and who can operate a computer can learn to scan, import or enter music, edit where necessary, and automatically convert it into the equivalent music braille without needing to know anything at all about literary or music braille. Once you have a hardcopy, embossed braille score, you can use Lime’s Hear dialog to play back the music at any tempo you choose. You can read the braille music while you listen to the PC play it as an aid to memorization. You can do so regardless of the screen reader you use.

We do want to offer comparable functionality for Window-Eyes and other screen readers which we can now offer to JAWS users. However, I cannot tell you when, or even definitely if, we can offer such scripts. We will certainly announce such support when it's ready.

Each time GOODFEEL transcribes a score, it creates a formatted braille copy of the file used to emboss the hardcopy version of the score. These formatted braille files are saved as .gf files but they are essentially equivalent to the .brf standard formatted braille files. You can read these files using your Braille Connect or any other device that can open braille text files.

A. Lime’s windows can be resized like normal windows but it can only be made as wide as the music document. You can change the music document’s size using Layout which is available from the File menu. In the Layout dialog, you can make the page wider (Page size) or you can select ‘Enlarge’ for the ‘Zoom for Editing’ radio button.

A. You can't do this with GOODFEEL, but you can do this in Lime and Lime Aloud using the Parts and Voices dialog. I recommend reading about it in the Lime manual and on this page .

A. While there is currently no native Mac version of GOODFEEL, there are two popular and quite accessible solutions that make it possible to use Windows software on a Mac. We recommend that you use Vmware Fusion or BootCamp.

VMware Fusion is a software solution for the Mac that makes it possible for a Mac user to setup virtual machines. Virtual machines are simulated versions of a computer. VMware virtual machines appear as windows on your Mac desktop, just like any other program. The difference, though, is that a VMware window displays the entire screen of the simulated machine. Using VMware, you can create a virtual machine, install Windows on the virtual machine, and finally install Windows software, including a screen reader, on the virtual machine.

While VMware can be used to run any Windows software, there are some situations when VMware isn't appropriate. VMware isn't compatible with devices that connect to your computer over a Firewire connection. VMware is also not compatible with some programs that require extremely low level access to peripherals. In these cases, you can use BootCamp, a free feature of the Mac OS. BootCamp makes it possible to configure a Mac in what is called a dual boot setup. Once BootCamp has been configured, each time a Mac starts, you can select if the Mac will start in the Mac OS or Windows. When it is started in the Windows mode, the Mac will behave like a typical Windows-based PC, and is fully compatible with all Windows software.