Taorluath enters Alpha - a big release adding expression, a full practice toolkit, exports, a source editor, and any-system-font support.

Added

• Expression marks - fermata, accent and staccato on any note (Notes tab). They print above the note and shape playback: a fermata holds, staccato clips the note short, an accent gives a louder attack.
• Printed tempo marking - an optional ♩ = <bpm> at the top of the score (Settings tab).
• Audible metronome - a click on every beat, with an adjustable volume and an optional one-bar count-in.
• Practice toolkit (Playback tab) - a live tempo slider, practice speed (½× / ¾× / 1×), loop, Follow (auto-scrolls to the playing note), a Tuning A tone, and drone on/off plus a drone volume slider.
• Bar numbers and note-name letters - optional learning and navigation aids.
• Redo (Ctrl+Y) with a new Edit menu; Esc stops playback or clears the selection; Spacebar toggles play/stop.
• Editing helpers - duplicate a note (Ctrl+D), nudge its pitch with ↑/↓, Clear Bar, Duplicate Bar, and a 100% actual-size zoom.
• Export to PNG and Export to MIDI.
• Score Source Editor - view and edit the raw .pipe contents and Apply to rebuild the tune.
• Open Recent files.
• Any installed font - both the app font and the score/header fonts can be set to any font on your system, chosen through a searchable picker.

Changed

• New readable .pipe file format - saved tunes are now a clean, human-readable text format (BWW-inspired) instead of JSON. It covers headers and font styles, notes (pitch + duration, dots, ties, accents/staccato/fermata), gracenotes and embellishments (g:gdc = D Throw), bar lines and repeats, 1st/2nd-time brackets (1[ … ] / 2[ … ]), one stave per line, text boxes, document fonts/gaps, and drum mode. Older JSON .pipe files still open automatically. The built-in Live .pipe Editor (Ctrl + Shift + Tab) edits this text and updates the score as you type.
• Maximum tempo raised from 120 to 240 BPM.

Removed

• Harmony staves have been removed from the app.

Fixed

• Second-timing number placement - the 1st/2nd-time number now sits under the bracket line, matching standard notation.

Changed

• Saved files are named by their initials - a score now saves as the first letter of each word in its title, so "The Atholl Highlanders" becomes t_a_h.pipe instead of the full title. Clashing initials get _2, _3… so a save never overwrites another tune. Existing scores keep their old filenames until you next use Save Changes.
• The tune explorer shows tune titles, not filenames - each score in My Scores now reads its real tune title(s), and a file with more than one tune shows them joined with a slash, e.g. The Atholl Highlanders/The Steam Boat.

Added

• Rename a score in the explorer - right-click any score in My Scores for Open / Rename… / Duplicate / Delete (or press F2 to rename). Renaming sets a custom explorer label only - it never changes the tune titles or the file on disk, and clearing it reverts to the automatic title list.
• The playing beat is highlighted during playback - as a tune plays, the note currently sounding is marked with a soft, translucent orange box that runs the full height of the stave and covers the whole beat (the note together with any gracenotes). It steps through in time with the audio and clears on Stop, and is always orange regardless of the Highlight colour setting (which still styles selection and the hover ghost).

Added

• Background drones in playback - a steady drone now loops seamlessly under the melody whenever you press Play (bagpipe mode only). Drop a drones.wav into Assets/audio/ (or beside the app) and it plays through the same low-latency audio engine, stopping instantly on Stop.

Fixed

• Heavy D Throw - placing a Heavy D Throw was producing a light throw (Low G, D, C); the extra Low G grace note was missing, so it sounded identical to the D Throw. It now correctly plays Low G, D, Low G, C, matching its on-screen preview.

Added

• Tune selector on the Stave tab - a new Tune dropdown chooses which tune you're editing, and the Stave dropdown then numbers that tune's staves from 1 (instead of one continuous run across the whole document). Add Stave Before/After, Delete Stave and the stave time signature all apply within the selected tune.

Fixed

• Removing a stave no longer disturbs the other tunes - deleting (or inserting) a stave now keeps every tune's header attached to its own staves. Previously the tune boundaries didn't move with the staves, so deleting a stave in one tune could pull the top stave of the tune below it up into the wrong tune.

Added

• Five new embellishments on the Embellishments tab: Gracenote Strike (High G, D, C), Heavy Gracenote-Strike (High G, Low G, C), High G-D Strike (High G, D, Low G), Dre (E, Low A, F, Low A) and Hornpipe Shake (High G, D, E, D, B).
• Melody-aware ornaments. A Taorluath after a D sounds Low G, B, Low G, E, and after a Low G it sounds D, Low A, E. A doubling or G birl after a High G shifts its leading High G gracenote up to High A, and after a High A drops it (High G and High A doublings are left unchanged).
• Text tab - add free text anywhere on the page. Click Add Text Box, then click where you want it; click an existing box to edit or clear it.
• Tune tab - multiple tunes per document. Add Tune appends a blank 4-stave tune to the end (also on the Stave tab) and Delete Selected Tune removes the selected one. Click a stave to select its tune; double-click a title to rename it. Every tune's header sits 1 cm from the top with a fixed 100 px gap to its first stave; the tune type sits on the left (title centred, composer right); and each later tune prints its own time signature.
• Stylable page number and text boxes - set the font, size and weight (bold/italic) of the page number (Settings → Page Number, or double-click it) and of each custom text box.
• Stylable 2nd-time numbers - double-click a 1st/2nd-time number to set its font, size and weight, and choose whether the bracket sits above or below the stave.
• Duplicate a saved score - select it on the dashboard and press D to make a copy titled "Copy of <name>".
• Print Preview - File → Print Preview (or Ctrl+Shift+P) shows the composed page as it will print, with a Print… button.
• Harmonies tab - Add Harmony Part appends a harmony line as its own stave under the tune (labelled "Harmony", matching the melody's bars and time signature); write its notes with the Notes tab. Harmony staves are for reading/printing and aren't included in playback.

Changed

• Note & embellishment buttons show a picture, not a name - the Notes and Embellishments tabs now render each note/embellishment on a small bare five-line stave. Embellishments are drawn on their own (no melody note), referenced to G.
• Smaller note & embellishment buttons - the picture buttons on the Notes and Embellishments tabs are smaller, so more fit without crowding the ribbon.
• Sharps removed - the F♯/C♯ key signature is no longer drawn; those sharps are implied by the highland scale and weren't otherwise used.
• Redrawn gracenotes - a cleaner single-gracenote glyph, and the barred embellishment heads are now angled noteheads that match the melody notes instead of flat ovals.
• Dashboard scores are sorted alphabetically by tune name, ignoring leading articles (The/A/An/And) and any numbers (so "The 2nd Battalion" files under B).
• Smaller embellishment heads - gracenote/embellishment noteheads are now 25% smaller.
• Page number only when needed - shown only when the tunes span more than one page; single-page tunes have no number.
• Automatic updates - choosing Yes on the update prompt now downloads and installs the new version and reopens the app for you.
• Font sizes are now set in points (not pixels), so text prints at a true typographic size. Existing tunes are converted automatically.
• Lighter placement ghost - the hover preview now snaps to where the note or embellishment will land instead of pushing the other notes apart on every move, removing the constant redraw and its heavy memory use.
• Sharper editor rendering - the score now draws at full resolution on screen (crisp noteheads, gracenotes and beams) while keeping the thin, clean staff lines.
• "Save to .pipe" now saves anywhere you choose - keep a copy of a tune outside the app's library. Save Changes still commits to the tune's own file in your library.
• The app and installer are now digitally signed.

Fixed

• Lone gracenotes are sized correctly - big enough to read clearly on paper (they were nearly invisible before) but not so large they compete with the melody notes; about three-quarters the height of a full note. Barred embellishment heads are unchanged.
• Embellishment / doubling heads fixed - the barred gracenote heads were rendering as tiny dashes at the reduced size; they now draw as clean filled noteheads at each pitch, with the stem at the head's right edge (connected at any zoom).
• Tie Height now actually changes the tie arc - a width-based cap was overriding the setting for all but very wide ties; it now drives the height (clamped only so a tie never balloons taller than its own width).
• "Play from Selected Bar" now honours repeat barlines - it previously ignored them and played straight through; it now expands repeats just like "Play Entire Score".
• Page number no longer clipped when printing - moved up from the bottom edge so print margins don't cut it off.
• Everything now prints in pure black - notes, staff lines, beams, clefs, time signatures, ties and all text were a very dark grey and are now true black (also sharper on paper).
• Print quality now genuinely scales with the DPI setting - the higher-DPI page was being thrown away during the final resize onto the printer; it now prints with high-quality interpolation, so 1200 DPI is visibly sharper than 150.
• Corrected the D, F and B doublings - D is now High G, D, E, F is now High G, F, High G and B is now High G, B, C.
• Corrected the Leamluath (grip) to Low G, D, Low G.
• Corrected the Taorluath and Crunluath - Taorluath is now Low G, D, Low G, E and Crunluath is now Low G, D, Low G, E, Low A, F, Low A.
• The app now reports its own version correctly, so the update check no longer offers an update on every launch.

Added

• Delete saved scores from the dashboard - select one and press Delete or Backspace.
• Drag a selected note up/down to change its pitch (a doubling in front follows); throws lock to D and birls to Low A.
• Tie / Dot before placing - arm the next note you place with the Tie or Dot button.
• Tie Height setting - how flat or mountainous tie arcs are, saved per tune.
• Click the top of an embellishment to select the whole thing, then Delete removes it as a unit.
• Ultra (1200 DPI) print quality, plus Default DPI/margin settings.

Changed

• The placement ghost pushes the real notes apart as you hover (and is much faster), so you see the final layout.
• Leaving the note tabs clears the ghost; the Notes tab defaults to Quarter and Embellishments to a single Gracenote. Editing a note deselects it.
• Embellishments corrected to the Piper's Dojo guide (leumluath, taorluath, heavy D throw, double strikes, birls).
• Gracenotes redrawn: larger heads, three thin beams, ledger lines through High A, and cleaner spacing in staff spaces.
• Bars start right after the clef with no time signature; bar lines print reliably; notes never flood past the barline.
• Activation keys are now TL-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX and purchasing is by request/email - we send the payment method and issue keys after payment.
• Two-column Settings dialog and a release-based update check.

Fixed

• Playback - consecutive same-pitch notes now play as one continuous tone, with a working Stop.
• Print DPI now actually changes the output quality; the App font size setting resizes the interface; the loading screen reliably appears.

Added

• Print settings menu - choose printer, paper size (Letter, A4, Legal, A3, Tabloid, A5), orientation, quality (DPI) and page margin before printing. The score is still fit inside the margins and never cropped.
• Autosave on close - closing the app saves your current score first, so work is never lost on exit.

Changed

• Playback no longer highlights notes - the moving highlight could drift out of sync with the sound, so playback is now audio only. We plan to add this back later.

Fixed

• Playback audio delay - tunes now play from memory instead of a temporary file, removing a long start delay before sound began.
• The loading screen now reliably appears on launch instead of flashing past on fast startups.

Added

• Loading screen on startup - the app logo with a percentage progress bar.

Changed

• Much smaller installer - it now downloads Taorluath during installation (~11 MB instead of ~55 MB) and avoids antivirus false positives.
• The installed app now points you to the download page when an update is available.

Added

• First public release.
• Notation editor for the Great Highland Bagpipe and practice chanter: beat-based beaming, gracenotes & embellishments, ties, dots, bar/repeat styles and multiple staves.
• Pipe-band drum scores - snare, tenor and bass in Berger uniline notation, with rimshots and rests.
• Gapless playback with real instrument samples; the playing note and its gracenotes are highlighted.
• Save/open .pipe and .drum, import/export .bww, export PDF and print from the app.
• Light and dark themes; Firebase-verified licence activation.