Harleyquin Workshop Notes
An Introduction to Troff
Due to the nature of this workshop and that the tutor notes for this program would be much more useful with screenshots, I’m making them available freely. Please enjoy!
HQ Workshop Tutor Notes – An Introduction to Troff
Tutor/Class Notes
Troff is installed as a Chrome extension. For PCs, it opens/can have quick links like an individual program. For MAC’s it’s opened through Chrome.
Click on: Launch App
OVERVIEW
Troff is a music player specifically designed for learning music and creating choreography. Easily loop all or part of a song, create markers to return to specific sections, and includes a count in before playing – excellent for recording sequences or practicing! With just a little review it is quite easy to learn and use.
During this workshop we will explore:
- the different sections of the software (the interface)
- how to “add” songs to the list
- creating markers (labels/notations)
- how to loop the entire song or sections
- why and how to use the countdown feature and wait between
- editing a marker
TUTOR NOTES:
WHAT IS TROFF
Troff is a software app, available in the Chrome or Android store, that is designed for learning music. It contains many features that are extremely useful for the choreographer and with just a little practice may become an invaluable tool for creating your own choreography.
HOW DO I GET IT
Troff is a free app available from the Chrome or Android store. There is no cost and no obtrusive ads. I’m not sure I’ve even ever noticed any ads.
WHY DO I WANT IT
What it will do: Allow you to create markers and make notes for your own use, allow you to loop the entire song or just sections, allow you to set repeat options, and to also set a countdown delay and/or a repeat delay. These are incredible useful when recording your sequence.
What it will not do: It is meant for the playing of music, and does not include the ability to edit music.
WHAT CAN IT REALLY DO FOR ME?
Benefits for the choreographer or anyone who works with music:
- Use the countdown feature for recording your dance. This gives you time to flip back to SL and take a deep breath before you need to start recording your animations.
- You can set the number of times to repeat the music – to infinity if you like! The wait between feature gives you a pause before it restarts – and you can set how many seconds.
- You can create markers and notes – note where there’s a change in the music, a change in the set or formation, or even what animation you want to use where.
- Use the markers to isolate sections of the song and just repeat those for choosing animations or practicing/recording choreography in sections
LET’S TAKE A LOOK:
Troff uses tabs to hide or show different features of the software. We are going to focus on the ones most critical for choreography.
Songs – Allows you to choose a folder of the songs to display. You can then click on the name of a song to view the timeline and markers. By default, any markers and notes you add are automatically saved and will appear every time you open the song in Troff.
To add songs to this list, click on Select Folders. You can choose of of the suggested folders or click on Add location.
Note: this doesn’t change your music files in anyway. It simply allows you to access your music/image/video files through Troff.
Settings – Set the volume, speed, countdown, pause, number of times to repeat, and more
I/E – import or export your markers and info
Move markers – shift all of your markers by x seconds. Useful if you’ve added an intro sound to the music.
Play full song – Helpful if you’ve selected markers to play all of the song, don’t want to change that but want to hear the full song.
Zoom out/zoom – zooms in to just the selected section or out to view the whole song timeline.
Start before/stop after – gives a bit of extra time before your selection starts to play and when it stops
Pause before/wait between – countdown before music starts, and wait between for repeats
Numbers/infinity – how many times to repeat
Volume/speed – adjust volume and playback speed
Info – displays any notes you’ve typed for the song or individual markers
Countdown – Displays a visual countdown and the number of repeats chosen in the settings window.
PLAYING YOUR MUSIC AND MARKERS
To stop and start your music, press the space bar
To create a marker – while listening to your music press m. You can also click on the timeline and press “add marker” from the settings section
To edit or delete a marker – click on the E in the gray box next to the marker name
SELECTING MUSIC RANGES
To select a music range to play:
Where to start:
Click on the marker name
Where to stop:
Click on the word Stop next to the marker name
SUMMARY
To make a marker – press M during the music
To edit/delete a marker – click on the E in the gray box
Press on the marker name to set the music starting position
Click on Stop to set the music ending position
I hope you give Troff a try and perhaps find it as useful as I did!
Additional resources:
https://slnightmagic.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/troff-chrome-app/
Madness, Matter, and Rambling Thoughts 