The New Library window is opened with the following command:
| Button | Key | Menu |
| Ctrl+N | File-New Library |
It is the start of the process for creating new libraries. Depending on whether you choose to review the Library Options for the new library, the process will have two or seven steps.
ChordWizard is supplied with a set of standard libraries for common instruments, which you can access with the Switch Library window instead.
You will need to create a new library if you use a less common instrument or tuning, or if you want to create a personal or special purpose library.
When you have finished the new library process, you will need to save it in a library file. It will then be accessible through the Switch Library window.
Controls
Playing Level
Every library needs to have a playing level indicated, either Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced.
ChordWizard uses this classification to decide which Default Options to apply to the new library initially, and whenever the Reset button is pressed for any of the Library Options. It is also used when locating a library with the Switch Library window.
Once a library has been created, you cannot change the playing level, however you can create a new library of your desired playing level, and import the chordshapes from the original library.
| Intermediate and Advanced playing levels require ChordWizard Gold Edition. The Silver Edition operates only at Beginner level. |
Library Chordshapes
When you create a new library, you can decide how you want to fill it with chordshapes.
Add Manually - create a new library according to your specifications and leave it blank so that you can start from scratch. You can then use the tools available in Design View to add chordshapes to the library. You could also use the Send To function to transfer chordshapes from another library if you have multiple libraries open at the same time.
Import an Existing Library - create the new library and then start the import library process so that you can use the chordshapes in an existing library as the basis for the new library.
Populate Automatically - create the new library and then proceed to do a complete automatic analysis of the fretboard to determine the best possible chordshapes for all chords that are available on the instrument. The chordshapes chosen will depend on the Library Options and the populate settings (see below) that you choose.
Review Library Options
This option determines whether the new library process should be brief (with just this step and the Instrument step) or detailed (with the same two steps, plus an additional five, one for each area of Library Options).
If you are automatically populating the new library, you may wish to tick this option, so that you can make sure you are happy will all settings before the populate process begins.
Populate Target
This is enabled only if you have chosen Populate Automatically for the Library Chordshapes option (see above). It specifies how many chordshapes you want to have for each chord in the new library.
Depending on the instrument, tuning and chord types you may end up with more or less than the target number, but ChordWizard will try to get as close as possible to the target for each chord.
You can enter any number here from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 100.
For more details on how the populate process works, see Populating Libraries.
Populate Preferences
These settings are enabled only if you have chosen Populate Automatically for the Library Chordshapes option (see above). It allows you to set the priorities for evaluating chordshapes during the populate process, so that you end up with the chordshapes that suit you best.
You can set an Importance of None, Low or High for each of the following areas: Easier to Play, LessMute Strings, Lower Fret Position, Standard Inversion.
Each of these areas are balanced against the others so, for example, setting all of them to High is not the best strategy. It is better to work out which areas are genuinely less important to you and indicate this, so that the process has more flexibility for evaluating the chordshapes that are most useful to you.
For more details on how the populate process works, see Populating Libraries.
See Also
