* NEW FEATURE!!  "Licks" - a powerful new feature allows you to playback a series of notes (up to 10000, but that would really be over playing a bit!).  You have complete control over the tempo, dynamics and style.  This feature's worth the price of admission, and then some!  The F5 key now invokes the "Lick Manager."  This feature also introduces the new ".LIK" file format, which is simply a text file that contains the "lick" data.  Import/Export ".LIK" files and share them with your friends!

* NEW FEATURE!!  Popup menu for main screen via right mouse.  This menu provides for some handy shortcuts!

* NEW FEATURE!!  Check for Software Updates (on Options/General tab).  Now you can check to see if there's a new version of Virtual Trumpet.  In most cases, upgrading is absolutely FREE!

* CHANGE:  The "Show Fingering Chart" now defaults to "True" or "Checked" in options.  This way, new users of Virtual Trumpet will see the fingering chart on startup and, I believe, this may help them to more easily orient themselves to the "instrument." 

* NEW FEATURE!! All keyboard input (Valve Input) completely revamped to provide greater accuracy through all valve combinations and shift positions. For example, previously, going from a low C# (1,2,3 valves down) to an open C would typically produce some "in-between" notes. No more! Fault tolerance is also controlled via the new "Valve Delay" advanced option.

* NEW FEATURE!! F4 key now puts Virtual Trumpet in pause mode - this way players can keep Virtual Trumpet open, but there will be no output until F4 is pressed again.

* NEW FEATURE!! New Advanced Option: "Valve Delay" - higher values will produce cleaner valving with greater accuracy - this is in inverse proportion to how fast you can play. Lower values will still produce very clean output, but there will be more "in between" notes, however, with lover values it's possible to play faster passages.

* NEW FEATURE!! New Advanced Option: "Articulation Rate" - higher values will produce slower repeated notes when the RETURN/ENTER/ADD/INSERT keys are held down. A lower rate can simulate double/triple tonguing.

* BUG FIX: ESC/DEL key - when held down, there will no longer be any notes sneaking through. Holding down the ESC/DEL is a quick way to make notes short or any value (up to the max length).

* CHANGE:  The NUM PAD ENTER key is the only key used to repeat/replay the current note.  The + key was just too far away to use effectively, and the Ins key was ineffective for many valve combinations.  The NUM PAD ENTER key is the best key for this function.

* NEW FEATURE!! MIDI/Audio Options enhanced to have greater control over the output. MIDI Channel, MIDI Sustain (how long the MIDI notes can be "blown") are configurable. Additionally, "Open" and "Mute" MIDI patches each have their own configurations for Transpose and Velocity, for greater control of your output - same for Audio output as well.

* NEW FEATURE!! Harmony - it is now possible to define harmony shapes/chords to play along with the melody note. Distinct harmony chords or shapes can be applied to both MIDI and Audio - open or mute settings have their own harmony settings! The channel, velocity/volume and transposition of the harmony shape can all be customized to control the output level and is independent of the primary MIDI/audio notes. For audio, harmony notes are automatically panned in the mix to provide better output leveling and distinguish between and hear each note in complex chords. Construct chords up to 25 notes thick (not that anyone would want that thick of a chord or cluster, but it's possible!) Also, audio chords/shapes defined that go out of range of the Audio Library are automatically "eaten" - so you never need to worry about range issues. Users can select from from a predefined list of harmony shapes/chords and can also create/edit their own shapes or existing chords/shapes. The addition of user-definable harmony/shapes is an exciting new feature for Virtual Trumpet and greatly improves the fun and experience of using Virtual Trumpet.

* NEW FEATURE: You can now set the transposition for each MIDI patch - an example of using this would be to play your audio trumpet with a MIDI bass - transposing the MIDI notes down -24 (or two octaves) - simple!

* ENHANCEMENT: Added a "Restore Defaults..." button to the "Options" dialog. This makes it nice for users who want to go back to the defaults the Virtual Trumpet ships with, and for the developer before releasing the product.

* ENHANCEMENT: The eight Range Pivot buttons were moved slightly to align better with the status bar - the note name should now be aligned exactly with the lowest shift/pivot button.

* BUG FIX: minor correction of "Quick Help" text

* BUG FIX: removed version info in label of help text - all version info can be obtained by clicking the "About..." button in "Help"

* BUG FIX: Audio is only reloaded if the "Output Mode" changes. The audio was previously being reloaded everytime the "Options" were saved - this was unnecessary for the vast majority of cases.

* BUG FIX: display of MIDI channel on midi tab - was displaying a 0 based MIDI channel

The very first public release of the Virtual Trumpet software.  I selected this release date, June 26, because I wanted to honor, in some small way, the late great trumpeter Clifford Brown, who was taken away much before his time in a automobile accident, along with pianist Richie Powell and Nancy Powell on this date in 1956.  I hope someday I can offer a more profound musical tribute of my own - but today it's in the form of the Virtual Trumpet software!

Clifford's music lives on and he will continue to influence generation after generation of musicians thanks to the many recordings made of his playing in a very short time span.

It's my hope that this Virtual Trumpet software will be both fun and educational for peoples of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.  In this version alone, it's possilbe to play both MIDI and Audio sounds at the same time, switch between "open" and "harmon mute", and more.  Future versions will certainly sport new features, but this is where it all started from.