Transform Scale?
I was talking to someone who uses the 'Transform Scale' tool in Sibelius and I was curious if there was something similar in Musescore. For quick background, the Transform scale is where you select a group of notes and transpose them to different modes. So if you have something like a simple line in C major, you can change it to a C Dorian scale without having to manually add a flat on all the B's and E's in the scale. I know you can theoretically transpose up diatonically to the appropriate mode and then transpose down chromatically to do it but that requires a great deal of math and doesn't account for things like harmonic minor or non western modes.
Picture of Sibelius's Transform Scale menu included
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Comments
I don't think MuseScore currently has such a feature/plugin available.
However, it is fairly trivial to change all notes of a certain pitch/spelling using the advanced selection options.
Using your example of C maj to D dor:
1. Right-click a B
2. In the context menu, choose Select > More…
3. Check "Same notename" and hit OK
4. Right-click an E; Select > More…
5. Again check "same notename", but this time change the bottom of the dialog to "Add to selection" and hit OK
6. Press the down arrow to flatten them all.
In reply to I don't think MuseScore… by jeetee
Yeah that works as well but is a bit tedious. Thank you for the tip though! Definitely makes me want a similar tool just for ease of use. Maybe having it somewhere in the Transpose menu would work but hard to say.
Things like this - tasks that most people would never do but a few people might do often - are good candidates for plugins. So maybe someone who finds this useful could out one together.
Meanwhile, another possibility is to add a new key signature reflecting the desired scale, then select all, then Alt+Ahift+Up followed by Alt+Shift+Down to transpose diatonically without any math required. And you could then use the Select / More method to fix pitches for non-Western modes. Or try a custom key signature, although I have no idea how the diatonic transposition commands work with those.
In reply to Things like this - tasks… by Marc Sabatella
I can see the argument that it's something that "few" people would use but I think adding the functionality in the Transpose menu (maybe by clicking an 'Advanced' button to show these options) could lead to a great deal of users utilizing it. Especially those who like to experiment with harmony. However, a Plugin at the bare minimum would be great!
The feature would be helpful to ethnomusicologists, music archaeologists and the like. I did not know that Sibelius has it, great. More important I think would be a feature for dynamic tuning like hermode tuning that Capella has. It is an online retuning notes program to better interval ratios with more harmonics to make a more realistic sound. In music with exotic scales this would be a great advantage. I.g. one could play pythagorean scale and get harmonic scale sounds. See their websites with utube samples.