Standard note entry and editing for percussion staves
It would be great to have standard note entry for percussion staves so that you can just click on the appropriate line or space to enter a note for a particular drum, rather than having to keep switching back and forth between different drums using the drums palette.
It would also be nice to be able to drag notes up and down the staff in percussion staves, just like in standard pitched staves.
Thanks for considering these suggestions.
Paul
Comments
NoteFlight works this way but it only offers limited drums
Since MuseScore has more comprehensive support for drums there's as problem with how to deal with staff positions that can have more than one percussion sound. For example "Tom" "Ride" and "Ride (Bell)" all share the same top line of the staff but have different note heads.
One idea could be to treat them in a similar way to accidentals on pitched staves. Pressing the arrow keys could cycle through all the note head possibilities before moving to the next staff line or space.
In reply to NoteFlight works this way but by David Bolton
I like that idea. Hit one key to place the note, then arrow to cycle the different heads.
For the OP - note you *can* currently assign the keys A-G to place your seven favorite drum notes, by right clicking the durm staff and selecting Edit Drum Set. I've set mine up so I can place hi-hat & bass drum pedals, snare and tom, ride cymbal, a mid-line "slash" character, and up-stem notes just above the staff that I use for indicating "kick" rhythms above a measure of slashes. For my drum parts, that pretty much does it right there; I just need to add the occasional crash or second tom (which I can do with arrow keys after first entering note with one of the existing shortcuts).
In reply to NoteFlight works this way but by David Bolton
Good thoughts. Multiple note heads at the same staff position seems easy to deal with.
You could still have the drum palette for selecting which note head you want to enter for "overloaded" staff positions. This is similar to selecting accidental signs for staff positions that hold more than one note: C, C# and Cb, for example. But now you'd only need to use the drum palette in those cases, not for every different staff position.
And you can already use the arrow keys to change a note on a percussion staff. You would just need to have the drumset set up so that notes that share the same staff position have adjacent midi pitches. (The arrow keys move you up and down through the midi pitches, I believe.) This would make sense in general, to have the midi pitches aligned with the staff positions, then you could use the up and down arrows to move notes up and down on a percussion staff, just like on a standard staff.
And yes, it is good to have the option of the keyboard shortcuts for entering percussion notes.
In reply to Easy fixes by PaulMorris
I'm pretty sure the association between MIDI pitches and specific drum sounds is out of MuseScore's control. But no reason MuseScore couldn't create the *illusion* of it working that way.
In reply to I'm pretty sure the by Marc Sabatella
Good point! So maybe offer an option for percussion staves that lets the arrow keys move up and down through the positions on the staff (however these are customized in the drumset settings), rather than up and down through MIDI pitches. And for lines or spaces with more than one note head, just cycle through each of these note heads before moving on to the next line or space (as with accidentals on a standard staff).
In reply to Option for arrow keys to move up and down the staff by PaulMorris
I think the arrow keys should cycle the staff and that should be the only way it works. (Just a small reminder against "preference creep")
In reply to I think the arrow keys should by David Bolton
That works for me. I can't think of a good case for when or why you'd want it to cycle through the MIDI pitches instead.