Streamline note entry process
Note entry is fairly quick and painless using one hand to control the notes (1 - 8) an dropping notes on the staff in sequence are a breeze with the mouse. Setting accidentals is easy enough either when entering notes or after. One thing that has been slowing down this process for me is dotted notes.
After some experimentation I would llike to request that multiple keypresses change the selected note duration from normal to dotted to double dot, then back. Then selecting a dotted quarter note, for example, would be (5 5) etc. When the note placed, it could either revert to normal or stay dotted whatever works best. To visualize the note setting, the cursor note (that note that is used to place them) could also show dots.
I see that multople keypresses for the same note durations has no effect so this appears to be possible without interfering with other functions.
Hope this is helpful.
Comments
Just in case you miss it, you know that the dot on your keyboard is the shortcut for dot right?
In reply to Just in case you miss it, you by [DELETED] 5
Yep, I do. Try getting a double dot with it. In any event, my suggestion for streamlining involves being able to keep ones left hand poised over the keyboard to select note durations and the other on the mouse to drop notes. The key switching method would act exactly the same as pressing the period key with the additional feature of being able to cycle through normal, dotted, and double dotted notes with minimum effort. Maybe call it 'Dottonomics' or 'Ergodotting'.
Have to say, this application is super great and well positioned to outpace all of the commercial ones. I am a retired software engineer and so I might have a unique appreciation for the work behind it.
In reply to keyboard dot by wingo
It has been proposed already a couple of months ago but the proposition has been dismissed since double dots are quite rare. Such a shortcut would probably become a lost of time for the majority of users.
See : http://musescore.org/en/node/10478
In reply to It has been proposed already by [DELETED] 5
That's the case for me, certainly. Many typesetting guidelines recommend against double dots in most situations where they might otherwise be possible, and I concur with them. So anything that makes it easier to add a double dot *at the expense of the more recommended forms of rhythmic notation* is a step backwards for me.
However, I am not sure it needs to be either/or. Maybe there is a way to make double dots easier for those who use them without inconveniencing those of us who don't. I note that while dot currently toggles on and off, I hardly ever would want to use it that way. Consider, after a dotted half, the single most likely note to enter next is a quarter. Or an eighth, or some other note value *shorter* than a half. So why would I want to simply toggle the dot off, leaving me with a half till selected? I'd much rather simply press 5 to change to quarter (or 4 for eighth, etc). Even if i did actually want a dotten half followed by a half, I can get that in one keystroke already by simply hitting the "6" again to turn off the dot.
So why *not* let the dot key cycle through three states - off, dot, and double dot? Implementation-wise, it might be strange that the same keystroke performs a different function depending on the current state of the interface, but from a user perspective, it actually seems pretty natural to me.
BTW, if a given user doesn't like the position of the period on his particular keyboard, he is of course free to override the shortcut to something closer to wherever his numbers keys are located.
On the other hand, I'm very much *not* in favor of having the number keys cycle through different states, adding dots on repeated presses. I am quite sure I often press number keys unnecessarily just to confirm I'm on the note value I think I am. I'd be constantly adding dots unintentionally, when I was just trying to confirm I had selected the value selected that I thought I did. That, again, would be a huge step *backwards* in usability for me.
In reply to That's the case for me, by Marc Sabatella
@marc I understand your reasoning. But still I don't think having shortcuts with 3 states and shorcut with two states is a good thing from user perspective and double dots being rarely use, I really don't see the need.
In reply to @marc I understand your by [DELETED] 5
"double dots being rarely use"
It depends which genre of music you are working in.
Many of us transcribing French Baroque music for musicians who do not understand the performance implications of this genre will use double dots very liberally in some movements to convey performance intent.
I do understand that this may be a minority viewpoint, however, if you are trying to transcribe one of these pieces without a keyboard shortcut for double dot it becomes distinctly tedious.
In reply to "double dots being rarely by ChurchOrganist
Of course, that's why it's possible to define a direct shortcut for double dot in Edit -> Preferences -> Shortcuts.
In reply to Of course, that's why it's by [DELETED] 5
And I'd use a : for that. It is a) 2 dots and b) shift . (on my keyboard at least) so pretty inititive?
In reply to "double dots being rarely by ChurchOrganist
I rarely myself actually use double dots, I only included them in the cycle since if one were going to cycle dots with multiple keypresses, one might as well cycle through all the dotted options. I did suggest that the note cursor be modified to show the 'dot' state of the current note which might help eliminate dropping dots by accident.
I see all of the negatives on this issue and do understand your points. I only suggested this since I just completed copying a 23 page score to test my abilities with MuseScore as compared to other note entry applications I have. During this process, the one thing that slowed my entry the most was switching the dot on. Off, as was mentioned in this thread is easily done by pressing the same number key again. Which, I might add, is somewhat of a modified keypress in itself.
If this is not important to anyone besides me then by all means set it aside for more important features.
In reply to double dots or not by wingo
Sorry, I guess this is not the right place to post but I cannot figure out how to create a new post. Does anyone know how to create a rest on top of a note? Musescore seems to be able to add the rest next to the existing note only. Thanks.
In reply to Rests by bone
You start a new thread by clicking "Post new forum topic" at the top of the main page for a given forum.
When you mention rests on top of notes, I assume you are referring to multiple voices - see http://musescore.org/en/handbook/voices