Shortcuts for direct entry of sharp and flat notes

• Jul 24, 2016 - 21:27

Hi,

In the Preferences>Shortcuts menu could someone please create the option for the direct entry of sharp and flat notes.
e.g.

Add Note A to Chord: shift + A
Add Note A# to Chord: shift + W

Enter Note A: A
Enter Note A#: W

Insert Note A: ctrl + shift + A
Insert Note A#: ctrl + shift + W

You could make a virtual piano octave with your computer keyboard.
Untitled picture.png

Thanks,

James

Comments

• Jul 25, 2016 - 00:57

The thing is, it doesn't really work that way even for adding regular notes. Pressing the shortcut for "A" enters an A natural, A flat, or A sharp depending on the current key and state of accidentals. There is no shortcut for entering an A natural. So what you are proposing would actually be a completely different way of entering notes, not just a few more shortcuts. Why not simply use the Piano Keyboard window?

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• Nov 25, 2017 - 06:42

Yup that got it, thanks. There seems to be pitches/semitones i am unable to match with the source piece of music in my head. If i play what I wrote I can only pitch match one note to my humming and the arrow keys are not helping to find the right the right variation on the notes, is it just me or is there a way or possibility that the source was slightly varied from standard some how?

I don't get it, I can't match the notes pitch to the correct 'key' the notes sound like theyre in the wrong key no matter where I move up and down. Must be me hey?

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• Nov 25, 2017 - 09:23

Thanks, got it, used some pitch matching software for android and I was able to get the first part down.
Thanks for all the help just crusing the forum to see if anyone else is having my problem of not being able to copy paste, maybe its the way i'm doing it anyways i'll do some more reading and if I cant sort it i'll start a new thread.

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• Oct 7, 2022 - 20:04

Update to the above message about using keyboard shortcuts for accidents:
- In Node Input mode, press the accidental shortcut (e.g. # for #, @ for flat, $ for natural) before entering the target note (the same order it will appear in notation).
- In regular (view) mode, the same shortcuts will add/remove corresponding accidentals.
- To define the accidental, in Preferences / Shortcuts tab, Search for "input", and enter the shortcuts for "Note input: #", "Note input: b", "Note input: natural", etc.
- The shortcuts are related to the Note Input toolbar, so the status of the accidental selection can be observed on the toolbar, as well as directly toggle on the toolbar itself.

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• Oct 8, 2022 - 00:12

Thank you for clarifying -- that make sense. I went for an elaborate response above, sharing my own experience transcribing some music using just the computer keyboard. With the right combination of shortcuts at hand, after some time entering music becomes much like editing a text document.

As a side note: the existing choice of note durations is somewhat less intuitive, than something like 1 for whole, 2 for 1/2, 4 for 1/4, 8 for 1/8, 6 for 1/16, 3 for 1/32 etc. But it's a good thing that the shortcuts can be re-assigned.

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• Oct 8, 2022 - 00:41

FWIW, while the defaults aren't "intuitive" in the sense of being something you'd automatically know without being told, I think you'll find they are actually very efficient, because unlike the system you describe, it means adjacent note values are adjacent on the keyboard. Also, keep in mind, the notion of a "quarter note" is kind of a US-English specific construct. The word for this duration doesn't necessarily involve any connection to the number "4" in British-English, or in a number of other languages. Anyhow, indeed, if you find it efficient to use different shortcuts, you are welcome to do so!

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• Oct 8, 2022 - 04:56

The problem with sequential numbering is that I can't remember which number (3 or 4 or 5) is a 1/2 or a 1/4 note. I keep poking and then forget again. There's no reference.
Just being curious, what other languages besides British don't name durations based on fractions?

Update: It looks like the Romance European languages use note durations similar to British (probably brought by the Normans), and have common medieval origins. Such as, the crotchet derives from Old Norse krokr meaning "hook", and is related to the handicraft crochet (borrowed from later French). Indeed the 1/4 note looks like a hook. Interestingly, in modern French une croche is a "quaver" or an 1/8 note, while a 1/4 note is une noire (a black one).

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• Oct 8, 2022 - 05:33

The way I always remember and teach it is, 4/5/6 for eighth/quarter/half. The middle row of a numeric keypad for the three most common note values. Another way of seeing it: use 5 - the "median" digit - for the note that generally gets the beat. Like a seesaw with 5 (the beat) as the pivot point; notes longer than a beat being larger numbers on one side, notes shorter than a beat being smaller numbers on the other side. It's really quite logical. But logical is different from "intuitive" indeed.

As for what languages don't use a word for "quarter" to describe this note, I don't have a full list, but French, Spanish, and Italian come to mind - they use words relating to the note being "black". Fractions show up in the naming. but not the way they do in US English. For example, what we called a quarter note might be translated as a "half minim" instead in some languages, so if anything, they might want "2" as the shortcut if they were basing them on naming.

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