See timecode in status bar?

• Jan 31, 2020 - 22:40

Hello,

Is it possible to see the time (in mm:ss) of a note/bar in the status bar? Useful for writing to video.

Thanks.


Comments

If you just want to see the play time since the start of the piece, this is shown in the play panel during play back ( [F11] or View-> tick Play panel). If there are repeats, DSs and Codas etc. you will probably find it useful to use the the Unroll repeats feature on the Tools menu.

There is some previous discussion here https://musescore.org/en/node/285412 about the difficulty of implementing a feature that would allow you to see the time status at the current position of the edit cursor (rather than playback cursor). But if you have some bright ideas about how this might be more simply implemented, I am sure that there are many users who would find it useful.

In reply to by SteveBlower

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. Unfortunately I am looking for a really display of mm:ss for my students who have minimum times for projects and some projects (eg: film music briefs) that need frequent reference to mm:ss timecode. I'm afraid I don't have any software developing experience so can't suggest bright ideas! Hope this may be something that could be implemented in future.

In reply to by therestisnoise

Probably the suggestion in my first paragraph is the way to go for them. The play time is displayed continuously in the play panel while the score is playing. But probably more usefully, you can find the time at which a particular note is played. To do this click on the note to to position the cursor. The play time is not updated yet but it is updated if you quickly double click the space bar (which starts and stops playback). One problem is that when you place the cursor within a repeat or within the scope of a DC etc. the playback always starts as if for the first time. This is where the unroll repeats feature is useful as it creates a new version of the score and parts but with all repeats etc. written out. For example if you have a repeat starting from bar 5 and ending at bar 12 unroll repeats will create a new version with bars 5 to 12 repeated as bars 13 to 20 and now if you want to know what time the first note of the second bar of the repeated section happens you can click on the first note in bar 14 rather than having to wait for the repeat to happen and trying to stop playback on the second time through bar 6.

In reply to by Spire42

Yes, there is that way of doing it, and it has the advantage of not needing to unroll repeats (but the measure and beat indication does not include information about which repeat you are currently on). However, although it gives you a textual indication of which beat and which measure the time applies to, it doesn't show you. It would be more useful if using the slider also highlighted the position in the score.

In reply to by SteveBlower

Thanks for the suggestions. The double-tap spacebar with play panel works well. It would certainly useful to have a quicker visual on the status bar and that takes into account unrolled repeats without having to make a new score. This is essential for student exam projects that have a minimum time and I want them (and me) to be able to frequently and quickly check the progress in mm:ss.

In reply to by therestisnoise

It is the unrolled repeats that make this difficult. Say you have a structure like ||: A :|| B || Da Capo. and you select a note within the repeated A section; what time should be displayed? Time that note is played first time through, or second time through, or third time through on the DC or if the DC has Play Repeats enabled perhaps on the fourth time through? You might ask for all of them to be displayed, but then consider that MuseScore also has the capability to deal with multiple repeats of a section and so section A might get repeated any number of times in principle. Implementing the time display to take into account all possibilities is "non-trivial" as they say. Unrolling the repeats is not elegant but it is effective.

In reply to by SteveBlower

Hello,

Thanks for info. I think it would be useful to just show the mm:ss for the 'first time' and then if a note is selected after the repeated section, it take into account the repeats before hand eg:

||: A - repeat 3x :|| B ||

Say a note is selected in the A section, it would just show mm:ss for first time through. When a note is selected in the B section, it has taken into account the A section being played 3x. Forgive my ignorance (given no programming background!) if not, but I presume that might be an easy calculation for the programme?

Edit: re. unroll repeats feature, certainly that would help to see the true mm:ss but is not easy for quick reference.

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