Input of Tablature - Mac version
The up and down arrow keys do not move the cursor when inputting lute tablature in the Mac version 3.6.2. This problem does not occur in the PC version.
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Cmd+↑ / ↓?
I tried the up and down arrows in combination with Shift, Cmd, Option etc. but they had no effect.
In reply to I tried the up and down… by milesdempster
In order to understand and assist, we would need you to attach your score and give us precise steps to reproduce the problem. My guess is you simply have the score setup different from ones you have used in the past on Windows. Or you may have customized your keyboard shortcuts at some point in the past and then forgotten, so you might try Help / Revert to Factory Settings.
In reply to In order to understand and… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you for your very quick response! I attach the score.
I select the the first bar in the tablature staff, press the N key to enter 'note input' mode. When I press the up an down arrows there is no movement in the cursor. I have not customized the keyboard shortcuts and I attach a snapshot of the current setting. After sending this note, I shall try and reset the Shortcut preferences–perhaps there is something corrupted there.
In reply to Thank you for your very… by milesdempster
That's not how it works, see: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/note-input#basic-note-entry
After entered the note you can select it and move it with the arrow
In reply to That's not how it works, see… by Shoichi
What you describe does not apply to Tablature in 'note input' mode.
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/tablature#keyboard
In reply to Thank you for your very… by milesdempster
Factory reset of Preferences > Shortcuts solved the problem!
In reply to Factory reset of Preferences… by milesdempster
Now that I have solved the problem of raising/lowering the cursor using the up/down arrow keys (by resetting the keyboard shortcuts), I have other problems:
When inputting notes on the regular staff using the computer keyboard (A thru' G) I am unable to find a key combination that works to quickly raise or lower the last entered note by an octave–a very useful feature I would like to add.
When editing notes on the linked tablature staff, I am unable to find a key combination that moves the selected fret on to the next available string.
In reply to Now that I have solved the… by milesdempster
Ctrl+Up/Down is the usual shortcut for octave transposition on standard staves. Cmd instead of Ctrl as usual for macOS.
Same shortcut is what moves notes between strings on tab.
For much more on these topics, see the Handbook sections on note input and on tablature.
In reply to Ctrl+Up/Down is the usual… by Marc Sabatella
Doesn't work that way for me. Cmd+up/down arrow applied to a fret on the tablature staff produces a crazy result (see attached screenshot). . Cmd+up/down arrow applied to a note on the regular staff simply toggles between the note sharpened or flattened.
I haven't tried remapping the Musescore shortcuts to Ctrl +up/down arrow. For the moment this would conflict with my default Mission Control shortcuts (I'm on High Sierra). I could try this is you think that it might help.
In reply to Doesn't work that way for me… by milesdempster
Presumably those customized OS shortcuts are precisely the problem. The defaults in MuseScore are designed to work with the defaults in your OS. if you've customized them in your OS, you'll need to customize them in MsueScore to not conflict.
The second image, btw, suggests maybe you are trying to move to an incorrectly-defined bass string (or a corner case that the alogirthm in MuseScore was never designed to handle and hasn't yet been tested). Try using standard tablature with no customizations, and moving within the staff only, to be sure if it really is the conflict with the system shortcuts that is causing the problem, or a problem with the string data in your score. If it works on a standard guitar tab staff, then please attach your actual lute score we so we can understand and assist better.
In reply to Presumably those customized… by Marc Sabatella
BTW The ctrl+down arrow is Apple's default for Mission Control in High Sierra.
Here's a standard treble clef guitar staff with linked tab staff (taken from a Musescore template).
The 3rd event is a D correctly shown as a 3rd fret on the 2nd string. When I apply Cmd+down arrow to the cipher on the 2nd string, it should move the note onto the 7th fret on the 4th string - but it doesn't like it at all!
In reply to BTW The ctrl+down arrow is… by milesdempster
Sorry, I mean't ...7th fret on the 3rd string!
In reply to BTW The ctrl+down arrow is… by milesdempster
It's OK for ctrl plus up/down to be reserved by macOS - as mentioned, the MsueScore defaults on macOS are Cmd plus up/down.
But again, in order for us to investigate and to assist you better), we'd need you to attach your actual score and give us precise steps to reproduce the problem.
In reply to It's OK for ctrl plus up… by Marc Sabatella
It is attached at the top (https://musescore.org/en/node/320268#comment-1075342), but linked (on the linked tablature staff)?
In reply to It is attached at the top … by Shoichi
Ah, indeed it is, thanks!
I had no trouble entering a note on the tab staff and moving it with Ctrl+Up/Down on Linux. So if Cmd+Up/Down is not working on a given macOS system even after reverting to factory settings, probably there is some conflict with some other system shortcut. So you may need to customize it to something else.
In reply to Ah, indeed it is, thanks! I… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you Marc!!
I've redefined Cmd+Up/Down to Option_Cmd+Up/Down and everything is now functioning correctly as you described. I'm not sure what the conflict was, but I don't think it's worth going down that rabbit hole.
Let me take this opportunity to say how impressed I am with Musescore - truly created and supported by musicians. As a lute player who has also written his own tablature processing software I am definitely in a better position to recognize a good product when I see it!
I have one suggestion relating to tablature for re-entrant tuned instruments. When you have, for example, a typical theorbo in A, since the top two courses are tuned an octave lower than usual, the highest pitched course is actually the 3rd one. Currently, when you import a midi file into this setup, Musicscore maps the midi notes starting with the 1st course and works its way down; this results in many notes being mapped suboptimally (many on the 1st course rather than the 3rd course etc.. Ideally, if the mapping order were to be 3rd, 1st, 4th, 2nd, 5th...then there would be much less post-importation adjustments to the tablature.
In reply to Thank you Marc!! I've… by milesdempster
Thanks for the comments! You might be interested to know that most of the tablature features were implemented by a Renaissance viola da gamba specialist, so unlike some programs where the tablature is focused primarily on rock guitar, historical notations were important in MuseScore from the beginning. But even so, some of the lute features were added by another person - a lute specialist - somewhat later.
Unfortunately, since then there haven't been any developers with any particular expertise in these areas, so we haven't been able to make many improvements or even do as good a job of fixing bugs. We'd love to find some people with an interest in this area and programming experience to get involved!
In reply to Thanks for the comments! … by Marc Sabatella
"We'd love to find some people with an interest in this area and programming experience to get involved!"
+10 🙏 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
In reply to Thanks for the comments! … by Marc Sabatella
Thanks for your informative reply! Yes, I had read somewhere that a Renaissance specialist had been involved - It is reflected in the software. I definitely have an interest in this area and would be willing to get involved. My programming experience, however, is rather 'rustic' and I have very little exposure to object-oriented programming. Could there be a role for me in bug hunting, proposed features evaluation - working together with a person who would be doing the hands on code writing?
In reply to Thanks for your informative… by milesdempster
Absolutely! I suspect the most likely scenario is that any programmer who volunteers to help with tablature is going to have more experience from the rock guitar perspective, so they might not be so good at designing features for Renaissance music. But once they've learned the code, they should be able to implement others' designs. Also, I'd note there is at least some relationship between what you are discussing with other issues that come up for banjo, ukulele, and other "modern" (!) instruments that don't have straightforward bottom-to-top tuning.