Option for unslurred note length
Since my last post complaining about there being no efficient way to convert score output to 2/3 timebase in midi I've learned something about Sibelius which still ouclasses MuseScore in almost every way except for it's outrageous price tag and the learning curve steeper than a 90 degree slope.
Sibelius has an option to adjust the duration percentage of unslurred notes (so notes with no slurs, or staccato, or anything else that changes the length). If you set the value to 66 or 67 percent all the notes are by default only 66 percent of their original length. When a slur is applied, the notes are all 110 percent their original length if I'm not mistaken.
It would be immensely helpful if MuseScore had an option like this but that the option not only covered normal notes but also would cover the duration percent decrease applied by staccato, staccatissimo, loure, marcato etc.
Making everything 2/3 of it's duration results in the playback having some sort of middle ground between outright staccato and full blown legato. I've been manually doing this method with selection and application of Loure, Marcato and Staccatissimo which takes a hellishly long time and is quite tedious to do when you need to delete all the loures inside a slur (the slur should simply null all note length changing effects of an articulation and only allow velocity changes from marcatos and the like).
I now beg the developers to add this one thing so that I don't waste 3 hours of my life per score on doing timebase conversion with articulations and a buggy selection system!
Comments
I know that the new MuseScore 4 articulation system is designed to be customizable in this way, although the controls won't be provided right at the 4.0 release - these will come later.
But it isn't clear what problems you are having selecting notes or changing their duration currently. The articulation plugin, for example, can easily set a percentage to all notes if desired. Anyhow, if you post your score and the precise steps to reproduce the bug you are seeing in the selection system, we can investigate and try to make sure it's fixed for MuseScore 4.
In reply to I know that the new… by Marc Sabatella
it's not even selecting the notes that's really bothering me that much, it's the detail editing that simply cannot be done with ctrl clicking constantly. I mentioned that MuseScore doesn't treat selection changes as actions so if I accidentally clear a selection I can't get it back by Ctrl+Z. It's also that sometimes when I select a note it seems to lock the play controls and the selection of other notes making me have to deselect everything by clicking in an empty space on the score and start over. I don't know what this locking mechanic is for but I sincerely hope it has some kind of purpose, otherwise I think it's more trouble than it's worth.
In reply to it's not even selecting the… by Piotr Barcz
Indeed, making a selection does not change the score, so by the usual UI guidelines that dictate how common controls like this work - they same across all applications - undo does not affect selections in that way. I guess you could try writing to Microsoft and Apple to see if they'd be willing to consider extending their UI guidelines for this.
Anyhow, regarding the "lock", not sure what you mean, but again, if you attach a score and give precise steps to reproduce the problem, we can begin to investigate. I'm guessing, though. that maybe you double-clicked instead of single-clicked and have thus entered edit mode. In which, Esc would leave it.
In reply to Indeed, making a selection… by Marc Sabatella
Oh Edit mode! Yeah that's exactly what happens, I double click a note by accident and then the play buttons go gray. Thanks for telling me about escape turning it off, that should save me some headaches :D
I guess you don't own any Adobe or office products. Try the learning curve for Premier.
Anyway, it's true about being able to set note duration. Although I can't imagine ever setting it at 66. I have trouble trying to get Sibelius to play slurs. Even with al the settings possible in the Mixer. Attack, release, legato attack,and legato release, can help.
For certain projects, I like MuseScore playback better. But it isn't my "go to", yet
Anyway, If you post a page of a score, and a description of what you are trying to accomplish, someone can help.
In reply to I guess you don't own any… by bobjp
Oh I use Adobe Premiere, child's play to get that to run, Sibelius it took me ages to figure out how to disable live playback xD
I'm not sure how Sibelius works with slurs but I know a guy who uses it and he has the notes overlap to some extent with slurs and then no overlap at all when nonslurred notes are played (66 or 67 percent of original duration). This just works really well for ragtime music, not so much classical.
Every ragtime score I've posted within the last 6 months all have the 2/3 timebase applied with loures and marcatos and staccatissimo if anyone here wants any examples.
In reply to Oh I use Adobe Premiere,… by Piotr Barcz
Marc suggestion to use the articulation plugin is fast and easy.
In reply to Marc suggestion to use the… by bobjp
I guess I can take a look at that but does it work with notes or only the articulations that are in the palettes?
In reply to I guess I can take a look at… by Piotr Barcz
It works with whatever range of notes you select. Nothing to do with palettes.
In reply to It works with whatever range… by bobjp
Ok, thanks! I'll give that a shot and see if I can at least partially cut down the workload
BTW, in MuseScore 3 you can customize the playback of normal notes as well as various different articulations, by saving your score as MSCX and editing the resulting file. The "gateTime" tags control the behavior; they are expressed in percentages. You can save the result to your Templates folder for easy reuse. MuseScore 4 will use an entirely different system for articulations, but as I mentioned, the controls are not there yet. probably it will also be possible to customize manually via text editor, but I'm not sure yet. Still looking into that. But definitely, more control is coming.
In reply to BTW, in MuseScore 3 you can… by Marc Sabatella
Interesting, I might try that if the articulation plugin fails to do what I need, though I'm one of those people who tends to destroy things when it comes to editing text data in a file like that xD
In reply to BTW, in MuseScore 3 you can… by Marc Sabatella
Oh and good to hear that MuseScore 4 is going to give more control over stuff like this, can't wait until that is released!