Rests Randomly Flipped Order

• Dec 31, 2023 - 01:30

This has happened to me in some form on nearly every score I've worked on, and I'm still not entirely sure what causes it or how to auto fix it without lots of manual work. I'm still on Musescore 3 because on large scores I find Musescore 4 to still be slower, but is there any way to correct these rests to the correct notation automatically?

I'm guessing it happened when I changed a time signature earlier in the score, but I made sure the section after what I changed had a time signature defined so all the measures would stay intact. Somehow the rests still changed (or it was something else that caused it), weirdly flipping mostly to the exact opposite of the order they should be in.

Edit:
I have found out how to replicate this:
1. Create a new score, doesn't matter what instruments, key sig, time sig, etc... we choose.
2. Insert a 2/2 (or 4/4) time signature a couple measures in to the score.
3. Place an eighth note at the beginning of a measure any time after the 2/2 or 4/4 is started.
4. Create another one of the same time signature some time before that time signature (so say you worked backwards a little bit and are adding some more to the beginning section.
5. Now you're done adding stuff to the beginning and want to combine the new stuff with the old stuff, so delete the time signature that was separating the two (they have the same time signature so it's not needed).
6. Now you have backwards rest order.

Confirmed this is occurring on MS3 as well as the latest 4.2 release.

Attachment Size
rests-flipped.PNG 4.04 KB
rests-flipped2.PNG 18.05 KB

Comments

I have found out how to replicate this:
1. Create a new score, doesn't matter what instruments, key sig, time sig, etc... we choose.
2. Insert a 2/2 (or 4/4) time signature a couple measures in to the score.
3. Place an eighth note at the beginning of a measure any time after the 2/2 or 4/4 is started.
4. Create another one of the same time signature some time before that time signature (so say you worked backwards a little bit and are adding some more to the beginning section.
5. Now you're done adding stuff to the beginning and want to combine the new stuff with the old stuff, so delete the time signature that was separating the two (they have the same time signature so it's not needed).
6. Now you have backwards rest order.

(In the attached picture, if you delete the one I have selected, the rests will flip order).

Attachment Size
rest-flipped-example.PNG 21.62 KB

In reply to by mdr42

Yeah, that probably shouldn't happen. Someone may come along and say how to check on GitHub if this has been reported.
In the meantime consider CTRL+C of the music after the signature to be deleted. Delete the signature, and paste the music back into the same measure. Might be more trouble than it is worth if the score is long .

In reply to by bobjp

"Someone may come along and say how to check on GitHub if this has been reported." Well, here I am.

Actually I checked myself and couldn't find an issue for this. So, please go ahead and create one. In fact the rests don't get flipped, an incorrect duration rest is created after the initial note, Try inserting two 3/4 time signatures.

In reply to by mdr42

A very simple solution to fix this: type Esc. (to deselect the F, eg) -> menu "Tools" -> Regroup rhythms (GIF below)

A variant, if you don't want the "Regroup rhythms" feature to apply to the entire score: select the measures concerned -> menu Tools -> Regroup rhythms.

See:

Video_2024-01-03_061742.gif

Stuff like this will happen while you're still entering notes. It's normal and expected that when you enter a note that takes up part of the duration of a rest, the rest will be broken up into shorter rests. It almost always divides the bar in the correct way for the time signature (I followed your steps exactly and the result was precisely as expected, nothing that looked "backwards"); the only exception I've found is in compound time signatures like 6/8, where it won't automatically make a dotted quarter note rest, but a quarter note rest followed by an eighth note rest.
If it's only one, selecting the first rest and pressing the period key will correct it, but to answer the question in your first paragraph, yes, selecting the affected measures (or even the whole score) and using Tools‑>Regroup Rhythms will correct all the rests that are affected, all at once.
I made the custom shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+R for Regroup rhythms and Ctrl+Shift+P for Respell pitches, so correcting all the rests in the score, if they do all get messed up, would be as simple as a quick Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Shift+R. This will also combine any notes that happen to be tied when they could've been single notes in that time signature, so just be aware of that if you're going to use it on a large selection or the whole score.

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