Irrational time signatures

• Jun 30, 2024 - 14:20

Essentially time signatures with a denominator that isn't a power of 2, there is currently no easy way to add them and there are definitely cases where they are needed and should be used.

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• Jul 1, 2024 - 05:51

You can. They are not used commonly enough that the developers are ever going to actually include them, but you can make them just the same. They're just a PITA! ("Pain In The @$$")

For example. to make a 10/12 time signature, you can think of it as being 1/3 of a measure of 10/4, played in triplets. Create a custom time signature that is 10/4 and have it display "10/12". Enter your notes as eighth note triplets. Right-click on a triplet and click Select / Similar to select all the triplets. Have them display without brackets, but with numbers (not "Auto"). Make the numbers invisible.

NOTE: While you can set the triplets to show no number, I recommend against it. If you do so, when you (inevitably!) need to access the triplets, it will be difficult.)

Then add a single barline (from the Barlines palette*) after each group of 10 triplets. if you had the triplets' brackets appear, this would appear to be breaking triplets over the barlines ... which is why you want not to display the brackets.

Take a look at the attached score: a few measures in 10/4, displaying as 10/12.

Irrational.mscz

9/12 would be much easier, since it translates to 3/4, played in triplets. Some other irrational time signatures would be easier; others, harder. Some possibly impossible: I haven't tried.

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• Jul 1, 2024 - 20:23

As I said, some irrational time signatures are easier; others are harder. I just picked 10/12 out of the air.

To notate in 4/10 I think I would use 2/4, notated in quintuplets. You wouldn't even need any faux barlines.

3/7 might not be possible (in MuS), but maybe 3/4 notated in septuplets. Hmm, I don't think the barlines (real or faux) would work properly there. I would have to think about it. Maybe 21/4 notated in septuplets and given six faux barlines in each measure?

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• Jul 2, 2024 - 17:20

That's right. As I said in my initial post.

And, as I also said in my initial post, not likely that they will be added soon as they are not used frequently enough for the developers to be interested.

Unless, of course, someone gets specifically interested and puts their own time into it. Which is always the case in open-source software.

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