Assign specific notes to computer keyboard
(I think I've seen this requested elsewhere but here's a +1)
Until i get a MIDI keyboard, i seriously need to be able to use my PC keyboard like a two-tiered organ to add in notes. I'm used to using ModPlug Tracker for composition, and it allows, for example, Z to represent middle C, S is C#, X is D, etc. This would make transcribing into MuseScore MUCH faster for me. A separate shortcut or modifier could be valuable for switching between octaves.
Comments
I think you'll find it isn't really that much more efficient - because now you have to stop to correct spelling of accidentals half the time, whereas the current method (type C then up arrow to get C#) is more foolproof. But do note, there is the "Piano Keyboard" window if you haven't found it yet - press "P" to display.
In reply to I think you'll find it isn't by Marc Sabatella
Actually, I've tried both methods -- MuseScore and ModPlug. What I've found is that MuseScore's method is clunky and time-consuming. It's not more foolproof, because I won't necessarily get the note I wanted. If I wanted a C# in a key of C, I have to click Z and the up-arrow; if the PC keyboard were laid out like a piano keyboard, I could type S and there's my C#, no matter what the key is or what accidental is in play.
Using the Piano display is mouse-driven; that's not the main way I enter notes. Again, clunkier.
(Now if I could assign keyboard shortcuts to those keys, then that would work, altho I would lose screen space...)
In reply to Actually, I've tried both by harbinger
You wrote:
'...if the PC keyboard were laid out like a piano keyboard, I could type S and there's my C#, no matter what the key is or what accidental is in play.'
OK... but as Marc mentions - suppose you want a Db. You'll have to correct your C#, instead of simply typing D, then down arrow to get Db.
Regards.
In reply to You wrote: '...if the PC by Jm6stringer
Exactly. In MuseScore method, entering a note with accidental always takes exactly two keystrokes, and you know exactly what those two keystrokes are: letter then up or down for sharp or flat. With anything more piano-keyboard based, entering a note with an accidental is a bit of a guessing game. First enter note, then see if the program guessed the right spelling, then correct it. I think you can get used to either, but having used both, I *vastly* prefer the MuseScore way. Not to say there wouldn't be room for another, but it sounded like perhaps you were new to MsueScore coming from some other program and it is very possibly just a question of getting used to something different.
In reply to Exactly. In MuseScore by Marc Sabatella
How about this: I don't need the sharps and flats specifically mapped to any key on the keyboard, but what I have been waiting for a long time, is just the ability to remap the keys in general. a,b,c,d,e,f, and g are not next to each other on my keyboard. I have a QWERTZ-keyboard and those (+U) are precisely the keyboard keys I want to use to type in my a's, my b's and so forth. Nothing needs to change in the way you add sharps and flats, if you don't want to, but why does it need to be so clunky to type a-,b-,c-,d-,e-,f-, and g-notes? I don't really care what the notes are "called" (in French, for instance, they have actual names), so they shouldn't be bound to their letter on the keyboard. I never understood the idea of binding the note "b" to the keyboard key "b" that is right underneath the keyboard key "g" and both of them are far far away from the keyboard key "a", while "g", "a" and "b" are next to each other in notation.
In reply to How about this: I don't need by Marrowe
If that's all you want, you have it already - go to Edit / Preferences / Shortcuts and redefine the note shortcuts however you like.
In reply to If that's all you want, you by Marc Sabatella
Thanks Marc. I just found it and wanted to come back and edit my comment. I have looked for this for a long time and never found it, until I decided to post about it. I should do this more often!
You were awfully quick in responding!