First time confusion
Created my first file. Inserted a time signature. Selected same. In inspector, changed text value to 3/4. MuseScore still populates each measure with four beats. Am unable to change global values or actual values.
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Do not use the Inspector to change a time signature. Select time signatures from the Time Signatures palette.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/time-signatures#add-replace-time-si…
In reply to Do not use the Inspector to… by Jm6stringer
Hmmm ... could this be taken as a "bug?" As a well-seasoned computer programmer myself, "it's hard to say." But maybe the developers should be alerted to the inconsistency. Should the "inspector" be able to do this kind of modification at all? Are there things that it should be prevented from doing ... and of course, "does it actually matter."
In reply to Hmmm ... could this be taken… by mrobinson
You wrote:
Should the "inspector" be able to do this kind of modification at all?
The OP's score would be needed to understand the procedure followed for what was attempted. "First time confusion" being the tipoff that perhaps the methodology was not the best.
The Inspector is a powerful editing tool. It allows users to override many of the "standard practices" of notation.
For example, notes are normally entered onto a staff. In the Inspector, one can use the position offsets to place notes into the title frame - however bizarre that may seem to most.
Perhaps some non-conformist iconoclast wishes to create a work of visual art. See, for instance:
https://idoc.pub/documents/faeries-aire-and-death-waltz-sheet-musicpdf-…
:-)
*Are there things that it should be prevented from doing ... *
The capabilities that are missing from the Inspector (intentionally left out) are things that it should be prevented from doing. Why intentionally add a feature and then prevent it "from doing" what it is there for?
Use the correct tool for the task at hand. So, for instance, don't use 'staff text' for 'chord symbols' and expect to have the ability to be transposed (or have them play or not play via the Inspector).
In reply to Should the "inspector" be… by Jm6stringer
"I cannot disagree with you." The Inspector is obviously a feature that we need – so long as its users fully understand ... both what it is, and what it isn't.
Therefore, perhaps this is a "documentation issue." To further reinforce, say in the description of the "inspector" feature, that changes made here are "cosmetic only." And, perhaps, to say that "the inspector" is precisely put there(!) to allow you to make "cosmetic-only changes."
The OP's mistake was quite innocent ...
In reply to "I cannot disagree with you… by mrobinson
On the face of it, what did the OP ask the inspector to do? Change the "text value" from 4/4 to 3/4. What was the result? The text value was changed. So the inspector did what it was asked. It wasn't asked to change the time signature. Which it can't do.
It can also make non-cosmetic changes. Like velocity and tuning.
In reply to "I cannot disagree with you… by mrobinson
You wrote:
...perhaps this is a "documentation issue".
To be clear, the Inspector is not really the place where time signatures are changed (use the time signature palette) or created (use time signature properties).
Also, the handbook page (i.e., the relevant "documentation") to which I previously linked:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/time-signatures#add-replace-time-si…
clearly mentions using the palette, not the Inspector, to add or replace a time signature - so it's not a documentation issue.
That handbook page also mentions:
"If the time signature you require is not available in any of the existing palettes, it can be created..."
and mentions that entering text "is optional where you need the display to be different from the actual time signature." This, apparently, was what happened to the OP when the text field was changed to 3/4 and the numerator/denominator field of the (actual) 4/4 time signature was not.
If the handbook is never consulted (TLDR) when a problem occurs, full understanding of what a feature is - or what a feature isn't - cannot occur no matter what changes are made to the handbook to clarify a "documentation issue".
In reply to You wrote: ...perhaps this… by Jm6stringer
But, I'd still argue, there's no reason it needs to be that way. I'd prefer seeing the time signature itself fully changeable in the Properties panel in MuseScore 4.x, and see the current custom time signature designer go away. Much as many other dedicated dialogs got merged into the Inspector over the past few years (e.g., fretboard diagrams).
In reply to But, I'd still argue, there… by Marc Sabatella
I'd prefer seeing the time signature itself fully changeable in the Properties panel in MuseScore 4.x, and see the current custom time signature designer go away.
Yes, of course, and if that change ever occurs I would expect the MuseScore 4 handbook to be revised accordingly - to avoid a bona fide documentation issue.
The current version of the handbook explains what happens in MuseScore 3, so I don't see any "documentation issue".
In reply to I'd prefer seeing the time… by Jm6stringer
Agreed.
A "time signature" is a "thing" that you drag from the palette onto a particular measure, thereby changing the signature from that point forward.