Negative values for capo
I would find it useful to be able to put negative values in the capo field. This would support instrumetns that are tuned down for whatever reason. It would be even better if decimal values +/- were supported! Currently the only ways to do this that I'm aware of are cumbersome.
Comments
Not needed, as you can tune down the individual strings already
In reply to Not needed, as you can tune… by Jojo-Schmitz
I don't believe this is really practical. Maybe i'm misunderstanding but it seems that you would have to create a new tab instrument half a step down. But then if you pasted from standard notation to that tab (a common use-case) I'm assuming that the tab will come out "wrong"? I mean you could fix it (maybe) but presumably this is what we are trying to avoid. It's also not particularly intuitive to create new custom instruments in MS.
The fact is that we can no longer easily change A=440 and there is no workaround in sight, and this has caused a multitude of problems. It's very difficult now to change pitch without changing all kinds of other things.
In reply to Fair enough but woudn't that… by edmontonthera
Create a new linked score (staff + tab) and customise the tuning: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/customizing-tablature-staff#change-… - it it not difficult. Then paste your standard staff notation into the staff line of the new score and the tab will be correct for that tuning.
Or have I misunderstood what you are trying to do? It wouldn’t work with decimal values if you mean microtones.
In reply to Create a new linked score … by Brer Fox
" the tab will be correct for that tuning." - yes, you are right but that is not what is required in a typical use-case. I'm assuming that the whole point of using a capo/tab approach is to preserve the relative fret/string relationships when we change heard pitch. Consider the following example. A d chord in staff notation is pasted into standard viola da gamba tab and displays correctly. However let's say we want to use (and hear) an instrument that is tuned down a half step. So we create a custom tab, lower the string values and paste again from the original score. Absolute pitches stay the same so fret positions are now wrong. I wouldn't expect this to happen at all with a capo (though I haven't used the MS capo feature much so who knows). If I change the capo position on a tabbed piece, surely I should hear a difference, but not see a difference.
In reply to " the tab will be correct… by edmontonthera
Why are you trying to do this - is it to hear it at A415? In MS3 you can select the notes, then in the Inspector set Note > Play > Tuning to -100[cents].
Otherwise what I meant in my previous reply was that you should create a NEW staff + tab score altogether, and customise the tuning. Then if you paste the STAFF notation into the new score and the tablature should be correct.
This is easy to do in MS3 where you can have more than one score at a time open in the programe window.
If MS4 can't do these things easily there is nothing to stop you having both MS3 and MS4 on your computer.
In reply to Why are you trying to do… by Brer Fox
In MS3 you can just set A=415 at the synth and be done - this is my point. Apparently detuning individual notes doesn't necessarily work, depends on the sound selected. I haven't tried it myself b/c it's not much of a solution if this is your default. Someone might want to hear at 415 or various other arbitrary values. I've got a fixed pitch instruments that play at 445, 427 which sound terrible with 440.
Your solution with the staff +tab is reasonable but it depends where the music is coming from. If you are inputting it, fine, but if it's from conventional notation or tab that has been scanned or downloaded from MS then I think you'll still have some of these problems when you paste it over?
"If MS4 can't do these things easily there is nothing to stop you having both MS3 and MS4 on your computer." - unfortunately there is. I've posted about this elsewhere but there is 1) no backwards compatibility and 2) no easy way to tell if a file is MS3 or MS4 except to open it and have it fail. The only real solution here seems to be to remove MS4 completely and stick with MS3.
I guess I haven't convinced you that this is an actual serious design issue with MS4 so fair enough - but thank you for trying to help.
In reply to In MS3 you can just set A… by edmontonthera
Oh. you've convinced me all right - I just didn't realise that having MS3 and MS4 on the same computer was so problematic, and was just parrotting other posters without ever trying it. There is a Scordatura plugin but it is only for violin = perhaps it could be adapted for 6-7 strings? But it would be no good for pitches "in the cracks".
Good luck in your quest - from one gamba player to another!
In reply to Oh. you've convinced me all… by Brer Fox
Thanks I'll take a look - cheers!
See also, Add a Detune feature (github).
@edmontonthera... Earlier you wrote:
If I change the capo position on a tabbed piece, surely I should hear a difference, but not see a difference.
On guitar, the 12th fret sounds an octave higher than the open strings; so the 11th fret, when sounded an octave lower, is comparable to the open strings lowered by a half step. In other words, place a capo at the 11th fret, then use an invisible 8va bassa line to make the 11th fret sound an octave lower -- so that the guitar will sound as at a half step below the nut (fret -1).
Basically...
12th fret dropped an octave becomes fret 0 (the nut)
11th fret dropped an octave becomes fret -1
10th fret dropped an octave becomes fret -2
etc.
The trick is to use unlinked TAB and make TAB notes silent so that only the "capo-notes" are heard an octave lower. (Remember, the TAB staff is unlinked.)
To facilitate initial score entry, a linked TAB staff may be used. Once the TAB fingerings are entered, they can be copied into an unlinked TAB staff -- so they don't change when the capo and the 8va bassa is added to the treble clef (standard) staff.
Have a look/listen:
Negative capo.mscz
In reply to @edmontonthera... Earlier… by Jm6stringer
That's a great idea, thank you. I had thought of the 11th fret tab but not the 8ve in addition.