Trill speed suggestion
The trill situation is, of course, infinitely better than it was a year ago. I look forward to further improvements, such as the following.
The one-size-fits-all 32nd notes don't fit music in cut-time, and are crude in other situations. I'd like to suggest an option that allows all the rational-fraction sizes of notes (with some reasonable limit) that fit an integral number of note-pairs (as befits a trill) in the space of the trilled note, perhaps something like "0" being the default, 32nd notes, and -1, -2, -3 and +1, +2 +3 (slower, yet slower, a lot slower, ... faster, yet faster, a lot faster) selecting in order those larger and smaller denominators that fit. Being able to sensibly control trill speeds would help an awful lot.
Yes, I acknowledge and understand that "MuseScore is primarily a notation program" and "If I want careful control I can convert all my content to some other program" and "priority is on fixing notation bugs", just as y'all understand that countless professional and amateur musicians and composers at all levels here craft works of art with MuseScore, whose audible renderings they present to the world as the fruit of their best efforts.
Thanks.
Comments
I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented on this thread, since this seems like a brilliant idea. However, I don't know if the +1, +2... etc. thing would work nicely, as you still then must divide each beat into some quantitative number.
Instead, I propose that we enter it in as a multiple of the beat. You can do this in two ways:
Way 1 (Easy to understand, possibly harder to implement): Numbers, kind of like what was suggested above. 1 would denote the beat, and then the computer could work with fractions, e.g. .5 is an eighth note (quaver), .25 is a sixteenth note (semiquaver), etc.
Way 2 (Harder to understand, possibly easier to implement): Also number, but in a bit of a different way. In MuseScore, from what I could figure by watching, the beat is always 0.480 (in which case, it rests to 1.000). To get the trill length, the use inputs the length of each trill note in this decimal form. So, for example, I'm currently re-notating Bach's Toccata and Fugue, and in it, I found that the trill was too slow. To get the proper trill, (and in my case, that was about doubly as fast) I would input .030, which would cause it to trill at a 64th note's (hemidemisemiquaver's) pace.
I think, using either of these methods, full control can be given to the user, and it would allow for better playback, even if it isn't the primary function of MuseScore.
I manually worked around it by adding a second set of notes in the staff where I wanted the trill, alternating them at the speed (in this case, triplet halves) and rendering them invisible.
In reply to I manually worked around it… by dsacker
@dsacker That is an often used workaround when a different trill is desired in playback.
As far as implementing it into MuseScore, there is no reason there could not be an option in the inspector that would allow the user to define the rate of the trill by either of the suggested numeric methods or even as a percentage.
In reply to @dsacker That is an often… by mike320
Agreed, and hope the developers might consider this.
The workaround is mentioned for the benefit of those who may need a solution but don't know how to go about it. I learned many a trick over the past few years from those willing to share their workarounds.