Respell pitches
Reported version
3.4
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
by design
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
In the tune in the attachment, there is a problem with the first note in the eleventh measure of the bass clef. I want it to be G-sharp, and the twelfth measure should be an exact copy of the eleventh measure in the bass clef. However, when I play it back, the note does not sound like G-sharp; instead, it seems to be B-flat. Moreover, when I run "Respell Pitches," that note gets changed from G-sharp to A-flat in the notation. (Of course, A-flat ought to sound the same as G-sharp, but it sounds wrong whether it appears as G-sharp or as A-flat in the notation.) Am I doing something wrong? Is there a workaround? Thank you.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Error sample.mscz | 16.15 KB |
Comments
If you want a G#, enter a G# and not a Bb and then change its y-offset
fixed score attached
You're the 2nd person today with this issue, see #302481: Pitch of notes not always correct
I see the issue. Do you know what caused this issue? Is it an imported file, did you copy/paste notes? Anything what can help us to reproduce the issue.
In reply to If you want a G#, enter a G#… by Jojo-Schmitz
That seems to solve half of my problem. When I run "Respell pitches," it still changes G-sharp to A-flat in the notation, even though I would like it to be G-sharp, as in the following measure. Is there some rationale for writing the note as A-flat here that I am missing?
The algorithm for spelling pitches doesn't understand the theory of harmony, it just employs some pretty simple heuristics to help it guess how you might want a note spelled. I think in this case it probably sees the preceding C and knows that melodically speaking, an interval of four semitones is normally better spelled as a major third than a diminished fourth. Realistically, the respell pitches algorithm is fine for making a very rough pass over something entered via MIDI or whatever, but it's nothing you should really depend on for replacing the need to make these decisions yourself.
It is not only the respell pitches. The Ab in measure 11 sounds as a Bb. Also when I copy both measure 11-12 to a new score, I still have the issue, even without the preceding C :-). There seems something strange in the score.
it is a Bb, with a Y-Offset, so just like like an Ab
That was a tricky one! I missed that offset completely :-(.
Not only that, you also missed me mentioning it ;-)
Of course, that's even worse. I'm looking for a brown bag now ;-)
In reply to The algorithm for spelling… by Marc Sabatella
I am a bit shaky on that aspect of music theory, and I was really hoping that I could count on "Respell Pitches" to keep me on track. It would be nice if "Respell Pitches" could take into account the fact that my tune uses a harmonic minor scale. My understanding is that G-sharp would make more sense than A-flat in that context.
I have to say I don't understand respell pitches at all - for a score in C major that contains a F#, A# and C# it does nothing at all, but if you then add a E# in a subsequent measure, it changes those first 3 to flats and leaves the E# as is. What sort of heuristic is that? Is there any where in the manual it's explained?
(I just fixed it in MU4 so it only uses the notes that are selected, but I didn't change the algorithm otherwise)
fortunately this issue here is entirely unrelated ;-)
Was just trying to avoid creating too many issues about the one command - and I wouldn't say entirely unrelated, given anyone trying to understand the OP's problem is likely to be similarly perplexed by the behaviour I was observing.
The OP's problem was a manually applied y-offset to a note/chord, not related to enharmonics at all