Increasing notation speed with a "text interface" option
I've been experimenting with a couple open source music notation programs. I really liked using LilyPond (www.lilypond.org) because entering notes is lightning fast...they're typed in as text and then converted to notes. For example, "r2 a b4 cis " would be a half note rest, half note A, quarter note B, quarter note Csharp
However, I really like MuseScore for its MIDI capabilities.
I know that notes can be typed into the MuseScore interface, too, but I find that I spend more than half of my time adjusting what I've typed in. (Adding accidentals, dotted notes, adjusting notes that came in the wrong octave). This process is particularly slow because it uses a combination of keyboard and mouse.
It would be SO awesome if there were a way to toggle between a "text interface" option and the WYSIWYG option that MuseScore has now.
Otherwise, it would simply be nicer to have more keyboard input options. For example, I've looked but haven't found any documentation on how to add an accidental with the keyboard, or make a note dotted, or simply drop/raise a note by an octave (without creating a chord.)
Another feature that would make entry by keyboard easier is if when adjusting notes by the up/down arrows, the notes "follow" the key. Particularly in keys that have sharps, I've noticed that if I raise/lower a note with the arrow keys, then MuseScore assumes that I want a note spelled as a flat note. For example if the key has an F sharp, and I'm using the arrow keys, it will go from G to Gflat to F natural, which means I need to spend extra time taking out the natural sign if all I wanted was an Fsharp to begin with.
Thanks.
Comments
Read the handbook ;) Note entry
how to add an accidental with the keyboard
key - for a flat. I'm not sure there is a shortcut for sharp. But you can define it in Edit->Preference->shortcuts
make a note dotted
Use the dot key :)
simply drop/raise a note by an octave
Ctrl + up or Ctrl + down
Regarding lilypond and note entry, it's a matter of habit maybe? because
r2 a b4 cis (11 keystrokes for lilypond)
in musescore
N 2 space A 4 B C > (8 keystrokes)
if > is your defined shortcut for sharp.
In reply to Read the handbook ;) Note by [DELETED] 5
Super, I'm glad these keyboard input options already exist in MuseScore. I have read/searched the handbook. I'm surprised I missed the octave trick, I guess I was skimming too fast.
The "Accidentals" section only contains information about adding accidentals by mouse. It would be good to include the keyboard information here, too. http://musescore.org/en/handbook/accidental Where is "how to add an accidental with the keyboard"? I still can't find it.
And if I search for "dot" or "dotted" I find no information about how to add a dotted note with a keyboard. (Using . is pretty commonsense, but there will always be users like me who don't think to try it.)
I'm super excited about the option to make my own shortcuts! This is so cool. It would be neat if this information was easier to find. For example, if I search for "keyboard" or "shortcuts" in the manual, it does not return any information about the ability to change/customize shortcuts, which I think is a pretty powerful feature.
Or even just a quick list at the beginning of the manual that lists all the keyboard shortcuts would be handy...or even telling users to check out the shortcuts tab of the preferences window...
I still think there may be debugging advantages to a text interface, but I'll tell you what I think after I put in more hours with MuseScore with these new tricks.
Thanks so much.
In reply to great! thanks! (and some of this info is hard to find...) by squidskin
Keyboard shortcuts are displayed in the tooltips if you hover over an icon (they are displayed in parentheses). I plan to add a page about shortcuts to the handbook but haven't got to it yet.
It you are curious and you want to see the text source for each file then save as uncompressed MuseScore file and open in a text editor. I wouldn't recommend making changes to the file from a text editor unless you have a backup of the score or you don't mind loosing the score due to bad changes.
In reply to Keyboard shortcuts are by David Bolton
As a tip I defined Q as a shortcut for a sharp on my own system, since it is difficult to get a sharp any other way. Whenever I need to enter an accidental, it's almost always a sharp. I don't know what Musescore has against sharps, but the shortcut for a flat may as well be the down arrow key. You can get B, E, A, and D flats this way. For the rare G, C, and F flats, V will work. These dont' really make any sense, but they're in the hand already, and don't conflict with anything else.