Enter pitches then Rhythm for note inputs
A discussion was begun here https://musescore.org/en/node/18492 about entering pitches, then rhythms into MuseScore.
There are a few things that need discussion.
1. When rhythms are adjusted, should (a) the notes grow and shrink the current measures, or (b) all of the following notes be moved toward the beginning or end of the song?
(a) has the following consequences: Measures may end up different lengths with no time signature indicating its length so the user will be responsible for adjusting them. In page view, the measures may end up too long to be viewed on a single page so the user will either have to start a new measure or work in continuous view.
(b) has the following consequences: Rhythms may be respelled in later measure due to individual notes being split by a measure. Tuplets in later measures (with current structure) cannot cross measure lines, so some accommodation will have to be made or an error reported and the rhythm not be allowed.
Are there any other considerations from a users point of view?
After there are several comments this can be turned into a true feature request in the issue tracker, or whatever is used by then.
Comments
Something I think would be useful as well is to see some "big picture" descriptions of how people would envision using such a mode.
For example, one use case might be, someone trying to transcribe a melody from a recording, by ear. You might listen to the recording, jot down the pitches only for an entire section of the tune - say, 8 bars - then go back and figure out the rhythms. At the first stage, you might not even have figured out yet which notes go into which measures - that is something you might sort out only as part of the process of working out rhythms afterwards.
I do this with pencil and paper currently. Noteheads only (no stems) on staff paper first to get the pitches. Then I figure out where the barlines go, then I go in and work out the rhythms. Only *then* do I think about firing up MuseScore, because its workflow is designed for the cases where you mostly know the rhythms already.
So I would want a new mode to support this type of workflow more directly. I'd enter all the pitches for the passage into a single very long measure, then chop in into individual measures, then work out the rhythms. That means I'd want a split measure command that works within note input mode, and I'd want changes to rhythms of individual notes to only affect that measure, because I'd only be changing rhythms after getting notes into their correct measures.
Although I personally would have no trouble making sure each measure had the correct number of beats in it before I was done, I can't say the same for most of the students I work with. So I'd want some sort of sanity check to be possible - perhaps run automatically when you leave this new mode, or when you leave the current measure.
In reply to Something I think would be by Marc Sabatella
The new input method is mostly fine with me. I would like to see all the input methods have a short cut for them. Like the N for note input, the shortcuts should toggle the input mode. This would make it more intuitive for someone that always uses say one of the real time modes. One short cut starts it, the same one suspends it. I guess if you are in real time mode and press N, the mode should simply switch to "normal" note input mode and so on.
My one hesitation about this is that people will want to use different input methods. I guess there will be a default duration for the notes entered so allowing for keyboard, mouse, MuseScore's piano keyboard or midi input should not be too difficult. For example, I currently almost always use computer keyboard, but I occasionally switch to the piano keyboard for a series of notes that do not want to go into the octave I want. This switch (as in "normal" mode) should be seamless as well as for all input devices.
As far as undetermined length measures, It would be nice to have some sort of option to set the measure according to the time signature, so the barlines would be drawn starting with the first beat of the measure. I'm not a fan of having to copy and paste it to some other spot later on when I'm happy with the measure. as someone suggested.
I believe an added bonus to this would be to allow for a built in doubletime and halftime function rather than relying on plugins that create a new file.
As far as changing a rhythm is concerned, I also would prefer to see the notes stay in their own measure, even if a measure has to change it's actual duration.
In reply to The new input method is by mike320
For the cadenza use case, you'd want to be able to actually select durations note by note; you really wouldn't need the ability to change durations later. So easiest solution would just be to handle durations exactly as we do now - a note is entered using the duration currently selected on the toolbar, default being quarter note.
And yes, an automatic facility to split the measure according to time signature would be important.
In reply to Something I think would be by Marc Sabatella
+1 for Marc's use case.
Another one that would be very useful is the following one: when I copy a score from paper to MuseScore, I mostly use the keyboard without looking at the screen.
Sometimes I don't enter correctly a new rythm.
After that, when I look at the score I see that a long serie of notes is (e.g.) dotted 1/4 notes instead of (e.g.) 1/8 notes. Being able to select all this long serie of dotted 1/4 notes and changing them to 1/8 notes would be great. Currently I haven't found another solution than just retyping again the ful serie and then cut and paste the follinwf notes to set it at the correct place, and reentering as well the following long notes that MuseScore had to split and tie because they were incorrectly split on 2 measures.
A totally separate use case might be entering a cadenza-like measure in classical music, where I just want to enter a bunch of sixteenth notes or whatever and not have to coulnt out how many beats it would add up to if it were played in rhythm. So I'd switch on the new mode and just start entering notes, complete with rhythms, but with the expectation that MuseScore would automatically grow the measure for me as I entered notes. Probably also it would turn off its default beaming rules while in this mode.
I just came here to ask for an "elastic audio" version of rhythm entry, and here's a fresh feature request that almost perfectly mimics my need. I generally arrange for my small vocal ensemble, and the first step is transcribing from a recording or from memory, and sounding out the harmonies on a midi keyboard. My keyboarding skills are rusty, but if I could enter as all quarter notes from midi it would (probably) speed things up, or at least make it feel more musical as I work. The ability to enter a string of notes, and then go back and enter note values - with the ability to insert a rest and add a rest value along the way - would be a great workflow option.
Regarding bar lines - would it be possible to create a nominally barless space, but with "guide" bars based on a desired time signature. More of an overlay/guide, rather than an actual division, to assist in visualizing where the measures will fall once you commit the score to engraving. It would be the equivalent of MS Word's Draft mode, where the text is continuous, but a line is placed where pagination breaks would exist.