Selecting measure and "play" no longer plays all staves

• May 14, 2019 - 16:18

OS: macOS Mojave (10.14), Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.1.0.22177, revision: 66b30c3

If I select a measure (of necessity in one staff!) and play, it only plays that staff! Although this might be useful sometimes, it is in general extremely counterproductive. I can't easiy select all the staves in the measure if there are more than 2 or 3 of them, ESPECiALLY if (as is almost always the case with double-bass in Baroque music) there are lowest-position staves that are hidden.

[ now viewed by BSG as moot and just a documentation change. Play from a note works as always; play from a selected measure on a staff is actually not so common].


Comments

Here's MUCH WORSE.

Select a note somewhere. Now select a measure with Cmd-click somewhere else. Start play. The previously-selected note plays, not the selected measure. Now I can't even reproduce that -- if a note is selected, I CAN'T select by Cmd-click until I deselect the note by clicking blank-space. That is a bug.

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

So, as mentioned, for now at least, selecting a measure doesn't work for starting normal playback any more, this may well change before release. But still, I don't get why you were trying to use Cmd-click - that makes no sense to me. Instead, simply click - not cmd-click - the note you want to start on. Works perfectly. I'm not sure what made you think to use Cmd-click on a full measure, but it's not really a meaningful operation.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I don't want to start on a note, I want to start from a measure. I want to hear all parts, not just one part. I should not have to find a staff that has a note starting on that measure in order to start playing from the measure. I cannot imagine anything more common. Until today, this was one click. Now it is endangered. Is there a reason why this should not be easy? Is there a reason why removing that capability is "better" and should not be fixed?

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

That's exactly what clicking a note (or rest) does - plays all parts. Only if you select a range is the playback limited to just the selection. Did you try it? It's still one click, you just change what you click (a note or rest rather than empty space within a measure). How is it harder to click a note/rest than to click a measure? And as mentioned, there is a good chance this behavior will change before release, so a different command will be required to limit playback to the selection. So, I wouldn't worry.

But the Cmd+click thing is interesting. I actually had no idea it did anything at all, and indeed, it didn't in 2.3.2.
Sometime since then, apparently this started working to select a whole measure column, if nothing is selected first. As far as I know, that was not intended - it didn't work that way on 2.3.2 - but it seems harmless enough and maybe even very occasionally useful. But do note, it's not going to work if something else is already selected, because the whole point of that command is to add to the selection, and you can't add a measure and a note together.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I see, so "Cmd click:" ought be the same as "shift click", a selection extender. The discussion above led me to believe that I should use cmd-click to select the whole measure/all parts. Cmd-click or not, it does seem bad that there is no longer an easy way to select the measure, all staves, including ones hidden below the bottom one.

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

They are not the same, but they are indeed similar. Cmd+click is for creating list selections (eg, cmd+click individual notes or texts or whatever to create a discontiguous selection of elements). Shift+click is for creating range selectins - everything from one point to another. So Cm+click, as mentioned, really was never intended to do anything at all if you aren't clicking individual elements, and the fact that it currently selects a measure column when clicking empty space nothing rather than doing nothing is really a bug, I think. Certainly it never worked that way in MuseScore 2, so I'm not even sure how you discovered this. But, I would agree that if it's a bug, it's a convenient one I personally don't see any point in fixing :-)

Anyhow, assuming no one fixes that bug, then it does remain easy to select the whole column - just presee Esc or click empty space to make sure nothing is selected, then Cmd+click a measure. The fact that this doens't also reset the play position is more indication to me that everything about this action was unintended, but it would make sense to fix that if we're going to keep the behavior at all. So you might want to file a "suggestion" on that.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I'll say it for a third time -- I never, ever used cmd-click before today, when the discussion above instructed to me to do so as a substitute for using plain click (on a staff of a measure), which, starting today in 3.1, seemingly works as it did before, putting a blue box around a staff of a measure, but then playing fails (only plays one part). I see now why consider the loss of this function an improvement -- because now the gesture means something else that you couldn't do before (play one part) and there are other ways to select fron a measure for playing. Just have to retrain my fingers, sigh.

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

Got it. Sorry, too many messages coming in to fast for me to follow the threads correctly, and it was total news to me as well that this method of selection was possible.

But again, I am, if not "confident", at least "hopeful" that no retraining of fingers will be needed in the end - that before 3.1 releases, the old behavior of playback with a range selected will be reinstated, and a new command introduced for the new behavior. I commented as such when the change was first proposed but it was decided to just try it and see what happens, which is fine as an experiment during a beta. But I think the number of complaints about it so far supports my original reservations.

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