Easy way to manipulate the playback notes length

• Dec 18, 2019 - 18:41

Hi, Gang!!!

I wonder if there is a way to manipulate the playback notes length of a whole score and/or part of some one.

I'm not talking about the staccato articulation, not.

I'm talking about some fixed percentage of the full note length.

Let's say... A whole note = full lenght of a 4/4 bar. I'm talking about to short the playback time up to a, let's say, 95% of that full 4/4 bar, without to change the visible score.

Is there some easy way to get this? Maybe some hidden box in the Inspector? Maybe some undocumented Piano Roll function? ???

Blessings and Greetings from Chile!!!

JUAN

Comments

• Dec 18, 2019 - 19:33

Hi, Papibois!!!

I'm very sorry because my stupid omission!!! Please, forgive me by the excessive delay to answer you about that thread.

The fact is that I didn't search well into the material my friend gave me. There was a folder with all the material in the standard MIDI format file. So... I can open it directly with MuseScore!!!

Whatever... Thank you so much for you proposal!!!

God bless you all!!!

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• Dec 19, 2019 - 10:31

And why not by modifying the tempo on the whole score or on certain passages?
Another solution for audio exports: Modify with Audacity. This is possible in percentage terms.
Audacity.JPG

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• Dec 19, 2019 - 18:57

Hi, Papibois!

I don't think it is something related with Tempo.

It is intended to avoid too much legato. It is sound too much "electronic" to me.

I'm talking about... In the real world, with air instruments (woods and brass), it is impossible to a human player to produce a full one single sound from the start to the end of a piece (or part of a piece), changing only the pitch of the notes. There are some minimal silences between the notes due to the natural internal changes of the human respiratory system and the instrument manipulation itself.

These minimal silences between notes aren't always present or noticeable with MIDI devices without an specific instruction, like a short playing time.

I did this, a lot of time ago, inside the old Cakewalk Home Studio, into the General Piano Roll Panel, because that panel included a control to this (Humanize function). But, I can't find something like that inside MuseScore.

I think it should be associated with the respiratory pauses (the standard upper commas '), or... A global playing time control (in percentage), separated from the visual notes presentation.

Just an Idea.

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• Dec 20, 2019 - 15:10

If memory serves me right; then most instruments by default use 95% already (and for some this is stretched to 100 for legato playback).

Open your mscx file with a text editor, locate the instrument definition and it contains an articulation tag without a name.

<Articulation>
    <velocity>100</velocity>
    <gateTime>95</gateTime>
</Articulation>

The gateTime there seems to be what you're looking for

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 22:05

Hi, jeetee!!!

I've read about this before, but... It isn't what I'm looking for, because... If I'd change that value, all the notes, in all the staves, in all the pieces will be change to that value.

I'm talking about some command to change this value whatever we want but not as a global change (only some notes, only some parts of the staff, etc).

So.. It seems I will have to write into the "Feature Request" forum, about this.

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• Jan 2, 2022 - 02:19

A text editor is a program you edit text files with - such as a word processor, or perhaps a similar simpler program that might have come with your computer. Just save your score in MSCX format using File / Save As from within MuseScore, then open that file in your favorite text editor.

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• Jan 3, 2022 - 09:41

After saving the file as an mscx file (keep in mind in which folder on your Mac you've saved it) you open the TextEdit app on your Mac (the default text editor).
In TextEdit you then choose to open a file and point it at the previously saved mscx file.

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• Dec 22, 2019 - 04:21

You wrote:
I'm not talking about the staccato articulation, not.
I'm talking about some fixed percentage of the full note length.

I'm talking about some command to change this value whatever we want but not as a global change (only some notes, only some parts of the staff, etc).

OK, so...
Using the piano roll editor (PRE) you can change the 'on time' of a note and/or shorten a note's length ('Len' in the editor).

Have a listen to this flute playing a scale with different PRE settings:
Legato_phrasing.mscz

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• Dec 22, 2019 - 18:53

But... Even the fact we can handle this inside the Piano Roll Editor... I think and suggest this two parameters ("On Time" and "Lenght") should be inside the Inspector Panel, also.

It is intended to let the user the capability to change just one of more than one note playback way with just one step.

The Piano Roll Editor lets to change this... Note by note (which could be... Annoyed). Or... Did I miss something, here? ???

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• Dec 22, 2019 - 19:47

I have four plugins. Did you read the README cited there? The "Docking articulate" is the one you use to get an always-present panel. Just loading it is not enough; like all other plugins, you have to invoke it from the plugin menu. I often prefer the "plain" articulate plugin, to which you can bind a key, which pops up a similar dialog when you type that key when a note is focused. Do read the README.

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• Dec 26, 2019 - 18:54

Now, I understand this plugin changes the global time length of the notes involved, whatever the before value was.

In other words, the already defined articulations, as staccato, are changed to the new value.

I think... Wouldn't be better if the plugin changes the present values by a percentage of the present values, whatever they were?

I'm talking about... If we have 4 quarter notes, one of them with staccato, and we apply this plugin... Today, the 4 quarter notes will have the new plugin value (let's say: 900). It will overrule the staccato sign.

With the percentage approach, the 4 quarter notes, when we apply the plugin, will have the same note length they had before the plugin action multiplied by the new plugin percentage value. With this way, the staccato will remain as staccato.

Just an idea...

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• Dec 28, 2019 - 01:39

I can't see why taking the same percentage of notes that have different articulations produces a meaningful result. Per-mille of notes is the unit in which the system measures time; it's not intended as a percentage of something else, and has problems that would be cured by trafficking in midi ticks instead. It seems the only merit of this idea is that if you falsely apply it to a staccato note, you can undo it. Better don't apply it to the staccato note in the first place. I do not think it adds a useful capability to what is there now, even if you wanted to use it once, and it complicates the meaning and definition of the (or a potential other) plugin greatly. Anyway, feel free to create your own version of the plugin.

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• Dec 28, 2019 - 04:16

Earlier you wrote:
I understand this plugin changes the global time length of the notes involved...
In other words, the already defined articulations, as staccato, are changed to the new value.

I think... Wouldn't be better if the plugin changes the present values by a percentage of the present values, whatever they were?

Hmm...
If a percentage change is applied to the present values, whatever they were (so the staccato's length is proportionately preserved) then there is the risk of the staccato becoming something else.

For example, displeased with hearing too much legato, a user 'shortens' the lengths of a section of notes. A staccato included within the selection perhaps now plays stacatissimo, without changing the associated articulation symbol in the written score.

True, currently as it stands, the staccato sign does remain in the score, but at least it sounds out of place since it is then played to the new 'global', as you say, value - so no longer distinguishable as staccato.
So, the user can now choose to restore the staccato, customize its length, or choose another (eg., the staccatissimo) articulation.

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