"Actual" real-time input mode
Hello,
I was wondering if a real time input mode, where you just play something on a MIDI keyboard on a click, is a feature that will exist anytime soon.
Sibelius has had it for 20 years, so I doubt that it can be that difficult to implement.
It doesn't need to be perfect, you can always enter articulations and details later, and correct whatever was gotten wrong, but it would be a complete game changer for me.
I wonder if anyone else has this as a top priority feature request?
Comments
In case you hadn't seen, there already is a real-time inut mode - two of them in fact (manual and automatic). Check out the Handbook under "note input modes" for more info. But they are rather limited still, because MsueScore was never designed for real-time input processing. For now, best to record in a sequencer then import the resulting MIDI file. But either way, it's unlikely to be more efficient than simply entering notes normally.
In reply to In case you hadn't seen,… by Marc Sabatella
I know the real-time input mode, and I actually disagree with the name: it's not "real time" in any way, and I find it impractical in almost all cases. If your "it's unlikely to be more efficient than simply entering notes normally" was referring to these two methods, I completely agree.
On the other hand, I have been using the - let's call it that - "Real-real-time input" method for almost twenty years now and it's consistently proven more efficient than any other. At least for me, of course, but I think anyone who has a minimum proficiency on a keyboard would get 80% there in real time, with the remaining 20% dedicated to correcting minor things, adding slurs and ornaments and so on.
Any other method takes a lot longer and this is the single reason I'm not considering switching to MS for good. Recording in a DAW and then importing is also really impractical, unless you know what you want to write down 100% in advance. But let's say I write down a composition one day and a week later I need to expand it and correct some bars in the middle, there's already a bunch of unnecessary steps involved.
I guess the way they marketed MS4 as "closer to a sequencer" fooled me into believing this issue would finally be tackled...
In reply to I know the real-time input… by uomoanguria
Would be interesting to put to the test computer keyboard entry in MuseScore from someone experienced at that vs MIDI from someone experienced at that. I would find having to wait four beats for whole notes to be a pretty big handicap for real-time to have to overcome, and then are basic notational issues like of enharmonic spellings, multiple voices, etc. I think you might be surprised at just how fast computer keyboard entry in MuseScore can be with practice!
But, if you're looking for something closer to a sequencer, then indeed, MuseScore isn't it. Yes, there was a "trial balloon" floated a few years ago proposing some things in this area, but the project ended up going a somewhat different direction - toward having great playback right out of the box. Not to say more sewquencer-like features won't come someday, but the short-term priority shifted to getting great playback without requiring all the complexity of a sequencer.
In reply to Would be interesting to put… by Marc Sabatella
Oh, I know keyboard entry has its time and place, I use it a lot too, and I know that some things don't always come out right in "real-real-time input" (voices and enharmonic spelling as you said, but also some problems in recognizing swung rhythm vs. dotted eight+sixteenth note for example), but as I said, in my experience that's the 20% tweaking that's needed after you get the remaining 80% down. Even if you get 50% right, it's better than inputting everything by hand, unless it's 1) a lot of long SINGLE notes, 2) a lot of repetition, 3) a lot of same rhythm values one after another.
I support this request. In my situation (writing lead sheets) it would often be more efficient than the procedures suggested by Marc. Question is if the fact that MuseScore was never designed to allow "real" realtime input make it fundamentally impossible to implement it now or is it just not regarded as important?
In reply to I support this request. In… by rainerschnelle
It's not fundamentally impossible, it would just require some significant re-architecture of the code. Perhaps the internal changes already made for MuseScore 4 might make this somewhat more straightforward. But it's still likely to be a huge effort.