Make notes stay in the same beat when rhythm changes
When I make a drum track, I may start with the bass drum with eighth notes, and then want to add some sixteenth notes on the same voice (voice 2; usually snare drums). When I add the sixteenths, however, the eight note bass drum parts are split into sixteenths and moved up a sixteenth note to make room for the new sixteenth. It's annoying because I have to go back through and move the bass drum parts back a sixteenth to keep them on the beat they were on at first.
The problem is that when a new note is added in the same voice as an existing note with a greater duration, the new note subtracts its value from the existing note and leaves whatever remains after the new note (have a half note, put an eight note on the beat, and now you have an eight note and a dotted quarter-note). It's difficult to explain, but try it and you'll see.
I suggest that when a new note is added like I described above, the note that was there before shouldn't have a piece taken and the rest left on the wrong beat. Instead, it should be split up and retain it's value using ties, so that instead of an eight and a dotted quarter, you'd have two eighths in a chord, and one of them would be tied to a dotted quarter (to keep it's original half note length).
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm complaining! I just want to help make Musescore even more awesome!
Comments
I'm afraid I'm not really following. Can you post a score demonstrating what you mean, and step by step instructions on what to do with that score?
I think you might be confused about an aspect of music notation. I think maybe you have two notes in a chord, and you wish to shorted one without shortening the other. This requires separate voices - that's standard practice. Shortening the chord then extending one of the two notes via a tie is incorrect notation. MuseScore *does* allow this if you create it manually, but it definitely should no be creating.incorrect notation by default.
In reply to I'm afraid I'm not really by Marc Sabatella
I'm not sure how to upload images. I'll try.
Here's the problem. The second measure is what I don't like, when i add the eight notes the bass drum is screwed up. The third measure is what i want.
In reply to example by joseph.branden…
The third measure is what was talking about when I said that is incorrect notation. Normlly, you should not have just one of two notes in chord tied. I mean, it's possible, and on some occasions necessary, but it is definitely *not* the standard way to notate things. Looks like all you really want to do is add a snare drum to your bass drum, right? Any reason it shouldn't just be four quarter notes? After all, there is no difference between an eighth note and a quarter note for drums. So instead of changing the first note to eighth note snare, simply *add* the snare drum to the existing quarter note. See the Handbook section on Drum notation , and the tutuorials listed at the bottom, if you have trouble.
In reply to The third measure is what was by Marc Sabatella
I know about notation and stuff. It'd just be better for workflow if that stuff was done automatically. I wrote it that way because I know it's impossible for Musescore to have different rhythms in one voice. The reason I don't want four quarter notes is because I'd like to keep it all in the same voice. Having multiple voices is disorganized because you end up getting a bunch of rests that clutter up the staff.
In reply to I know about notation and by joseph.branden…
I think you are misunderstanding what I am suggesting. I *am* talking about using just one voice, and it *is* done automatically if you simply *add* a second note to the chord rather than *replace* the first note. One voice, four quarter notes, a two-note "chord" consisting of snare and bass drum on each beat. This is one of the standard ways this sort of thing would be notated. Did you read the Handbook article I mentioned, or check out the tutorials? They explain exactly how to accomplish this.
The other standard way of notating this is with multiple voices. Most US publications use upstem voices for notes played with the hands (eg, snare, ride cymbal), downstem for notes played with the feet (eg, bass drum, hi hat). But indeed, some publications use a one-voice scheme. MuseScore supports both methods just fine.
In reply to I know about notation and by joseph.branden…
Here's an example of what I mean. I entered this by first entering the bass drum notes as quarter notes, then going back and *adding* the snare drum to each bass drum note rather than *replacing* it. You can do this a number of different ways depending on what version of MuseScore you use and whether you are using keyboard entry or mouse entry or MIDI entry, which is why I was suggesting the Handbook & tutorials for more complete info. I did this by simply selecting the snare note on the palette then clicking on the staff directly above the bass drum notes I had already entered:
As I mentioned above, this is pretty much the standard way music publishers would do this if they didn't want to use separate voices. But most US publishers actually *would* use separate voices:
This particular example obviously doesn't require rests, but rests in multivoice music are perfectly normal. MuseScore 1.3 requires you to adjust the vertical position of these rests to avoid collisions, but if you do that, you get exactly the sort of look that most US publishers would use. MuseScore 2.0 Beta performs these adjustments automatically; so the following is already what gets produced automatically:
In any case, I think you'll agree that any of these is preferably to the version you showed with the eighth notes and ties. If you really want to produce that look, you certainly can, but again, it's not really normal / correct notation, so MuseScore should not produce it automatically. It should produce something more like what I show above, and that is exactly what it does.