How do I place notes in smaller increments?
I'm working between the Reaper DAW and Musescore. .xml exports/imports have been fraught with problems. It's a small piece, so I though I'd just write it out in Musescore. I'm new to the program and I can't seem to get to place notes where I want them. I can only place at whole note distances. There must be somewhere to change the distances? The attached image is from Reaper. This grid is set to sixteenth notes and I can place my notes anywhere on the grid. Where can I set this in Musescore?
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Rep_Notes.png | 3.37 KB |
Comments
"I can't seem to get to place notes where I want them"
That is because MuseScore uses pre-determined engraving rules, and that's what decides the relative note spacing.
If you want the notes to be spaced wider apart, then you need fewer measures (bars) per system. In that case you can use a system break in the measure after which you want to jump to a new system.
Handbook on Formatting : https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/formatting
Handbook on Systems and horizontal spacing : https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/systems-and-horizontal-spacing
[EDIT]
You can also select measures across a few systems and try the effect of these menu options:
Format > Stretch > Increase layout stretch
Format > Stretch > Decrease layout stretch
Format > Stretch > Reset layout stretch
In reply to "I can't seem to get to… by DanielR
I don't understand. I want to write notes like in the example below. I cannot.
The F is held for the full three beats (3/4 time)
The D is played an eighth note later and held for two beats
The top Bb is an eighth. Played again twice as shown
Middle Bb is a half (two beats)
Bottom Bb the full measure
In MuseScore I cannot input the D where I want it.
On the first beat is a chord with notes held for different lengths. I cannot do this in MuseScore? It makes the chord notes the same length.
In reply to I don't understand. I want… by artisland08
See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/working-multiple-voices
I think this answers what I think you are asking.
In reply to See https://musescore.org/en… by SteveBlower
Perhaps I'm missing it. Simplifying my question more. I cannot create these two notes (attached) in MuseScore. Assuming the F as voice 1 and the D as voice 2, maybe I need to put a eighth rest under the F and before the D. But I can't see how to do that and the only rest available to me is the quarter note rest.
In reply to Perhaps I'm missing it… by artisland08
No, the "rest button" only shows on its icon the quarter rest. First, select a note duration for example the eight note, and then press the rest button, it will insert an eight rest. The button is something missleading.
In reply to No, the "rest button" only… by Pentatonus
See: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/entering-notes-and-rests#entering-r…
In reply to No, the "rest button" only… by Pentatonus
Thanks. This is one bit of info I was looking for!
In reply to See https://musescore.org/en… by SteveBlower
I guess I'm a little confused re the voice thing. If MuseScore only has 4 voices, how does one address chords that might have more than 4 notes?
p.s. For those who might be interested, the creator/developer of Reaper responded to my questioning of the failed exports to MuseScore as a bug. I does relate to the use of voices -- which I don't yet fully understand. His response repeats some of what I got on this forum.
"[In Reaper] All of the notes are in the same voice by default, which is fine and it plays back as expected. But it's not really legit to notate it all as a single voice, because the notes stop playing at different times. Technically there are three voices playing back, and there should be an additional eighth note rest on the bass clef in the same voice as the Bb3.
Unfortunately it's outside the scope of REAPER's notation editor to either force the user to assign note voices to make the notation coherent (which would be annoying), or automatically assign voices (which would be complicated and also annoying). I think the only way you'll be able to import this notation into software that needs the voices to make sense is if you go through the notation yourself in REAPER and assign voices to notes as needed.
In reply to I guess I'm a little… by artisland08
You only need to use voices to enter notes of different durations.
When all the notes played together have the same duration they can be in the same voice.
That's why you are not limited to 4 notes chord.
In reply to I don't understand. I want… by artisland08
> In MuseScore I cannot input the D where I want it.
![Voices.png]( "Voices.png")
Yes and no. You need to add rests with the right duration and then it is possible.
You can hide or delete the rests later (deleting is not possible in voice 1).
In reply to > In MuseScore I cannot… by HildeK
Maybe not that important, but this might be closer to the original image.
![voices.png]( "voices.png")
In reply to Maybe not that important,… by bobjp
I'm beginning to understand it as relates to getting time and note duration. But jumping around the voices is still giving me trouble. No way I'll get this by class tomorrow. Easier to write on staff paper. Still, I will persevere. Thanks all.