suggest playback cursor's behavior be like metronome

"I recommand cursor jump once a beat"

Personnally I'd like to be allowed to choose the way it works (perhaps in the dialog where we choose the time signature).
Because that's often a matter of taste, it also depends on the tempo.
In a silicilienne (slow 12/8) you might like to jump on every 8th note, but in a gigue (fast 6/8) you obviously want it to jump on dotted quarters.

A means to specify what the duration of a beat is in MuseScore would be a necessary prerequisite to having a metronome. As pointed out here (and several other places on the forum) MuseScore currently assumes that a quarter note is the beat regardless of the time signature or tempo.

It might be more convenient to be able to specify the beat in the Tempo dialog at the same time that you specify the "beats per minute", even though the time signature dialog makes sense too.

I'm not aware of musicians talking of beat groups.
The first division, showed by time signature, is called ... "time" (for instance dotted quarter in a gigue under 6/8).

Here's what it looks like in Finale 2007.

Edit: I should note that this is for setting the beat for metronome settings and count-offs. The actual cursor movement during playback is smooth and continuous.

I think this is important as regards to the sequencer aspects of Musescore, and probably speaks to approach, among other things, .

The ability to choose what the display looks like while listening could help notation, perhaps.

If I could only have 1 way, my vote would be for the tick on the beat rather than the phrase.

Regards,

I haven't seen above any reference to phrase, which, in some pieces, is a matter of personal and difficult choice.
On the contrary, time is a well defined concept, given by the time signature without any ambiguity.

In Encore, the "Set time signature" dialog box contains :
"Click ... times per measure"
The default value is defined by the time signature : 2 under C stroke or 2/2, or 6/8, 4 under 4/4, etc.
But this value can be changed, and this also changes the metronome setting.

For instance, if we are under 6/8, the default value is 2 ; meaning the cursor will jump twice in each measure, and the metronome will display and tune the number of dotted quarters per minute.
But if we change this to 6, then the cursor will jump on every eighth note, and the metronome will display the tempo for this value.

It might be useful to remember that :
- division of the measure (time) and division of time (beat) are defined by the time signature ; they're not a matter of choice once the time signature has been choosen ; these two words time and beat are quite standard in music, and shouldn't be given a personal meaning ;
- playback cursor, and value displayed by the metronome, *are* a matter of choice, as well as the way a conductor might choose to show the tempo ; in a slow 3/4 he will show the quarter, in a fast one he will show the measure ; you might even find him choosing the first option during a few rehearsals, and then switch to the second one ; in the latter case you might write dotted half = 60 on the score, as well as quarter = 180 (I'd say personnaly : rather than --> matter of choice !).

The cursor follows the "beat" for quite some time now. However the value of the beat cannot be changed and it's equal to the time signature denominator.

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.