'Transposing' time signatures
I am wondering if there is a way to get MuseScore to 'transpose' from one time signature to another.
I have a motet which was originally written in 4:2, but for various reasons my first version of the score was entered in 4:4. I have now finally obtained the 1742 first edition of this score (in 4:2), and would like to save myself the trouble of re-entering the music in the original time signature by converting the quarter notes in the 4:4 file to half-notes in the 4:2 version, etc., automatically.
Is there a way to get MuseScore to do this?
Thanks.
Comments
See https://musescore.org/en/project/doubletimev20, but be aware of #90721: Doubletime plugin crashes with Musescore 2.x
In reply to See by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks, Jojo. I've looked at the link you provided. The score in question was created with 2.0.1, so perhaps the 'crash' when running 2.0.2 won't happen, and I'd be willing to experiment to find out.
Unfortunately, I've never downloaded or used a plug-in before, so I'm going to have to ask you for help on how to do that.
In reply to Thanks, Jojo. I've looked at by Recorder485
See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/plugins-0#installation ;-)
Another option would be to export as XML, Import in MuseScore 1.3, use the 1.x plugin there (https://musescore.org/de/project/doubletime), then open the result in 2.0 again. Should avoid the potential crash of the 2.0 plugin.
In reply to See by Jojo-Schmitz
I'll try it first on 2.0.1 and see what happens. I'll work from a 'Copy 2' version of the original score so I won't lose anything if it goes wrong.
As for installing and running the plug-in, should I copy/paste the notepad text file for 'doubletime' into the plug-in creator and save and enable it from there? I'm running Musescore in Win7 Pro on a dual-OS laptop containing a virtual machine that runs XP for some legacy programs I use that won't run in W7.
In reply to See by Jojo-Schmitz
Okay, here's the result of trying it both ways:
1. Creating doubletime 2.0 using plugin creator and then running it on a 2.0.1 score: as soon as I clicked 'run' all the notes disappeared and were replaced by whole-measure rests and the program crashed.
2. Installing doubletime.js in the MuseScore plug-in directory for 1.3: I saved a copy of the 2.0 score as .xml, and opened it with 1.3. As soon as I clicked on the plugin from drop-down, the program created a new score in another tab, but all the notes had disappeared and were replaced by whole-measure rests. There was, otoh, no crash of 1.3.
Looks like I'm going to have to copy the thing over manually.
Happy New Year! ;o)
In reply to Okay, here's the result of by Recorder485
Apologies if this sounds stupid/obvious but when you tried the 1.3 Plugin did you first select the range of notes that you wanted to convert (or, to select all, [Ctrl]a)?
Can you, by any chance, post the score you are trying to convert?
In reply to Apologies if this sounds by underquark
I don't think I selected any measures when running the 1.3 plugin; I simply opened the xml score with 1.3, clicked the 'plug-ins' drop-down, found 'doubletime' and clicked on that. Instantly, the program created a duplicate score in a new tab, but it was totally blank.
Sorry if THAT sounds stupid (I have never tried to use a plug-in before!) but I could try it again after selecting the whole score. I'd have to download the js version of doubletime again, as I deleted it from my directory after that. The question is, if it DID work, when I pasted the double-timed notes into a blank score, would 2.0.1 get hiccups from trying to swallow it? I can't do the layout and formatting I need in 1.3. Hmmm....
I am about halfway finished re-entering the score manually anyway; it's not a big piece (an 87-measure-long, five-voice motet), and I had already transposed it into treble clefs so it's going fairly quickly. I read C-clefs, but I don't do it regularly so I read them with much mumbling under my breath ('right: alto clef, so...if I see a B it's really a C...). ;o)
I can't post the score, unfortunately. All the stuff I work on is for commercial publication and the publisher does not allow posting anything on an open website, for obvious reasons.
In reply to I don't think I selected any by Recorder485
It's just that I wrote the original DoubleTime (on the back of an envelope whilst waiting for a bus most likely) and I know that it used to work but it was very rough-and-ready and if you didn't specifically select a region or the whole score then it just assumed that you had selected nothing and dutifully gave you the double of nothing.
Regarding whether the created score should be readable by 2.0.1 then , yes, I can't see any reason why not. The Plugin just creates a stream of doubled-duration notes on a 4/4 background and if you wanted a different time signature then you'd need to create a new, blank score and copy and paste the notes into it.
Others more able than I have begun to port it forward to MuseScore2.x.
Anyway, glad to hear you are working it out.
In reply to It's just that I wrote the by underquark
Okay, that explains a lot! I really do know better, but, like a lot of other people who use them all the time, I occasionally forget that computers can't actually THINK. Duh. ;o)
I'll try it again. After I posted that message yesterday I did one of those forehead-smack/groans when I remembered I'd also have to re-enter the lyrics to each of the five voices...so if your plugin can help me avoid that, it'll be worth it. I am assuming here that because lyric syllables are each linked to a specific note, they will stay linked to the same note even after its time value has been doubled. Anyway, it will be interesting to find out.
In reply to It's just that I wrote the by underquark
Experimentation, Round 2: Yes, selecting notes before running the plugin did generate a new score with doubled note values, but there are a few practical problems.
1. Not all of the notes came through. Whole notes and rests which should have been turned into double whole notes and rests don't show up at all, they just vanish. In one voice which starts with a series of 5 whole-measure rests, all the new score showed were six closely-spaced barlines with nothing between them.
2. The plugin only works on one staff at a time. Using CTL+A to select the whole score before running the plug-in resulted in a new score containing only the first of the five staves. To generate a double-timed score of each part requires selecting that staff individually and running the plug-in on it. This will generate a separate, new score of that one part.
3. No lyrics show up whatsoever.
Ah, well. It was worth a try. ;o)
In reply to Experimentation, Round 2: by Recorder485
The 1.x version was, indeed, a rather limited Plugin and I shelved any further development of it as 2.0 was coming along and someone better at coding than me is working on that. Lyrics are attached to notes. The Plugin works by reading the pitch values and duration of the notes in sequence then writing them to a new score with the values doubled. Not sure how lyrics would get handled here.
In reply to Experimentation, Round 2: by Recorder485
The 1.x version was, indeed, a rather limited Plugin and I shelved any further development of it as 2.0 was coming along and someone better at coding than me is working on that. Lyrics are attached to notes. The Plugin works by reading the pitch values and duration of the notes in sequence then writing them to a new score with the values doubled. Not sure how lyrics would get handled here.
In reply to The 1.x version was, indeed, by underquark
Well, pretty much all of you guys are better at coding than I am (I'm lucky if I can get the html right to insert an image in a web-page!), so I'll just have to be patient. The only observation I can think of (which may be totally idiotic) is that if the plugin works by writing the result to a new score, it would have to read everything in the original one--lyrics, time sigs, key sigs, dynamics, etc., etc.--and preserve all the links among those elements when copying to the new score. Might it not be simpler to have it demand user input (a pop-up?) for the new time sig before it runs (ie: 4/4=4/2) and then write only the altered time values back into the original score? Users could protect original scores from potential crashes or corruption by running the script on a copy, of course.
In reply to Okay, here's the result of by Recorder485
This is not exactly a plug-in but you may give it a try: https://musescore.org/en/node/72716
The description looks complicated (I've tried to provide step by step instructions) but applying the script isn't that complicated as it seems.