Undesirable behavior if change selected grace note pitch by pressing keyboard note letter (a,b,c,d,e,f,g)

• Jan 29, 2016 - 06:08

(tested on MuseScore 2.0.2 release and dbd9e84 on 64-bit Win 8.1)

If I first select a grace note:

1-grace.png

and I want to change the grace note's pitch by pressing a note letter [a,b,c,d,e,f, or g] on keyboard (without engaging Note Input), then the following results (in this case I pressed "e"):

1-grace-after-press-E.png

The result is that MuseScore puts a 8th note E at that beat of the parent note, while my selected grace note along with its parent note are displaced forward by an 8th beat. But my desired behavior is that I only wanted that grace note to change its pitch.

I don't believe this current behavior should be desired expected behavior. Is it? Is this a known issue? (I can't seem to find in forum)

This result is that same result as if I alternatively had selected the parent note and had note input engaged and set to 8th note before pressing "e" (and I would indeed consider that to be desired expected behavior for that situation).

So I believe (without looking at the code), that MuseScore is internally using the tick of the parent note of the selected grace note as the desired tick to input a note, engaging note input for duration equal to duration of the grace, and inserted a note at that tick with the inputted pitch.

More glitchy behavior results if I have 16th graces (instead of 8th graces):

16th-gliss-selected.png

If I want to change the pitch of that grace to "e", then after I press "e" (again without engaging Note Input), then the following results:

16th-gliss-after-press-e.png

The same result happens if I were to instead select the parent note C, then engaged Note Input for 16th notes and pressed "e". Either way, I do not consider this desired expected behvaior, since I do not want to introduce all these extra notes.

While I can't fully grok what MuseScore is doing without inspecting code right now, I believe what is happening is that MuseScore is impliciently engaging Note Input with duration equal to duration of that selected grace, then inserting a note of the inputted pitch and that duration at the tick of the original parent. I suspect that insert action unintentionally has triggered a chain reaction of unwanted secondary actions: recursively first inserting the original parent note and its grace at a tick a 16th beat later, which then again reinserts that parent note and its grace an 8th note later due to being unintentionally displaced.

For further insight, here's what happens when I start with a 32nd grace selected:

32nd-gliss.png

And then press "e":

32nd-gliss-after-press-e.png

I think this supports my "recursive displacement & reinsert" theory. :)

Can I file a bug/feature request to make grace notes (or parents of grace notes if selected) change their pitch (only) when pressing letter of pitch on keyboard (without note input already engaged)? And if note input was engaged while the parent of a grace is selected, then to only displace the parent and its child grace *once* only. (And further I'd like a feature request to input *grace* notes if a *grace* note is selected while note input is engaged).


Comments

Pressing a letter key is not a "change pitch" pitch command, it is an "enter new note with selected duration at specified pitch" command. So the command is doing what it was designed to do. I guess it could be enhanced to look at the current selection and attempt to guess that maybe you really wanted to enter a grace note instead of actually entering a new note.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

>> Pressing a letter key is not a "change pitch" pitch command, it is an "enter new note with selected duration at specified pitch" command.

I eventually figured that out, but thanks for clarifying.

>> So the command is doing what it was designed to do.

OK.

>> I guess it could be enhanced to look at the current selection and attempt to guess that maybe you really wanted to enter a grace note instead of actually entering a new note.

I agree with that approach. So not necessarily a seperate 'grace note input mode' as https://musescore.org/en/node/4976 is titled & described, but rather just a smarter note entry mode that will input graces if user currently has a grace note selected in scoreview. (User can already press "/" on keyboard to create a grace, which would effectively engage a "grace note input mode" since that new grace note will be selected.)

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