User manual

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Entering and editing notes
Note values and positions
• By assigning key commands to the different length values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog (in the category “Set Insert Length”).
About unusual note values
Not all note values can be selected directly, for example double dotted notes. Such
notes are created by changing the length of the note after you have entered it (see
“Changing the length of notes” on page 765), by gluing notes together (see
“Lengthening a note by gluing two notes together” on page 765) or by using the
Display Length feature.
Selecting a Quantize value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score the Mouse Time Position display in
the status line tracks your movement and shows the current position in bars, beats,
sixteenth notes, and ticks.
Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quantize value. If you set this to 1/8,
for example, you can only insert and move notes to eighth note positions, at quarter
notes, at half bars or at bar positions. It is a good strategy to set the Quantize value to
the smallest note value in the project. This does not stop you from inputting notes at
“coarser” positions. However, if you set the Quantize value to too small a note value, it
is easier to make mistakes.
The Quantize value is set on the toolbar on the “Quantize Presets” pop-up menu:
• You can also assign key commands to the different Quantize values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog (in the category “MIDI Quantize”).
• Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the Quantize Panel to create other
Quantize values, irregular grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when inputting score notes.
The mouse position info
While you often use the graphical position in the actual score to determine where the
notes go, there are instances when you want to verify the position numerically using
the mouse position info displayed in the status line.
The Mouse Note Position display shows the pitch according to the vertical position of
the pointer in a staff. The Mouse Time Position display shows the “musical position” in
bars, beats, sixteenth notes, and ticks:
• The relation between beats and bars depends on the time signature: In 4/4 there
are 4 beats to a bar. In 8/8 there are eight, in 6/8 there are six, etc.
With the Quantize value set to 1/8, you can only input notes at
eighth note positions.