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| MakeMusic Forum > Public Forums > Finale - Macintosh - FORUM HAS MOVED! > Speedy Entry Wish | Forum Quick Jump
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Peter Thomsen
Registered Member
      
Date Joined Jun 2000
Total Posts : 8331
| Posted 7/11/2002 7:04 AM (GMT -6) |   |
Imagine that you are inputting a violin part with many very large jumps. You can turn off "Use MIDI Keyboard for Input", press Caps lock, and use the alphabet keys to jump up and down. And you can hit the comma key to make the alphabet keys work in the higher octaves:
Q = the C two octaves above middle C
A = the C an octave above middle C
Z = middle C
But for the C three octaves above middle C and higher notes you can't use the alphabet keys.
In Speedy Entry you can navigate the pitch crossbar one step up with UpArrow, and one step down with DownArrow. But there is no keyboard shortcut for navigating larger intervals.
It Would Be Nice If there were a keyboard shortcut to jump up resp. down an octave.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that these keyboard combinations are not already in use:
Command-UpArrow
Command-DownArrow
Or, perhaps even better, have Command-UpArrow and Command-DownArrow jump in a user defined interval.
Any opinions?
Peter
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musicpubl
Registered Member
 
Date Joined Dec 2000
Total Posts : 429
| Posted 7/11/2002 7:11 PM (GMT -6) | |
I have never, and would never, input any pitches using my
computer keyboard, so personally I'd rather Coda spend time
coding other things which really need fixing. Though I suppose if
there are a lot of people who do use the computer keyboard, it's a
good suggestion.
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Matthew Hindson
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 1999
Total Posts : 406
| Posted 7/11/2002 11:57 PM (GMT -6) | |
>In Speedy Entry you can
>navigate the pitch crossbar
>one step up with UpArrow, and
>one step down with DownArrow.
>But there is no keyboard
>shortcut for navigating larger
>intervals.
>
>It Would Be Nice If there were
>a keyboard shortcut to jump up
>resp. down an octave.
There used to be shortcut for up/down an octave
in the 'old days' of Finale version 2 etc. From
memory, it was K to jump up the octave and
comma to move down. This of course worked in
the way that you refer to, within Speedy Entry with
the MIDI entry turned off.
Also in these olden times, QWERTYU acted as
shortcuts to C (space) to B (ledger line) in the
treble clef, ASDFGHJ for middle C to B an octave
below and ZXCVBNM for the octave below this.
Last time I checked, these shortcuts didn't seem to
work any more, being replaced by the extra keys
used in Simple Entry mode.
It would be nice if some currently-unused keys in
Speedy Entry mode could be assigned to enter
slurs and certain standard articulations (accents,
staccatos, tenutos) as is possible in Sibelius. It
would be nice to be able to enter some musical
features like this at time of thinking about the
music, and within the one tool. If you agree that
this would be a good thing, email
macsupport@codamusic.com and ask them for it!
Matthew
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Peter Thomsen
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2000
Total Posts : 8331
| Posted 7/12/2002 6:51 AM (GMT -6) | |
Take a look at the attached GIF image. For quick and precise entering of this kind of music, I don't find the MIDI keyboard very convenient. Imagine that you have to enter tons of stuff like this.
That's the reason why I am asking for ideas for alternative ways of entering. Actually, the "alphabet key way of entering" works well with the attached GIF example. Try for yourself:
Turn off "Use MIDI Keyboard for Input" in the Speedy menu,
hit the Caps Lock key,
and hit the comma key to make the Z-X-C-V-B-N-M row the octave with the middle C.
Now you can reach the pitches in the example with this key sequence:
R-E-W-E-C-E-C-E (first measure)
E-W-Q-W-X-W-X-W (second measure)
I can do this without looking at my hand.
But with a MIDI keyboard I can't enter this music without looking at my hand several times. Can you?
Matthew Hindson wrote:
>There used to be shortcuts for up/down an octave
in the 'old days' of Finale version 2 etc. From
memory, it was K to jump up the octave and
comma to move down. This of course worked in
the way that you refer to, within Speedy Entry with
the MIDI entry turned off.
Also in these olden times, QWERTYU acted as
shortcuts to C (space) to B (ledger line) in the
treble clef, ASDFGHJ for middle C to B an octave
below and ZXCVBNM for the octave below this.
Last time I checked, these shortcuts didn't seem to
work any more, being replaced by the extra keys
used in Simple Entry mode.
>
Matthew, it still works in Finale. But today you have to hit the Caps Lock key first.
You remember correctly regarding the letter K key and the comma key. The trick still works:
You press a key ( I, K or comma) to designate the row of letter keys you want to contain middle C.
Anyway, are there other ideas for quick and precise entering of large jumps (Simple Entry, Speedy Entry with MIDI keyboard, Speedy without MIDI keyboard... any input method)?
Peter
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Peter Thomsen
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2000
Total Posts : 8331
| Posted 8/3/2002 1:01 AM (GMT -6) | |
I have found a simple solution that has vastly improved my note entry technique:
A keyboard layout which arranges the 21 (note entry) letter keys in a consequent zigzag pattern.
I have attached the layout, in case others want to give it a try. The attachment is compressed in StuffIt format. Just drag it onto StuffIt Expander. After decompressing, drag the keyboard layout FinaleZigzag onto the System folder.
WARNING: FinaleZigzag is based on a copy of the old keyboard layout "Finale Key Map", which was delivered with Finale 3.0.1. I don't remember the purpose of Finale Key Map. Perhaps it was a help for users of an early Mac OS? I remember vaguely that Apple at some time re-arranged the default keyboard layout. If you still have a copy of Finale Key Map in your System file, and want to keep it, drag it out of the System file, and store it elsewhere, BEFORE you install FinaleZigzag. If Finale Key Map is present in the System file when you install FinaleZigzag, the Mac OS will - without warning - overwrite Finale Key Map with FinaleZigzag.
Entering big intervals is a snap with FinaleZigzag.
The range of three octaves cdefgab-cdefgab-cdefgab is arranged on the qwerty keyboard in this order: qazwsxe-dcrfvtg-byhnujm. To use it effectively, think in intervals.
The 4ths are particularly simple to enter, since the two keys are on the same row. This is also true for 7ths, 10ths and 13ths.
For each of the other intervals you have to learn two patterns:
The 2nds occur in two patterns: one row down [qa; az; ws; sx ...] or two rows up [zw; xe; ...]
The 3rds: two rows down [qz; wx; ...] or one row diagonally up [aw; zs; ...]
The 5ths: [qs; ax; ...] or [ze; xr; ...]
...And So On...
For fast switching to and from FinaleZigzag, open the control panel Keyboard, and turn on FinaleZigzag. This will add FinaleZigzag to the Keyboard menu. Next, click the lower right button in the control panel, and turn on the shortcut Option-Command-Spacebar.
In Finale, switch to Speedy Entry Tool, in the Speedy menu turn off "Use MIDI Keyboard for Input", and hit Caps Lock.
This trick beats the MIDI keyboard when you enter big intervals. A double-octave, e. g., spans 32 centimeters on a MIDI keyboard. Nobody has a hand span that wide.
The MIDI keyboard still wins when you enter chords, since you can enter the whole chord in one go (if you can span the whole chord).
Peter
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