making tuplets out of existing notes

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gmardoc
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:28 pm

Post by gmardoc » Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:52 pm

It would be nice if it were possible to take notes that have already been inputted and turn them into tuplets without having to delete and re-enter them. This would allow the writer to maintain the pitches, articulations, text, etc. they already chose and not risk forgetting to add them back in.

For example, it would be nice to be able to highlight 3 eighth notes that are already in the score and press "Ctrl 3" to re-write them as a set of triplets.

I realize there are other implications and side-effects to doing this. I realize that it presents a problem with what to do with the rest of the notes in the measure. Should the Sibelius insert a rest between the new tuplet and the notes that follow, or should it shift the following notes an eighth-note earlier so they remain connected to the triplet? In the case that the highlighted group of eighth-notes begins on an up-beat instead of a down-beat, should the new tuplet start on the up-beat or should it be shifted to start on a downbeat? If it should be shifted, should it be shifted earlier in the measure, or later? If it is shifted earlier, what happens to the notes preceding it? If it is shifted later, a rest has to be inserted before it.

The solution to this is a pop-up window with a few check boxes and/or drop-down menus to help make these decisions. The most common settings would always be the default, so the user can just click"OK" or press enter or something to save time. In the case that the user needs to change these settings, it would still only take 2 or 3 clicks to do... which is still less work than deleting the notes and re-entering them.

To use a common example:
A writer is inputting notes and forgets to press "Ctrl 3" before entering a triplet; resulting in 3 eighth-notes. The writer notices his/her mistake and instead of deleting the notes and re-entering pitches and articulations, they can highlight that group of 3 eighth-notes, press "Ctrl 3" (the pop-up window appears with default settings already selected), click "OK" or press "Enter", and the problem is fixed. If the situation is more complicated, the writer can take a few seconds to choose his options in that pop-up window, and he/she still saves time.
Gabriel Mardoc

I am currently using:
Sibelius 5.2.5
Virtual Drumline 2.5.2
Windows XP
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (sound card)
no MIDI keyboard


Jeremy Hughes
Posts: 306
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:09 am

Post by Jeremy Hughes » Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:31 pm

Hi there

There are a series of plug-ins which help with Tuplets that ship with Sibelius 6. One of these does exactly what your example requires (turns three regular quavers into a triplet).

Perhaps you should consider upgrading?

Hope that helps

Jeremy
music editor/engraver
iMac Intel 2GHz 2GB | OS X Version 10.6.5 Snow Leopard | Sibelius 6.2

gmardoc
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:28 pm

Post by gmardoc » Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:02 am

Thanks for your help with these. It looks like I should definitely upgrade to Sibelius 6 in the near future. I'll try to delete posts that have already been addressed to avoid redundancy.


That plugin definitely sounds like it would do the trick, but I feel like it sort of interrupts a user's workflow if they have to discover/remember that such a plugin exists and go up into the menus to find it. If there was a shortcut for it that was similar to making tuplets the normal way (like the one i suggested in the original post), it would be a lot more intuitive to use. New users wouldn't have to spend time looking up how to do it. They could probably just stumble on the solution because it's almost the same as putting in tuplets from scratch.
Gabriel Mardoc

I am currently using:
Sibelius 5.2.5
Virtual Drumline 2.5.2
Windows XP
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (sound card)
no MIDI keyboard

Sebasian
Posts: 1476
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:46 pm

Post by Sebasian » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:35 am

gmardoc wrote: If there was a shortcut for it that was similar to making tuplets the normal way . . .
Make your own user-defined shortcut. The plug-ins (which are in Sibelius 5 as well) don't cover all eventualities but "Make Into Tuplet" would probably do most of what you describe.

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