… it has the smaller arrow keys under the shift key - they work for things like moving layout elements up and down, or measures up and down, but not notes …
I could be wrong here, but I think that to move notes up/down you need to switch from Selection Tool to Simple Entry Tool.
If you from the Selection Tool double-click a note, Finale will take you to Simple Entry Tool, and select the note.
Have you tried that - or did you only try with the Selection Tool?
I select the notes using the selection tool then the cursor keys under the shift on my iMac keyboard allow me to move the notes up or down, right or left moves to next or previous as before.
I may have to buy a full keyboard yet as the fret numbers on the guitar tab also introduce another scenario that a short iMac keyboard created.
My problem is that the curser is laggy so that when I curser up or down I can easily overshoot the intended stop position with as many as two or three notes. I am talking to support to get a resolution to the problem.
When you plugged in your usb keyboard (which I have just done to attempt to cure the lag when changing pitch.) did your iMac successfully identify the keyboard? My Mac had a popup asking me to press the key next to the left hand shift key to correctly identify the keyboard used, I'm pretty sure you may have don that already but thought to worth a shot.
Hitting the r/l inside keys tells a Mac what country layout the keyboard is and nothing else. Some keyboards including all supplied by Apple have a chip that gives this information. A generic keyboard will still work but a few of the keys will not be correct if this setup step is ignored. If the Mac isn’t asking, it knows.
Has anyone come up with a way of doing this on the Mac?
I have a bunch of music imported from MusicXML files and I want to be able to write different parts for strings but I can find no easy way to move single notes up and down.
The online documentation suggests that I should be able to do thing using the Edit mode of Speedy Entry but this will only let me add a note, not select and move an already existing note.
Similarly, I don't seem to be able to do this with the NoteMover tool, either.
This seems to be a commonly required functionality that was present on earlier releases of the software.
Do you mean just move the pitch of a note up or down? Simple. Select the note (Selection tool, double click.) The note will turn purple. Up or down arrow to move it. Done.
This works on my MacBook Air, with the small arrows. On my desktop iMac, I have the extended keyboard, and it works the same way.
If you have a Mac with the short keyboard, get an extended keyboard.
Can we have some more details? Mac desktop or laptop, model, US keyboard?, OS, Finale version?
Older MacBook Pro.
I guess my issue is this: When I first purchased Finale, which was for one of the earliest Macintoshes, it made complex things feel easy.
Now, it seems like it make easy things sound complex.
For example, my 11 year old son is learning 2nd violin for the holiday concert. One of the tunes (actually, the first few measures) was available in a MusicXML file but the arrangement was wrong for his part.
I had a simple task: move a few notes into their proper position for his part.
What I have have read about it is that you need to have this keyboard and use this function and on and on,
I loaded the XML into MuseScore 2 and fixed it in seconds. This is what I used to be able to do in Finale but simple things have become quite difficult.
I do software for a living. One of the things that you come to understand is that certain functionality should be intuitive. I select something and drag it, it should move to where I want it without me having to do Google searches on how to do this.
My son Googles "how to do X in Minecraft" but Minecraft is a game and the idea is that you should have to figure things out.
Dragging a note down to its proper position on a scale should not be something that should require a search engine.
I did the first score with Finale (then patched it with MuseScore). It took almost two hours.
The other two, including one which had more complicated parts than the others, I did in less than an hour with MuseScore 2.
And I didn't need a different keyboard or the use of some control characters.
Sean,
I don’t know what to tell you. You won’t tell us what you’re using, so we don’t know how to make it better. I have no trouble moving notes up or down on my laptop or desktop. If MuseScore does what you need, and you know how to use it, fine. But please don’t badmouth Finale because you won’t take the time to learn.
Dragging a note is simple, if you know how to use the program. Select the note, and tap the arrow. What’s so tough about that? How do you do it in MuseScore? No complex program is going to be completely instinctive. I would be lost in MuseScore. Or Minecraft, for that matter.
Number 1, I am NOT bad mouthing Finale. I have been using it, practically, since it was created.
But the fact is that there are MULTIPLE posts asking how to move notes so CLEARLY this is an issue.
I'm on a late 2000 MacBook Pro and clicking the note does NOT give me an arrow.
End of story.
Why it doesn't work, I don't know, but it doesn't.
And I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time if it did!
Sean,
Like Mike & Mike, I have no trouble moving pitches. I use Speedy, not simple, but Speedy does just what you described. Click and hold a note, you can drag it to a different pitch. Or just use the selection tool, highlight a single note or group of notes and press 7 to move the notes up diatonically, press 6 to move them down, or press 8 or 9 to move them by an octave.
>But the fact is that there are MULTIPLE posts asking how to move notes so CLEARLY this is an issue.<
Off the top of my head, I can think of four different ways to move notes up and down in Finale. Because of that, it might not be intuitive. I suspect that, if I consulted the Help files, I'd find more.
>I'm on a late 2000 MacBook Pro and clicking the note does NOT give me an arrow. <
Who said it did? When the note is purple, use the arrow keys to move up/down. I don't do it that way, however.
It makes a difference if you are in Simple Entry, not Speedy Entry.
>End of story<
Not even close.
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