When I change the time signature of a single bar, I don’t know how to correct the number of beats in that bar. I’ve had to add a new bar – the new bar has the correct number of beats, then move the music into it and delete the old bar.
For example, I have a single bar in 3/4 followed by a bar with another time signature. I need a 4/4 bar so I change the time signature, but the measure still has 3 beats. Can I just add a beat? If I try Insert mode, all the music afterward shifts.
I wish there was a way in Insert mode to limit the range that shifts. Shifting a line up to the end of a flow can really mess up later music that is already lined up and finished. An alternative would be to have Insert mode insert time into the full system, not just a single staff. Then following music stays lined up.
I’m probably misunderstand something influenced by the way other programs work.
Thanks!
I’m not sure what you’re trying to do. Are you trying to add an extra beat to the 3/4 and keep the following measure as is? In that case, creating a time signature with insert mode engaged will change the 3/4 to 4/4 and put a quarter rest at the end of it, shifting the following music by one beat.
If, however, you’re trying to change the notation so that the note on beat 1 in the following bar is now on beat 4, then you should first delete the time signature in the following bar, and then add the 4/4 time signature. This will rebar the following music without shifting anything.
When you add your time signature, make sure Insert mode is switched on, and then Dorico will ensure that if there is any partial bar left over, it will be extended so that it has the correct number of beats for the time signature you added.
I realize this is an old forum entry that I’m following up on, but I see Pam’s point. I have a 3/4 measure I’m trying to convert to 4/4. The way in which I’m trying to accomplish this is by simply selecting the first note of the measure, shift-M, 4/4, [Enter], but it preserves the three beats instead of adding a fourth beat of rest. It seems counter intuitive to have to go into insert mode to accomplish something that Dorico should be able to remap on the fly without any problem.
Thanks for the feedback, @rothvin, but this is intentional, so that you have the flexibility to tell Dorico whether it should insert time to make a complete bar at the end of the new time signature or whether you instead want to simply insert a time signature and take care of the consequences yourself. Dorico makes both outcomes just as easy as each other.
Insert mode… how do I activate it, and what do I choose as an option?
Is it Shift+Alt+I?
Insert Global?
Insert “global adjustment of current bar”?
It’s very frustrating that there isn’t a little pop-over when you bring your mouse over one of the four choices. You actually have to choose one, and then go to the Insert Mode icon for the pop-over to appear.
Where should my cursor BE when I activate insert mode?
How about where should it be when I add the new time signature change?
It seems that this is exactly what I did, and yet I ended up with a 5/4 bar that only had 4 beats in it.
At least on my computer, Insert mode is just I.
It actually doesn’t matter which Insert scope you’re in; having any kind of Insert mode on is sufficient that when you subsequently add a 5/4 time signature the extra beat is added (at the end of the bar - I just checked).
As to the cursor (caret?), if you’re in note input mode - you don’t need to be - then the caret should be at the start of the bar that you want to make into a 5/4 bar.
If you’re not in note input mode then you need to either select something on the downbeat of that bar or the barline immediately preceding that bar before typing Shift-M 5/4 Enter.