it is not clear in my mind how to use the insert mode and I started a new thread because there are definitely some of you understand it. I do not. I do know it only works on a single line. if I go back to a part and insert notes in a single line, does it fill in with new space with these notes? otherwise, why bother. confusing as to what to expect. I am sure that this will be better, greater and more clear in the future, but for now, what is going on?
In insert mode, if you add notes, it will push all the notes after what you are writing. This is the normal behaviour, just as in a text editor, when you insert letters. If you witness a different behaviour, then describe it here, try and send a small project showing that, it might be a bug !
Hi Burton, In concept, it is an amazing tool, great while composing, but in practice I find it terribly dangerous. If there is any music in the flow subsequent to what you are editing, regardless of rests, that music will get pushed around. I wish there were ways to control the behavior, I.e. Have points in the score at which the insert will not push, or deal with rests in a different way. My two cents.
I made a new flow with just flute in it so I can clearly see what is happening when I enter notes.
I entered several notes with the x meter, then added a 2/4 measure towards the end of it. I then put an x meter in the middle of the barred music and used the insert key. it did move the music along as new notes, and didn’t over-right the old notes, but it did move into the barred music, moving all along to the right. I could then enter the x meter and 2/4 as needed. this works well with music being composed (and of course, on one line at the moment; but, if editing music where you want to open up a part of the music, moving what you have intact (meter and all) and just enter notes, indeed, it can be messy. in the case.
In the orchestra score example by wconable posted yesterday, he had to add measured bars large enough to hold his cadenza,then change the meter to x when finished. this is how sibelius did it, I believe. it would be nice to open an insert (eventually, in all voices) and insert music, x meter or otherwise and just shift the music to the right, keeping its meter in tact. I guess this would be like a word processor.
I want to second kevin b’s comments, both about how useful Insert is and how dangerous it is. (And yes, I realize this is 2 years later.)
Once you’ve used it a bit, the usefulness is quite clear. I use it mostly for fixing errors, and it works equally well to move things forward or pull them backward.
But the danger becomes immediately clear as well; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to turn it off and done some significant additions to the music, only to discover that Insert was still active. You spend just 3-4 minutes adding different length passages to multiple staves, and you’ve got music that had all lined up perfectly now bounced all over the score.
You can make a major mess in a VERY short time. The only good news about that is that Insert mode also works in reverse; just select some empty bars prior to the problem area and hit Delete. That pulls the errant bars back in place.