Issues with 16th and 32nd note tuplets and MIDI import

[Michael_J_Lloyd]

I’ve been testing out importing a number of quantized MIDI files into Dorico 6 to try and streamline a workflow for orchestration, and have come across some strange behaviours in how it chooses to notate small note-value tuplets. One of these can be solved by using Edit-Requantize… but the others require time-consuming steps to fix. I’d really prefer to not have to do either and have Dorico interpret these things correctly upon import, as Finale does (no requantization required), especially since I’ve already quantized them in my DAW. Is this something that could be address in a future update? Examples below (all are in 4/4).

FYI I have my import Quantization Options set as such, since the MIDI is already quantized and I know there are some small note-values I’ll need upon import:

Ex. 1) 6:4 sixteenth notes import as:

Whereas I’d prefer them to look like:

Requantize doesn’t fix this. This would be hugely time consuming to fix this if there were a whole repeating pattern of them rather than just a run, such as:

Perhaps an option can be added to the quantize window, or Engraving or Notation Options of you prefer 6:4 vs 3:2, or a way to fix via the Tuplet Popover?

Ex. 2) What should be a 7:4 16th run imports as:

This can be fixed by requantizing to the 16th, but I really want it to import right the first time since it’s already quantized.

Ex. 3) 9:8 32nd note runs import as:

Whereas they should look like:

Requantize doesn’t fix this. I can fix it manually, but I’d really like it to import as notated above.

If anyone has any solutions to these import issues aside from using Requantize or using Insert mode to reenter the tuplet, I’d welcome them. Thanks.

[bmoriak]

I don’t have a solution i am just seconding this. it is a a big limitation in dorico midi import at the moment.

[JAMES_GILBERT]

Have you ever tried it with the “fill gaps” option set in the midi quantization (either for input or re-quantization)? I can’t speak to midi input but if I don’t have that set when I do re-quantization, I often get unexpected results, like short value rests as in one of your images.

[Janus]

@Michael_J_Lloyd

Ex. 1) 6:4 sixteenth notes import as:

Whereas I’d prefer them to look like:

To change two triplets to a sextutplet (or any other).

• Engage Insert.
• Select the notes.
• Filter (select)> tuplets and Delete.
• Reselect notes. Create the new tuplet (eg. 6:4x)
• Disengage Insert

@Michael_J_Lloyd

This would be hugely time consuming to fix this if there were a whole repeating pattern of them rather than just a run, such as:

You can do this in one change, so it’s not too time consuming.

(This is actually an example of the power of Dorico’s Insert mode!)

[Michael_J_Lloyd]

Thanks for this solution, that’s really helpful. I didn’t realise that selecting a whole string of them in Insert mode would allow them to all be converted to sextuplets in one command after deleting the initial tuplet and reselecting the notes. That certainly makes it much quicker to convert than I was afraid of.

[Michael_J_Lloyd]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately the “fill gaps” doesn’t solve this particular issue if I leave the other Quantize Options as I had them. I think maybe the best thing to do is to always set 16ths for the “Quantization unit for tuplets” since the 32nd note tuplets weren’t importing correctly anyway.