When using mouse for note entry, didn’t holding down shift used to allow the full chromatic spread of notes to be available?
The new version allows me to hear the available pitches as I hover an about-to-be-input note over the staff. This is a lifesaver for me as I choose my notes by ear. But without the full chromatic range of notes being available I’m still a bit stuck.
Didn’t holding shift usually allow the full chromatic range? Or am I missing something?
I don’t usually move notes by mouse, but trying that just now with shift down gives me chromatic notes. Did you do something recently to your key command preferences which may have overriden this functionality? I’m not sure why it might be happening!
Hmmm. Well that is odd!
I have not, as far as I can tell, made any modifications to key commands or preferences. This is a new install and I’ve barely touched it.
But, really, it works for you? You can select a note, hover it over the staff, and, when holding down shift, you can hear the full chromatic range of pitches before placing the note?
Yes, that’s right - when I select a note and wish to move it by the mouse, I can hold down shift and it gives me chromatic half-steps with feedback both visually and audibly.
I assume you’re talking about moving an existing note, and not the new shadow note (pitch-before-duration) which doesn’t seem to work with the mouse?
Here are my mouse input settings under the menu preferences > Note Input and Editing > Mouse Input
I don’t know if any of those variables will help you but I thought I would share since that’s how I have my mouse behavior set and shift is working for me.
I guess I was unclear… I’m not talking about moving an existing note, but rather initial note entry by mouse. (I think you even contributed to my earlier thread on this topic - Mouse note input by ear - Dorico - Steinberg Forums )
I’m talking about selecting a note length, hovering over the stave - this time with the new ‘Play Shadow Note Pitch’ option checked - and listening to the possible pitches. I compose by ear so need to hear the full chromatic spread of potential pitches and then make my choice of where to place the note when I hear the pitch I need.
Holding down shift during this process does not allow me to hear all chromatic potentials.
Can I gently ask why? Surely, by the time you’ve run the gamut of possible pitches, you’ve lost the relation to your starting point…? And with a little practice you ought to be able to pitch one interval after another without physically hearing it.
I do not run the gamut of possible pitches in the sense of “Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? No. Do I want that one? Yes!”
I suppose its similar to instinctively sliding a finger up a fretboard until the desired pitch is reached. My swooping the shadownote over the stave takes a fraction of a second.
I just, weirdly, find the Cubase Score Editor so much easier to write with: Select a note, drag it over the staff til I hear my pitch, release mouse button, onto the next note.
I think I must be the only person in the world who works like this, and, absurdly, for me it makes writing in Cubase Score Editor faster than Dorico.
It is also absurd that, considering the amount of time I have been doing this, I have such a silly workflow and have not learnt to pitch things mentally. Embarrassing, frankly.
But back to the point at hand… Held shift allowing chromatic auditioning at the note input stage?
If implemented, I suppose opt/alt + shift would make sense, mirroring how chromatic adjustments can be done (with an arrow) up or down to selected existing notes.
My apologies, I misunderstood, in part because I never have mouse entry turned on so I wasn’t aware of what you were doing on your end. I tested that method now and I can confirm that shift does not give me chromatic accidentals (but I never knew it did before, so I can’t speak to that either).
I do think it has something to do with the implementation of the new shadow note system. Alt+Shift is usually what you would hold down to adjust notes chromatically, which you can do with a previously input note. It appears that this has no effect on a shadow note during the entry phase, with mouse or with keyboard.