While I like the attempt to automatically name and classify instruments based on track name, some missing features that I desperately need for an efficient workflow became immediately apparent (or I can’t find them):
batch edit multiple staves to define display quantize, instrument type (and other properties) rather than one at a time
display DAW track names instead of the instrument names
add system breaks to make system breaks easier to see while in sync layout
allow me to click on a track name in the score and/or right click on it to change settings of that track; as it is, with the names on the staves not corresponding to the track names in the visibility list I have no idea which staves in the score correspond to which tracks.
Bug? If I make changes to a part - such as “fixed lengths” - the part does not update in the score view, but I see a little “square” in the visibility list. If I click on that, I get a check mark, and the part has “doubled up,” and does not fix it self til I hide it and re-check it.
muted notes in the sequence seem to still display in the score unless I entirely delete them
the enharmonic shift buttons do not seem to be working when applied to notes already input? Clicking on them while I have notes selected does nothing, at least.
I’m wondering if I’m missing something regarding the track names because it is so disorienting for them not to match. Staves on the score page aren’t even highlighted when I click on them in the visibility tab to show me what stave I’m editing.
Will update as I see more places for improvement, but this naming issue is fundamentally disruptive to my workflow.
We’ll consider how we can make working with larger numbers of tracks easier in the Score Editor. The ability to show track names instead of instrument names is also on our list already.
System breaks can be added by selecting an item (note, barline), then choosing System Break in the Score menu. This should also work for the Sync Layout, though only if you’re in page mode.
Can you clarify the exact steps a little more? “Fixed Length” does (as far as I know, I may well be wrong) apply to the selected notes. If you run that on a selection of notes, the new duration of these notes should be reflected in the Score Editor right away.
That little square icon in the visibility list shows, that not all parts of a track are visible in the editor. If you click it, then that will show the entire track.
Thanks for the response and the info on system breaks, though where I need them is in fill mode as that’s where I’d do the majority of my work. I’d only be switching to page mode when formatting for print. Please consider implementing them in fill mode.
As for the fixed lengths bug, I can’t seem to reliably recreate it today. Will get back to you if I can.
What about my request to change multiple aspects of an instrument at once? I have 1000 tracks in my template, very common for film composers. I have no idea which might be used in a given session as a score track. Having to setup quantize settings for 30-40 instruments in every project - and let’s not even talk about a film where I have 30-40 DAW projects - is going to be murder on my sleep schedule and my wrists
At the very least, let us define a global base quantize per layout (for me it’s ideally 8th notes, for example, and I’d use display quantize override for instances where I sub-divide more than that). Defaulting to 16ths, for me, results in way too many display quantize errors I need to go and fix.
I’m not sure, isn’t the Fill Mode there so that there are no line breaks and everything is distributed dynamically across the size of the window, even if it is resized (hence the name)?
But I understand your use case.
In any case, the line breaks that are currently there are there for formatting text that is to be printed out.
In this new implementation of fill mode, the score is actually “optimized,” so that only the staves with notes are showing. This is awesome as it allows me to see everything at once most of the time, but it becomes difficult to see where the breaks are between staves. Below, you’ll see there is a break between SYM Col Legno Cluster and Bones, but when I’m moving quickly it can be difficult to register that it’s the start of a new “page” without the slash marks we see in printed scores.
Nevertheless this is a minor issue compared to the naming problem. I have to manually change the names back to my track names to have any hope of knowing what I’m looking at, which is quite a pain.
So I’m making changes to my score as I sit, and sometimes when I make a change in the key editor, the score window simply doesn’t update. For example, I just changed the note start time of a sustained half note, and the score editor didn’t update, but I got that little square icon again. Again, as with note lengths, clicking the square to hide the instrument and re-show it updated the score editor.
This is not consistent behavior so I cannot give steps to reproduce yet.
EDIT: I think I understand what might be happening … I may have accidentally had multiple score windows open (didn’t know I could do that) and that might be causing the conflict.
Manual System breaks aren’t available in fill view, because that’s exactly what fill view does automatically. However, as you mentioned the slash marks between systems in page view, we could consider drawing these system dividers in fill view as well. We’ll think about what we can do to improve this view mode.
We are also considering how we can enable applying settings to multiple tracks at once.
As for this apparent update problem when changing note durations, we’ll try to look out for that. If you find a way to reproduce that, please keep us informed. Multiple Score Editors should not prevent updating. The idea is, that you should be able to view different layouts next to each other. Each editor should stay in sync.
