Editing As-Performed Attack Location and Duration

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Editing As-Performed Attack Location and Duration

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The as-performed attack location and duration of a note can differ from its as-notated location and duration. Composer offers several commands that enable you to change the as-heard timing of the note independently of its notated location and duration. You can also "snap" (quantize) the as-performed attack and/or release of a note to be exactly the same as its as-notated location.

As you edit the as-performed attack and duration of a note, Composer enables you to clearly see the results in Piano Roll Notation. You can also use the Show Attack and Release Offsets command to see a numeric comparison between the as-performed and as-notated attacks and releases of notes.

prcarrow To change the as-performed duration of one or more selected notes, while leaving the as-notated duration of the notes unchanged:

1.Navigate to the Piano Roll Palette.

-- OR --

Type SHIFT+Y.

PianoRollPaletteAsPerformedOnlyNavigation-7

2.Click the Edit As-Performed Only button in the piano roll editing palette, as illustrated above.

-- OR --

Or type "ep" for edit performance.

3.As you move the mouse over a notehead, Composer will display the offsets of the as-performed attack and release from the as-notated attack and release, as illustrated below. The as-performed attack is 24 ticks after the as-notated attack; and the as-performed release is19 ticks before the as-notated release:

    AsPerformedAttackAndReleaseOffsetSprite

In Composer, there are 480 ticks per quarter note. Thus, there are 32 ticks in a 64th note. In the above example, the attack of the first note of the triplet is somewhat less than a 64th note after the as-notated location of the note at the fourth beat of the 4:4 meter measure.

4.Drag the mouse to select the notes for which you wish to edit the as-performed durations.

The color of the piano roll for the selected notes changes from yellow to blue.

PianoRollAsPerformedNotesSelectedAndHighlighted

5.Decrease or increase the as-performed duration of the notes by doing one of the following:
(a)Click the Decrease Duration or Increase Duration button in the piano roll palette, one or more times:

    AsPerformedDecreaseAndIncreaseDurationPaletteButtons

-- OR --

(b)While holding down the "D" key (for duration), type the LeftArrowKey or RightArrowKey key one or more times to decrease or increase the duration. Hold down the arrow key to continually decrease or increase the duration until you release the key. This method is far more convenient than using the menu commands.

-- OR --

(c)Use any of the following keyboard shortcuts:
 

Shortcut

Description

Example

 

d+{ticks}

Increase duration

d+20

Increase duration by 20 ticks

d-{ticks}

Decrease duration

d-12

Decrease duration by 12 ticks

d={ticks}

Set duration

d=202

Set duration to 202 ticks

d%{percent}

Change duration by percentage

d%120

Increase duration by 20%

 

NOTE: There are 480 ticks in a quarter note.  For example, an 8th note has 240 ticks.  The shortcut "d=202" sets the performed duration of the note(s) to somewhat less than the full duration of an 8th note.

 
In the following example, three notes in a triplet are selected:

AsPerformedAttackAndReleaseBeforeEditing

The status bar reports that the as-performed attacks are an average of 10 ticks after the as-notated attacks. The as-performed releases are an average of 28 ticks before the as-notated releases.

After typing D+LeftArrowKey several times, or after typing "d-28" to decrease the duration by 28 ticks, the as-performed durations of the three notes are shortened and look like this:

AsPerformedAttackAndReleaseAfterMovingReleaseLeft

The above status bar reports that the as-performed releases are an average of 56 ticks before the as-notated releases instead of 28 ticks. The as-performed attacks have remained unchanged.
 

prcarrow To change the as-performed attack of one or more selected notes, while leaving the as-notated location of the notes unchanged:

1.Follow steps #1 and #2 above.
2.Move the attacks of the notes left or right by doing one of the following:
(a)Click the Move As-Performed Attack Left or Move As-Performed Attack Right button in the piano roll palette, one or more times:

    AsPerformedMoveAttackLeftOrRightPaletteButtons

(b)While holding down the "A" key (for attack), type the LeftArrowKey or RightArrowKey key one or more times. Hold down the arrow key to continually move the attack to the left or right until you release the key. This method is far more convenient than using the menu commands.

-- OR --

(c)Use one of these keyboard shortcuts:
 

Shortcut

Description

Example

 

a+{ticks}

Move attack to right

a+20

Move attack right by 20 ticks

a-{ticks}

Move attack to left

a-12

Move attack left by 12 ticks

Using the same example as above, the as-performed attacks of the three notes look like this after typing A+LeftArrowKey several times, or by typing "a-15":

AsPerformedAttackAndReleaseAfterMovingAttackLeft
 

prcarrow To shift both the as-performed attack and duration of one or more selected notes to the left or right, while leaving the as-notated location of the notes unchanged:

1.Follow steps #1 and #2 in the first procedure in this topic.
2.Shift the notes left or right by doing one of the following:
(a)Click the Shift Note Left or Shift Note Right button in the piano roll palette, one or more times:

    AsPerformedShiftNoteLeftOrRightPaletteButtons

-- OR --

(b)While holding down the SHIFT key (for "shift"), type the LeftArrowKey or RightArrowKey key one or more times. Hold down the arrow key to continually shift the note to the left or right until you release the key. This method is far more convenient than using the menu commands.

-- OR --

(c)Use one of these keyboard shortcuts:
 

Shortcut

Description

Example

 

s+{ticks}

Shift note (attack and release)  to right

s+20

Shift note right by 20 ticks

s-{ticks}

Shift note (attack and release)  to left

s-12

Shift note left by 12 ticks