Speedy Entry

With the Speedy Entry Tool, you can enter music in step-time very efficiently, using the synthesizer to specify the pitch of each note and the computer keyboard to specify the duration.

To enter music in step time using MIDI

If the next few notes you want to enter are part of a tuplet (a triplet, quintuplet, etc.), press option-number, where 3 means triplet, 5 means quintuplet, and so on. Finale places a small “3” (or whatever number you pressed) in the upper right corner of the editing frame; the next notes you enter will automatically be grouped into a tuplet. (If you want to create an uncommon tuplet—such as 11 in the space of 2—press option-1. The Tuplet Definition dialog box appears, in which you can specify exactly what kind of tuplet you’re about to create.)

Speedy Entry Keyboard Commands

 

Move the insertion bar either by pressing the right or left arrow keys or by clicking the desired note. If Finale presents the “There are too many beats” dialog box when you change a note’s value, press return to eliminate the dialog box. If you choose Jump to Next Measure from the Speedy Menu, so that a check mark no longer appears, this dialog box will only appear when you exit the editing frame of a measure with too many beats.

To enter many notes of the same value (hands-free MIDI method)

  1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool  image\Speedy_Entry_Tool.gif, and click a measure. The editing frame appears.
  2. Press caps lock; then press the number key on the computer keyboard corresponding to the value you want to enter. In other words, you’re now telling Finale what the note values are going to be before you specify the pitches. Use option-number to enter a series of tuplets.
  3. The number you press appears in the lower-left corner of the editing frame. The tuplet number, if any, appears in the top-right corner of the editing frame.
  4. Play the notes on your MIDI keyboard. Each note you play appears in the score; if Jump to Next Measure is checked in the Speedy Menu, the editing frame advances automatically as soon as you fill each measure. It’s safe to outplay Finale, too; it will remember up to 500 notes (and continue to notate them as fast as your computer allows). To enter rests, play a three-note cluster, in other words, three notes each a half-step apart.

To enter music in step time without MIDI

You can also use the Speedy Entry Tool to enter music in step-time without using a MIDI device. Use the number keys on your keypad to specify the durations of notes, just as you normally do. But to specify the pitches, you can use the arrow keys or the alphabet keys to move the pitch crossbar instead of using the MIDI device. With practice, this method of “typing in the music” can become extremely quick and precise.

  1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool  image\Speedy_Entry_Tool.gif. The Speedy Menu appears.
  2. Make sure no checkmark appears beside Use MIDI Device for Input in the Speedy Menu. Otherwise, choose the command to make the checkmark disappear.
  3. Click the first measure in which notes are to appear. The editing frame appears.
  4. Use the arrow keys to place the cursor on the desired pitch. Press a number key (corresponding to a rhythmic value) to create a note. Hold down Option, shift and a number key to create a rest. You can also use the method below to specify the pitch.
  5. Hit the Caps Lock key, then press a letter key on your computer keyboard to specify a pitch. Press a number key (corresponding to a rhythmic value) to create a note. Hold down Option, shift and a number key to create a rest. The alphabet keys on your keyboard have been assigned pitch values in three octaves, as shown:

 

If you want to access a lower register, press the letter I key, which shifts the entire alpha-key pitch mapping down an octave. Press the comma (,) key to shift the entire keyboard up an octave. In either case, you can restore the alphabet keys to their original octave by pressing the K key. To help you remember, think of it this way: press a key (I, K, or comma) to designate the row of letter keys you want to contain middle C.

For a diagram showing the assignment of rhythmic values to the number keys, see “To enter music in step time using MIDI,” above.

To insert a note or a rest in a measure

  1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool  image\Speedy_Entry_Tool.gif. The Speedy Menu appears.
  2. Position the cursor on the entry before which you want the note inserted.
  3. From the Speedy Menu, choose Insert Notes or Rests. Press the number representing the note duration you are inserting. If you are holding down a key on your MIDI device, you will insert a note. Otherwise, you will insert a rest. For non-MIDI, press a number to insert a note, or option-shift and a number to insert a rest.

See Also:

Speedy Edit Commands Submenu

Speedy Menu

Speedy Tool

 

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