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Scale Note Durations dialog box

How to get there

From the Window menu, choose Advanced Tools. Click the MIDI Tool $image\MIDI_Tool.gif$ . Select a region of measures. Specify the MIDI data type you want to edit by choosing Note Durations from the MIDI Tool menu. If you’re in the MIDI Tool split-window, select the region you want to affect by dragging through the "graph" display area or by selecting the handles of individual notes whose MIDI data you want to edit. Choose Scale from the MIDI Tool menu.

What it does

This dialog box’s function is to let you scale the values of the specified MIDI data type gradually from one value to another.

Start Times • Stop Times. These two radio buttons let you specify which MIDI data type you want to scale from one value to another—either the Start Time (the difference between the notated attack of a note and the time you actually played it) or the Stop Time (the difference between the notated release of a note and the time you actually released it).
from ___ to ___. In these text boxes, enter the beginning and ending values of the gradual change you want Finale to effect over the selected region (for the selected MIDI data type). The values you’re scaling are Start Times or Stop Times. The Start Time is the difference between the notated, or quantized, attack of a note and the moment you actually struck the note in your performance. The Stop Time is the difference between the notated release of the note and the moment you actually released the note. The Start and Stop Times are measured in EDUs (1024 per quarter note). Therefore, by scaling the Start Times from, say, zero to –512 over a specific range, the notes will sound as though they’re being struck more and more before the beat, until they’re an entire eighth note (512 EDUs) early. If you scale the Stop Times from, say, 1024 to zero, the notes will sound as though they’re being sustained for shorter and shorter amounts of time beyond their notated values.
OK • Cancel. Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to discard, the MIDI data changes you’ve specified. You return to the MIDI Tool split-window (or the score).