Mark D. Lew asked:
Does Sibelius have a good method of entry with the Qwerty keyboard? If
not, that would be a big negative for me.
Sibelius has always had an elegant set of keyboard entry tools They appear
to have been the model for the ones introduced in Finale 2004. After an
initial adjustment, I think you'll find them more versatile and more
flexible than Finale's.
A brief synopsis:
There is tool bar that (usually, but it's moveable) hangs out at the lower
right of the screen This pad is a visual representation of the ten key pad
of the full size keyboard. Users may select with a mouse, directly from the
ten key (if present) or program their own keyboard shortcut. This pad
contains rhythms, articulations, bowings, ect. They are easy to select.
Highlight a measure or a beat by a mouse click (no speedy entry window is
needed), select a rhythm (it will stay elected until another selection is
made) type a pitch from the keyboard (or touch a midi key), and the note is
entered. You can navigate between notes with the left and right arrows.
While a note is highlighted, it can be moved up or down with the arrow keys,
displaced an octave (ctrl arrow up or down), re-pitched by re-entering the
keyboard pitch, added to with the top row number keys (3 adds a third up,
shift 3 a third down, 4 a fourth up, ect), and repeated by pressing R.
Back space creates a rest from a note. Articulations, bowings, accidentals,
grace notes, tremolos, ect. can all be added to a highlighted note(s) with a
single touch to the ten key pad.
Just remember that if the mouse cursor is blue, it's loaded and if you click
it, it will drop it's load. Escape will unload it and ctrl-z will undo any
accidents.
Sibelius copies and pastes quickly. Any highlighted note, other musical
element, or passage can be pasted either with standard windows copy commands
(ctrl c,x,&v) or even easier by pressing the middle mouse button (or wheel)
while pointing to the new location with the mouse. The same thing can be
done by pressing the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously. To copy
with the mouse you may make an easily found change in the preferences menu
but I think Sib 4 uses the middle button copy as the default.
Usually the best method for Sibelius is enter data once, copy, paste and
edit.
These explanations are very wordy but if you play with it, I think you will
find Sibelius easy to use without a midi. I work quickly on both my desktop
and my laptop without midi. Just give yourself a little time to get adjusted
to Sibelius before making a judgment. Finale methods won't work so you have
to build new habits.
Richard Smith
www.rgsmithmusic.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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