--- dhbailey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Sibelius does allow the computer keyboard selection
> on pitches (in a
> much easier way than Finale, in my opinion, in that
> you hit an A and the
> closest A appears on the staff, B gives the nearest
> B, etc, rather than
> having to use A S D F G H J for one octave of A B C
> D E F G pitch entry)
> and it is the work of an instant to use ctrl-up or
> ctrl-down to change
> octaves for the pitch you just entered and then the
> next pitch key you
> press gives you the nearest example of that pitch.
This is largely how Simple Entry works in Finale
versions 2004 and above, except that you aren't forced
to change the octave after entering it incorrectly at
first. This is actually just one instance of a fairly
fundamental difference between the two entry systems.
Sibelius locks you in with one way and one order to
enter these objects. So for example, with Sibelius you
must select the accidental before entering your note.
Here's a basic list of commands and the order you must
issue them in:
Duration: Select before entering note
Augmentation Dot: before
Tie: after
Accidental: before
Articulation: before
Grace note: before (and then reselect duration if not
eighth note grace note)
Tuplet: after
With Finale, each of these elements gives you the
choice of before or after. You either press a key to
affect the last entered entry (which is shown as
selected after you enter it), or you press a key to
lock that element into the input caret so that every
note you enter gets that attribute. This means that
you can, for example, either convert a note to a
tuplet right after entering it, or you can lock on
tuplets and have them entered automatically for each
new set of tuplet notes you reach. This isn't possible
in Sibelius, since tuplets must be entered after the
note.
Once you become familiar with the tool, this duality
in Simple Entry becomes a valuable asset. For example,
if you want to enter a string of grace notes in
Finale, you can lock on grace notes with ctrl-g and
then enter the notes (which will take whatever
duration you last selected). If you want to enter only
a single grace note, you can enter the note first as a
regular note and then press alt-g to convert it. With
Sibelius, entering a grace note is done through the
keypad layouts. You switch to the second keypad,
choose the grace note, switch back to the first
keypad, choose the duration, enter the note, return to
the second keypad, turn off the grace note, return to
the first keypad.
In Finale, if you make a mistake and enter the wrong
duration for a note, you can use a single keystroke to
fix it (alt-number - so alt-4 converts last note into
eighth note). You don't have to arrow back to the note
first or arrow forwards after. In Sibelius if you
enter the wrong rhythm, you go back to it with the
arrow key, press the duration number to fix it, and
then press forward again to continue. If you forget to
add your augmentation dot in Sibelius, you also have
to go back to the note and add it. In Finale you just
press the period key, because it lets you add them
before or after entering the note. If you instead lock
the dot in with the caret in Finale (ctrl-period), you
can enter consecutive notes with augmentation dots.
It's the same thing with accidentals and ties.
If you wanted to, you could set up Finale's Simple
Entry to work almost exactly like Sibelius' entry
system by using only the commands Sibelius allows.
Shortcuts in Simple Entry can be set up however you
want them. But you can't really set Sibelius up to act
like Finale. Simple Entry just has more functionality
for handling situation-specific demands with fewer
keypresses.
Tyler
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