Re: MIDI keyboard

[Richard Shann]

On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 21:11:59 +0200
Johan Vromans <address@hidden> wrote:

> Richard Shann <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > If you can read music fluently and have a lot of music to enter
> > sequentially into LilyPond then Denemo gives you a way of leveraging
> > your sight-reading skill to enter the music by allowing you to
> > enter it "in music time" - that is you can keep track of where you
> > are in the music entry process because you are reading and playing
> > the music as music, not as a set of letters with numbers, dots,
> > apostrophes etc. 
> 
> Allow me to make another suggestion.
> 
> Almost 30 years ago I used a music program on Macintosh. I forgot the
> name but I think I may still be able to find the 400KB floppy
> somewhere in my attic :).
> 
> This program had a way to enter music quite fast. It went like this:
> 
> Set a default note duration, e.g. quarter.
> 
> Then, with the mouse, click on the score. A quarter note appears on
> the spot. This is how all programs work.

Well, not Denemo, by default. Though I did add a shortcut scheme that
allows you to enter notes by clicking with the mouse - I only did this
because it was suggested that some people might think it "normal".

> BUT: without lifting the
> button, a small drag to the left made the duration shorter: 4 - 8.. -
> 8. - 8 - 16.. - 16. - 16 etc.
> 
> Likewise, a small drag to the right made the duration longer: 4. - 4..
> - 2 etc.
> 
> Important is that such a drag changes the duration of this note only.
> The next note entered will be a quarter again.
> 
> You could also drag up and down. A small drag up adds a sharp (or a
> natural if it was a flat, and a further drag adds the sharp).
> Likewise, a small drag down adds a flat etc. Basically you could drag
> the note to any pitch.
> 
> It was possible to enter music at a speed I never managed to
> accomplish with any of the modern GUI based tools.

Yes modern GUI based tools are slow. The main problem with your method,
is that you have to look at the screen. Looking away from the music you
are transcribing is fraught with danger - you will lose your place.
 
Clicking and dragging with the mouse may have good applications in
composing and I would be interested in seeing mouse-shortcut schemes
developed for Denemo that were useful for this. (The mouse shortcuts
that a user can set in Denemo are fairly limited however - not as
limited as other programs which don't let you say what the mouse does
at all, but still, limited).

Richard