Note Location (Attack)

You can move the location of a note to the right or left. When you move the note, you can preserve the note's duration ("note value"), or you can move the attack of the note independently of its release (where the note ends). You can also move the attack location of multiple selected notes with a single command.

 
To move (shift) a note to the right or left without changing its duration:

3.	While holding down the SHIFT key (for "shifting" the note), press the or key to shift the note to the left or right.

For example, here is a quarter note before it is shifted to the right:

Here is the quarter note after it is shifted to the right:

To move the attack of the note, while leaving the release of the note unchanged:

Type A+ to move the note attack to the right, and A+ key to move the note attack to the left.

The amount that Composer moves the note attack to the right or left depends on the context of the note. If there are no other notes nearby in the same staff, nor any other staff, then the attack will be moved by a sixteenth note beat. If the note is a member of a triplet or quintuplet, then the attack will be moved to an adjacent tuplet member position. If there is another note or rest, in the same staff or other staves, that lies closer than one sixteenth away from the current note's location, then the note's location will be moved to the same location of that other note or rest. This is illustrated in the following example.

The quarter note in the middle of the measure is selected with a mouse click:

In each of the subsequent pictures, the keys A+ have been used to move the attack one position at a time. The attack position moves 16th beat at a time until the note is adjacent to the 32nd rest. Then it moves by just a 32nd beat rather than a 16th beat:

To determine whether a change in the note's location will affect the performed attack of the note, you will need to see whether it is locked.

To view whether a note's performing timing is locked or not:

1.	Click the Piano Roll Button in the main toolbar.

-- OR --

Type "qspr" for Quick Show Piano Roll.

 
In these examples, there is no check mark for the above Setup option.
 

You can change the attack location of a note while viewing its Piano Roll Notation. Select one or more notes and type A+(or ) or SHIFT+(or ). You will see that the performed attack time for locked notes will remain unchanged, whereas the performed time for unlocked notes will change, as illustrated here:

You also have the option to move the as-notated note location without moving the as-performed attack, even if the note's performed timing is unlocked.

To move the as-notated attack location, while ensuring that its as-performed attack remains unchanged:

-- OR --

Type SHIFT+Y.

Composer will display the Piano Roll Palette:

3.	Click the Edit As-Notated Only button.

-- OR --

Type "en" for edit notation only.

Now the piano roll rectangles will be white to indicate that the performed timings are temporarily locked, as illustrated in the next picture.

5.	Type A+ or A+ key to move the as-notated attack to the left or right.

The result of this last procedure is illustrated below: