Using stacatto to control playback

[docEdock]

In the user guide and help files, I can't figure out where to find a discussion of using stacatto to control the articulation in playback. Searching both documents for the term turns up no matches, whereas searching for the term dot turns up way too many references to dotted notes. Any hints about where to look? (Or is this the articulation that dare not speak its name in polite society?)

I managed to puzzle out how to add the stacatto dot to a score, but doing so doesn't seem to affect the playback.

Thanks,

[Sherry C]

Hi,

Originally Posted by docEdock

In the user guide and help files, I can't figure out where to find a discussion of using stacatto to control the articulation in playback. Searching both documents for the term turns up no matches

Thanks for bringing up a glaring omission in the Index! I've made a note to myself to fix that in the Users Guide.

Any hints about where to look? (Or is this the articulation that dare not speak its name in polite society?)

Oh, we'll let it poke it's head out

You are correct that the staccato note dots do not currently affect the actual performance. You can, however, use Composer to get the performance to sound the way you want it to. For the details on doing it, you can use the Index in the Users Guide to look for "duration of notes" and select the subtopic "editing as-performed".

The shortcut method to use is:

1. Open your file.

2. Click on the Piano Roll tab, and then the "Edit as performed" button (third from left). This keeps the notation as it is, but will allow you to edit the durations of the notes to create a more staccato performance of them.

3. Click the note (or click-drag the notes) you want to make staccato to select them.

4. Now hold the "D" key (for duration), and press the Left arrow key a few times (each press of the arrow key lessens the duration by 1 tick, and there are 480 ticks for a quarter note). You can listen and adjust as needed, or you can use the following shortcuts to set a numerical duration:

DurationShortcuts.png

ttfn,
Sherry

[docEdock]

Ah, so that's what it's under: editing as performed. I ignored that topic, thinking it had to do with midi imports but now I see how it applies.

Originally Posted by Sherry C

Hi,
Thanks for bringing up a glaring omission in the Index! I've made a note to myself to fix that in the Users Guide.

Oddly searching the User Guide.pdf for the word stacatto (using CTRL F in Adobe Acrobat) didn't find any instances. I assumed that the search was looking at text in the document but perhaps it was looking at the index instead? Or, is the word actually not in the document?

Sherry, as always, thanks for the quick and thorough response. By the way, I find your documentation to be outstanding: clear, accurate and comprehensive. So, no dig intended.

[Sherry C]

Hi,

Originally Posted by docEdock

Oddly searching the User Guide.pdf for the word stacatto (using CTRL F in Adobe Acrobat) didn't find any instances. I assumed that the search was looking at text in the document but perhaps it was looking at the index instead? Or, is the word actually not in the document?

The correct spelling is "staccato", but I probably should also list "alternate" spellings as well for the search terms in the Users Guide. I don't think I can do anything about the text search in a pdf, though.

Sherry, as always, thanks for the quick and thorough response. By the way, I find your documentation to be outstanding: clear, accurate and comprehensive. So, no dig intended.

Thanks for the kind words

ttfn,
Sherry

[docEdock]

Originally Posted by Sherry C

Hi,

The correct spelling is "staccato" . . .
Sherry

Ah, of course. That explains why the search turned up zilch. I let the staccato button's tool tip lead me astray. It reads, "stacatto (dot .)". Perhaps "Never trust a man who has only one way to spell a word" applies and thus, Notation is more trustworthy for its diversity. Well, whatever.

[Sherry C]

Hi,

Originally Posted by docEdock

I let the staccato button's tool tip lead me astray. It reads, "stacatto (dot .)".

Or perhaps "don't believe everything you read"

Thanks for reporting the problem here - it's now written up to be fixed.

Thanks!
Sherry