Retranscribe

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motet
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Post by motet » Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:01 am

What exactly does it do? What would one use it for?

Why is it on the MIDI menu? I guess there's some sort of implied MIDI data behind Finale's notes; does Retranscribe have anything to do with that?

I take it that its parameters are the quantization settings. What do those mean in terms of what Retranscribe does?

If I set smallest note = eighth, why does it turn this
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into this?
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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:26 pm

The command Retranscribe affects the selected region, using the quantization settings in the Quantization Settings dialog box.
Also, the enharmonic spelling of note accidentals will be retranscribed according to the setting in the sub-menu Enharmonic Spelling.

When retranscribing, Finale does not change any of the MIDI information in the region.
It does, however, remove any markings that were entered in the music.

If I Recall Correctly, the example in your attached graphics is related to the settings for dotted rests.
Yes, it sounds crazy that notes are affected by a setting for rests, but …
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motet
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Post by motet » Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:55 pm

Peter Thomsen wrote:The command Retranscribe affects the selected region, using the quantization settings in the Quantization Settings dialog box.
Also, the enharmonic spelling of note accidentals will be retranscribed according to the setting in the sub-menu Enharmonic Spelling.

When retranscribing, Finale does not change any of the MIDI information in the region.
It does, however, remove any markings that were entered in the music.

If I Recall Correctly, the example in your attached graphics is related to the settings for dotted rests.
Yes, it sounds crazy that notes are affected by a setting for rests, but …
Yes, but exactly what does the function do, and how does it use the quantization settings? The manual doesn't say. What do you use it for?

I don't know from MIDI aside from playback. What does MIDI have to do with music I've entered manually into Finale, and why should I be thinking of MIDI at all except for playback?

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:32 am

motet wrote:… exactly what does the function do, and how does it use the quantization settings? The manual doesn't say. What do you use it for? …
The function Retranscribe does a “clean up” of the notated rhythms and note accidentals.

You can use Retranscribe for a such “clean up” where e. g. four tied 16ths get retranscribed as one 4tr, and a dyad with D# and Ab (= diminished fifth) gets retranscribed as a perfect fourth (Eb and Ab, or D# and G#, depending on the settings for Enharmonic Spelling).

I am not sure what you mean by your question “how does it use the quantization settings?”.
I hope that Finale uses the quantization settings exactly, as the settings say.

motet wrote:… What does MIDI have to do with music I've entered manually into Finale, and why should I be thinking of MIDI at all except for playback?
Again, I am not sure what you mean.

Perhaps you could explain a little more about the problem you are trying to solve?
The better we understand, the better we can help.
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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Jan 06, 2018 12:12 am

As I say, I don't use MIDI and am not familiar with it. I know you can import a MIDI file into Finale, but if I enter music from scratch, what's MIDI got to do with anything?

I've seen people suggest Retranscribe as a way to address problems I believe are unrelated to MIDI input, but I don't remember the details, so am just wanting to familiarize myself with it.

I understand "shortest note value" as it relates to Hyperscribe, but what's it go to do with music entered manually?

The rhythm change above you said is perhaps related to "allow dotted rests" (I've got those unchecked), but both the original and retranscribed versions have dotted notes, so it's a mystery as to how it's related.

I thought perhaps if I had dotted eighths and sixteenths and specified an eighth as the shortest value, it would turn them into even eighths like perhaps it would with Hyperscribe, but instead i get a bizarre result.
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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sat Jan 06, 2018 6:37 pm

motet wrote:… The rhythm change above you said is perhaps related to "allow dotted rests" (I've got those unchecked), but both the original and retranscribed versions have dotted notes, so it's a mystery as to how it's related …
Oops, sorry!
The culprit is the setting “Soften Syncopations”.


motet wrote:… I thought perhaps if I had dotted eighths and sixteenths and specified an eighth as the shortest value, it would turn them into even eighths like perhaps it would with Hyperscribe, but instead i get a bizarre result.
To change all rhythms from dotted 8th + 16th to two 8ths:


Utilities menu > Change > Note Durations…

It is a two-step process to straight eighths.
First, change all dotted 8ths to un-dotted 8ths. (de-selected Rebar Music)
Next, change all 16ths to 8ths. (de-selected Rebar Music)
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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:09 pm

Thanks. I'm really just trying to understand Retranscribe rather than solve that particular problem--it was just an experiment. I guess I'll just continue to experiment and "reverse engineer" it, as it were. I appreciate your answers.

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FwL
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Post by FwL » Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:56 pm

If you're entering music manually, then you don't really need to concern yourself with MIDI data.

If you try importing a MIDI file or enter music in real time using hyperscribe, however, the results can be less that satisfactory depending on how Finale interprets the data it receives. One function of retranscribe is to allow you to input MIDI data at one setting that might work well for the bulk of the piece but require tweezing of certain sections with a different setting.


I've also seen examples on youtube showing how you can use the retranscribe function to clean up poorly notated music that doesn't conform to the beats of the measure..
A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules... often with the aid of unsuspecting musicians - Frank Zappa

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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:25 pm

FwL wrote:If you're entering music manually, then you don't really need to concern yourself with MIDI data...I've also seen examples on youtube showing how you can use the retranscribe function to clean up poorly notated music that doesn't conform to the beats of the measure.
Right, or changing the meter. Nothing to do with MIDI. That's what I'm wondering about.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:56 pm

motet wrote:if I enter music from scratch, what's MIDI got to do with anything?
My understanding (which may not be perfect) is as follows:

Notation in Finale has an underlying MIDI value, even if you've typed it in with a QWERTY keyboard. This is how you can play it back.

MIDI is much simpler than written notation -- note on, note off, pitch value, etc. So the same MIDI data can be represented by notation in several different ways, e.g. tied note or dotted; C# or D flat. Retranscribe allows you to adjust the notation, using the underlying MIDI data, according to the rules you've defined in the Quantization and Enharmonic settings.

Retranscribing can be destructive to the MIDI data itself. If you quantize to whole notes, then you'll lose the MIDI data that was there for smaller notes.

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