Finale Forum

Finale 2014 Windows
How do I create a triplet with a half note followed by a quarter note?

In Simple Entry, enter a half note. Press Alt-9 and choose 3 quarters in place of 2 quarters.

Zuill

OK, that worked great. But now, I'm having trouble creating a triplet consisting of a quarter note followed by a half note.

Do the same thing. It works either way.

Zuill

If I start that process with a half note, I can't enter a quarter note before it. If I start that process with a quarter note, it generates a triplet starting with a quarter note followed by two quarter rests which I cannot replace with a half note.

Enter the quarter note, set up the triplet, then enter the half note. The extra rest should disappear.

Zuill

Problem solved. FYI, when trying to replace the two quarter rests with a half note, the measure was already full. Entering the half note triggered the "too many notes" warning chime, and prevented replacement. Solution was to start with an empty measure.

You might want to turn off the option to check for extra notes.

Zuill

You can also delete the rests first.

Unfortunately, if you're in the second half of the measure, and entering with the QWERTY keys, deleting the rests first activates the "known" bug (known to everyone except MakeMusic) that creates undesired "notation" instead of the tuplet desired.

Zuill

I can do it in simple entry in both 2010 and F25.5 using the keyboard without turning off the extra note checking function.

Type 5 on the number pad, hit enter 3 times for the first three quarters, type alt-9 for the tuplet definition dialog, select 3 quarter in the space of two quarters, type 6 on the number pad, hit enter.

Is there something different about 2014 that doesn't let you do this?

No, it works the same way. As you said, it's easy to do, as long as you have the tuplet definition set correctly, and enter the tuplet in the order of
first note / call for tuplet / enter remaining note(s.)

Works on any beat. No need to delete anything, or change any settings.