copying a phrase to the nearest 8th

[dprice112]

whenever I want to copy a phrase into another bar, say on an offbeat, finale is always extremely specific with what division of the beat I put the phrase on. It always ends up subdividing the notes into 128th notes, 64th notes tied etc etc. How can I change the settings so it is less sensitive and i can drag and drop a phrase to the nearest 8th note or something small like that?

-Dylan

[miker]

I don't think you can. You need to get more precise in your selection. Try to go from just past a note to just in front of a note. That should select it accurately. But being too far off in either direction will give the results you are experiencing.

[Robert_Denethon]

This is a rather grievous bug in Finale 2012 - if it is the same bug I have experienced then you are not doing anything wrong. When you are intentionally copying a phrase to a different beat of the bar by dragging it across, in the new phrase all the dotted notes get subdivided into their component parts, tied together.

I notified someone in Finale more than a year ago, well before Finale 2012 was released, but unfortunately didn't get a sufficient response - the response seemed quite laissez-faire really, as if I was talking about something that wasn't really a problem.

I told them it was making my scores look really unprofessional - in fact, I could have expanded on that: I would never, ever put out a score looking like this, and every time I have to copy some phrase to a different beat of the bar I must laboriously go through and change all the (e.g.) double dotted notes from quaver tied to semiquaver tied to demisemiquaver to double dotted quaver by deleting two notes and changing one tie then adding two extra dots. That's seven clicks.

I think you should fix this with an update, Finale people, without making us pay for another upgrade.

I am a professional music arranger, but these days generally have to teach as well (I don't know what it's like in other cities but due to software sequencers, midi file availability, etc etc, arranging work is fairly thin on the ground where I am.) I compose and arrange music for choirs, brass and string groups, small ensembles, anything really, am an accredited member of MAGA, and have arranged music for hundreds of recording sessions over the years. I have arranged and composed thousands of songs and pieces.

I find Finale to be greatly superior to the competition in music arranging software - so if you read this post please don't take the criticism as meaning I am your enemy, Finale programmers. I am your friend - I want you to fix this bug so that you can make Finale the fully professional product that it is.

[Robert_Denethon]

This link shows an image of the problem. I dragged the phrase across to copy it. This is the result.

http://deep-cogitations.blogspot.com.au ... -page.html

[miker]

Please keep in mind that this is a users forum. The finale programmers do not monitor this forum. You should submit your issues to them, directly.

In the meantime, you might try playing with the quantization settings in the MIDI menu. Selecting a larger note value might keep some of the music together, better.

[Peter Thomsen]

Robert_Denethon,

What are your settings in "Quantization Settings" and "More Quantization Settings"?

Like Mike I suspect that you can get better results with other settings.

[Robert_Denethon]

In actual fact quantization settings do not affect this at all! (I just tried changing them).
It is a bug. In earlier Finale versions this did not happen - it has only happened in the last 3 or 4 releases.

How to reproduce the problem (I've put more images here:http://deep-cogitations.blogspot.com.au ... -page.html)

Select a whole bar that contains mixed rhythms containing some dotted quaver/semiquaver combinations.
Drag the bar to another bar, but not onto the first beat: drag it onto the second beat, so that the blue selection rectangle stretches onto the first beat of the next bar. Drop the bar.
You end up with each dotted note transformed into its components, as tied notes (i.e. a dotted quaver becomes a quaver tied to a semiquaver.)

I am posting this to help people who do an internet search because they think they are doing something wrong - they need to know they have not done anything wrong. This is a bug in Finale, not something any user is doing wrong.
It really gets up my nose.

The same bug occurs when you select the bar, copy it, then select the a bar's length of music but across the barline.

[Peter Thomsen]

Robert_Denethon,

I do not get your wrong results with my own copy of Finale 2012c.
The dotted notes copy fine, even when copied to another beat.

How come that we get different results with the same program?
That is the big mystery.

Questions:

You tell that tried changing "Quantization Settings".
- Did you also try changes in "More Quantization Settings"?
- What are your settings right now - in both dialog boxes?

There is a free maintenance update to Finale 2012c.
- Have you downloaded and installed the 2012c update?

[Robert_Denethon]

A friend of mine contacted Finale support about this - here is the answer.

I have seen this issue come up and it really is a pain. Fortunately, there's a quick way to fix it:

1. Highlight the measures with ties
2. Go to MIDI/Audio > Retranscribe

That should fix it for you. I have reported this problem to our development team.