Copy to new key signature, preserving original pitches

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motet
Posts: 8231
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:39 am

Is there a way to copy music from one key signature to another and preserve the original pitches?


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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6603
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:51 am

You probably mean:
“Is there a way to - in one step - copy music from one key signature to another and preserve the original pitches?”

I do not think so.
You will have to do it in two steps - which probably is, what you are doing already.

Step 1):
Copy/paste the music, e. g. via the {one click power user trick} = hold down the correct modifier key (= the Alt key?), and click where you need a copy of the selected region.

Step 2):
Select the region in the new key signature (with the wrong pitches), and go to
Utilities menu > Transpose…
You may have to transpose the chord symbols separately:
Utilities menu > Change > Chords…
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

User avatar
motet
Posts: 8231
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:50 pm

Thanks for the reply.

In this case, I was wanting to copy the same pitches into all 14 other keys. In 15 years of using Finale I guess never really realized it had this transpose-on-copy feature, so was surprised, though I guess this explains why when copying or using the Cue Notes plug-in with independent key signatures, which I use for keyless timpani and horn in F, the notes must be transposed. (I know about the newish "keyless" feature, but it has some problem which I can't remember at the moment, so I still do it the old way.)

Running the transpose utility after the copy is what I've done there, but it's a many-mouse-click operation, and the amount of transposition depends on the two keys involved. Perhaps with my nascent JW Lua skills I can devise something better.

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