How to Create/Extend Beams on Single Notes

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Oneiroi
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Post by Oneiroi » Fri May 28, 2021 3:18 pm

I've searched all forums for this but couldn't find anything for what seems to be a pretty simple task. What's the simplest way to achieve something similar to this?
Screen Shot 2021-05-28 at 11.14.47 AM.png
So I want single notes (either black or white noteheads) to have beams that I can extend however long I want to. The goal is to create notes that more or less proportionally reflect unmeasured time.


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miker
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Post by miker » Fri May 28, 2021 3:29 pm

Do you mean you want stems to extend from that top staff through the others to the bottom staff? What not just use dotted lines, like in your example? I would think that stems or beams would be pretty messy.
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motet
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Post by motet » Fri May 28, 2021 5:03 pm

Most anything is possible in Finale. Below I turned on "extend beams over rests", moved the beam, and hid the rests. In the second example, I then changed the notehead. There are other ways, none of them particularly graceful. Another might be to have beamed note and hide the stem and notehead in the second one. What to use depends on the larger context.
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Oneiroi
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Post by Oneiroi » Sun May 30, 2021 12:29 am

Thank you motet. I figured that was the way to do it, but when I hide the rest immediately after the 8th note the beam turns into a flag. Am I missing a setting somewhere?

Thanks

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sun May 30, 2021 5:51 am

Instead of hiding the 8th rest, move the rest waaay down below the bottom of the page.
In that way the rest will not print, even if is not hidden.

To move the rest, use the plug-in:
Plug-ins menu > Note, Beam, and Rest Editing > Move Rests…
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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun May 30, 2021 1:38 pm

If you enter a note instead of a rest, with the JW Change plugin, you can hide the Notehead and the Stem, and that should work as well.

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wessmusic
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Post by wessmusic » Sun May 30, 2021 2:42 pm

Here is my method — simple, fast and easy.

https://youtu.be/UAJb1Gu1dG0

(For both shortcuts applied in this footage I used "Keyboard Maestro".)

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Oneiroi
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Post by Oneiroi » Sun May 30, 2021 3:20 pm

Aah, that makes more sense to me, @wessmusic. Also with this method, you can quickly adjust the measure's width depending on how many 8th notes you enter. Thank you everyone for your suggestions!

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun May 30, 2021 7:13 pm

What I forgot to mention is that, with the JW Change plugin, once you do each of the 2 steps, you can create a one-click "Sequence" that combines the 2 steps into one. Just another suggestion. This powerful tool built in to the plugin is what I use to create "hits" and rhythmic cues above the staff. A one-click sequence can combing changing the notehead to a slash, adjusting the vertical placement to meet the stem properly, resizing the notes, and hiding the ledger line. Four steps in One.

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Oneiroi
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Post by Oneiroi » Mon May 31, 2021 12:41 am

Thanks zuill! Definitely a plugin I need to invest a bit more time into.

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Post by Oneiroi » Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:44 am

How should I get rid of extra lines when notes are above or under the staff?
Screen Shot 2021-08-05 at 6.40.27 AM.png
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Anders Hedelin
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Post by Anders Hedelin » Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:16 pm

You could try a plugin included in Finale, hide ledger lines (note, beam and rest editing). (Select the relevant part of the measure.)
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Oneiroi
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Post by Oneiroi » Thu Aug 05, 2021 4:49 pm

Ah, perfect! Thank you!

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