Insert menu

The Insert menu allow s you to add a variety of different objects to the score.

As w ell as appearing in the main program menu, these menu commands are usually available as a context menu w hen you right-click the mouse on the score.

The follow ing objects can be added:

Note Inserts a new note at the insertion point, and then moves the cursor forw ards ready to insert the next note.

Chord Note Inserts a new note at the insertion point, and keeps the cursor in the current time position, ready for adding another note to the current chord.

Rest Inserts a new rest at the insertion point.

In general, MidiIllustrator automatically fills all the silence in a measure w ith rests. Read more about Automatic Rest Placement.

Lyric Inserts a new rich text Lyric at the insertion point (or a new verse if a Lyric already exists).

Bookmark Bookmarks are designed to help you navigate through files by providing points of reference. For example, you may w ish to make a note on the score of w here you got to in your last Practice Session, or to mark the start and end of part of a piece that you find difficult and you w ish to practice at a later date. Using the 'Goto' button in the View Menu you can then jump straight to that part of the score using the Bookmark as a reference.

To insert a new rich text Bookmark simply select the part of the score at w hich point you w ish to insert a bookmark and choose the Bookmark

command from the Insert Menu. When a Bookmark is created the bar number of the insertion point w ill be added automatically and you can choose to keep this as your Bookmark or you can edit it by clicking on the text.

If a bookmark is already in place and you w ish to edit it, simply click on the Bookmark and edit as desired.

Bookmarks can be used w ith:

Practice Sessions

View ing a Range of Measures

Chord Name Allow s you to manually insert a single rich text Chord Name at the insertion point. The Chord Name w ill appear above the top staff.

For more information on Chord Names see the Chord Selector dialog.

MidiIllustrator can automatically generate chords for the entire score see Generate Chord Names and Guitar Frets for more information.

Guitar Fret Opens the Chord Selector dialog so that you can choose a Guitar Fret chord fingering w hich w ill then be placed above the top staff at the current cursor insertion point.

MidiIllustrator can automatically generate chords for the entire score see Generate Chord Names and Guitar Frets for more information.

Free Text Inserts a rich text free text item w hich can be freely moved, and anchored to the score in different w ays. See also Free Text Menu commands.

Expression Inserts a rich text notation Expression w hich can be freely moved, and anchored to the score in different w ays. Expressions differ from other rich text objects as they can be associated w ith MIDI events w hich alter the performance of a piece during playback. See also Expression Menu commands.

This command is available only in Edit Mode.

Switch between Note/Rest Entry

By default, the Enter key (and left mouse button in Mouse Entry mode) adds notes at the cursor insertion point. Holding dow n the Shift key at the same time adds rests. In order to add rests at all times, toggle betw een Note / Rest Entry Mode.

Entry... You can set all the qualities for the cursor entry note/rest. The 'entry' qualities w ill be applied to each new item w hen it is created.

How ever, MidiIllustrator w ill also try to automatically apply the correct

qualities for the new item given its 'entry context'. Read more about Context Entry here.

Delete... Read about the different w ays to remove note and rest groups from the score. Essentially, the typical delete and backspace commands apply to the nearest note or rest at the cursor position (Edit Mode) or to all notes/rests at the cursor position (Performance Mode) w hen the Shift key is depressed w hen deleting.

View the Help Contents Page. Visit the MidiIllustrator Website at http://

w w w .MidiIllustrator.com.

5.7.1 Note and Rest Entry

Command Location: Insert Menu Setting Entry Item Qualities

The Insert menu lists all the commands available for setting the qualities for note and rest entry. These commands are also available on program toolbars w hen the Editing Palettes are displayed. Keyboard shortcuts also provide a very quick route to configuring the entry item.

Entry item qualities are only relevant to Edit Mode (Normal Entry, Mouse Entry, Pow er Edit) w hen MidiIllustrator is ready to entry new notation, and the cursor is positioned on the score. These 'entry item' qualities w ill be applied to each new item w hen it is created.

How ever, MidiIllustrator w ill also try to automatically apply the correct qualities for the new item given its 'entry context' (see below ).

The Entry Cursor

The current entry item qualities are show n on the Editing Palette toolbars and are also displayed as a flashing cursor (eg a flashing quarter note or a flashing rest) at the entry position. When this cursor is show n as greyed or faded, the current entry qualities are not valid for insertion at the current position.

Quality Details

Duration The duration of the entry note/rest can be

modified incrementally using the Duration:

Increase/Decrease commands. If you w ould like MidiIllustrator to include dotted durations in the choice of increased or decreased durations, see the Include dots w hen incrementing

duration of selection option in Editing options.

Triplet/Quintuplet

When selecting tuplet durations, remember that tuplet notes are alw ays treated by MidiIllustrator as a unit, and so a whole tuplet w ill be added at the insertion point. For example, in the case of a triplet addition, a single triplet note w ill be added follow ed by tw o triplet rests. There must be enough space in the current measure for a complete tuplet to be added.

Adding subsequent notes w hen the cursor is w ithin the tuplet range w ill populate the various 'branches' of the tuplet.

The current version of MidiIllustrator supports the follow ing tuplet types: triplets and

quintuplets.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Voice Sets the entry voice to Upper Voice, Low er

Voice or Single Voice.

Note that w hen adding notes and rests to measure w hich contains more than one voice

at the insertion point, you must first select the appropriate voice so that MidiIllustrator know s w hich music 'idea' you are modifying.

See Voices for more information.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Note Enharmonic Enharmonic Spelling

These commands leave the pitch of the entry note unchanged, and only alters the w ay the entry note is displayed. The various spellings w hich are available (depending on the

particular key/pitch):

Double Sharp Sharp

Natural Flat

Double Flat

When you subsequently alter the entry pitch, the enharmonic spelling w ill be removed and the Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling w ill be applied to future additions (see below ).

Note that any accidental in the spelling w ill only be show n if it has not already been displayed on the staff line earlier in the measure (normal notating rules), or if the Entry Note Show s Courtesy Accidental option is enabled (see below ).

Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling This can be either:

Sharp, or Flat

When moving the cursor in Edit mode, vertical position commands alter the pitch of the entry note. A single 'up' or 'dow n' pitch (from the keyboard arrow keys) w ill raise or low er the entry pitch chromatically (by a semitone) and any appropriate accidental necessary to represent the new pitch on the staff w ill be displayed automatically.

For example in a staff w ith a key signature of C, a pitch up command w hen the cursor pitch is at middle C w ill result in a new pitch of C# or Db. Whether the new pitch is displayed as C#

or Db is determined by the current "Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling". This value is set w hen a score is first created, and is based on the opening key signature of the piece.

Generally speaking, for key signatures containing flats (eg the key F in w hich all B notes are flattened to Bb), the default enharmonic entry spelling w ill also be flat.

Similarly for the key of C and all keys containing sharps, the default enharmonic entry spelling w ill be set to sharp.

You can change the spelling for just the current entry by setting the pitch of the entry note, then changing the Enharmonic Spelling (see above). But if you need to make many note additions w ith a different default spelling (Sharp or Flat), you can first change the Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Note Accidental Entry Note Accidental

Note accidental commands w ill alter the pitch of the entry note. The accidentals w hich are available (depending on the particular key/

pitch) are:

Double Sharp Sharp

Natural Flat

Double Flat

When you subsequently alter the entry pitch, the accidental spelling w ill be removed and the Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling w ill be

reapplied to the entry note (see above).

Entry Note Shows Courtesy Accidental With this option enabled, any accidental in the spelling of the entry pitch w ill be show n even if it has already been displayed on the staff line earlier in the measure (normal notating rules w ould not repeat the accidental, thus keeping the score uncluttered).

If for example, the entry note is Bb on a staff w ith a key signature of F major, w here all B notes are flat as standard, then no flat accidental w ill be show n to the left of the Bb note unless Entry Note Show s Courtesy Accidental is enabled.

Once notes have been added w ith courtesy accidentals activated, the courtesy accidentals can be deactivated by selecting the notes and using commands from the Notes menu.

Note that the Show Courtesy Accidentals option in Score Options w ill override any 'per note' courtesy accidental setting, and w ill display accidentals (as appropriate) next to every note.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Pitch Raises or low ers the pitch of the entry note

chromatically, or the vertical position of the entry rest. See Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling (above) for information on the enharmonic spelling of the new pitch (flat or sharp).

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.