User manual

499
The basics
Setting key, clef and time signature
When preparing to enter notes into a score, you will prob-
ably want to start out by setting the desired key, clef and
time signature for the staff. The text below assumes you
are working on one track only. If you have multiple staves,
you either make this setting independently for each staff or
for all staves at once. See “Staff settings” on page 507.
Normally, all these symbols appear at the beginning of
each staff. However, you can control this by using the Real
Book option (see “Real Book” on page 598) and by hiding
objects (see “Hiding/showing objects” on page 599).
When entering or editing keys, there is one important
thing to note:
Using the Symbols Inspector to set the initial
key, clef and time signature
1. Click the Show Symbols button in the Score Editor
toolbar to open the Symbols Inspector.
2. Select the Keys tab and click on the symbol for the key
that you wish to use.
The Pencil tool is now selected.
3. Click anywhere in the first bar of the staff to set the key
for the track.
4. Open the Clefs tab of the Inspector and click on the
symbol for the clef that you wish to use in your score.
5. Click anywhere in the first bar of the staff to set the
clef for this track.
6. Open the Time Signatures tab of the Inspector and
click on the symbol for the time signature value that you
wish to use.
If you cannot find the desired time signature, you can use the Edit Time
Signature dialog (see below).
The settings you have made so far are valid for the entire
track. If you wish to further edit these settings, or if you
need different settings for different bars of your track, pro-
ceed as described in the next section.
Editing the time signature
1. Double-click on the time signature symbol at the be-
ginning of the staff.
A dialog opens.
The Edit Time Signature dialog with a 4/4 signature
2. If the project is in 4/4 or 2/2, you can select common
time/cut time directly by clicking one of the two symbols
on the right.
This will set the time signature to 4/4 or 2/2, respectively and will also in-
sert a common/cut time symbol on the staff.
3. If the project is in any other time, set the numerator
and denominator above and below the line, respectively.
The numerator can consist of several numbers for composite time signa-
tures. However, if the project is in a simple time signature you only need
to fill in the first number above the line. The more advanced options are
described below.
• The “Pickup Bar” option is described in the section “By
using the Pickup Bar feature” on page 602.
4. Click OK or press [Return].
!
On the Score Settings–Project page, on the Nota-
tion Style subpage (Keys category) you will find the
option “Key Changes for the entire Project” (acti-
vated by default). When this option is activated, all
changes made to the key will always affect every
staff in the project, i.e. it is not possible to define dif-
ferent keys for different staves.
!
All tracks share the time signature! In other words,
when you set the time signature, you do this for all
tracks in the project.