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DELUXE MUSIC CONSTRUCTION SET KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Edit Menu Undo R Amiga-Z Cut R Amiga-X Copy R Amiga-C Paste R Amiga-V Play Menu Play Song R Amiga-P Play Section R Amiga-S Stop Play R Amiga-Q Resume Play R Amiga-R Begin Section R Amiga-Shift-< End Section R Amiga-Shift-> Note Menu Up Half Step R Amiga-U Down Half Step R Amiga-J Up Level R Amiga-I Down Level R Amiga-K Up Octave R Amiga-O Down Octave R Amiga-L Half Time R Amiga-H Double Time R Amiga-D Flip Note Stem R Amiga-F Set Play Style R Amiga-Y Groups Menu Tie Notes (UP) R Amiga-T Beam Notes R Amiga-B NOTE PALETTE WINDOW Notes: 1 Selects a whole note 2 Selects a half note 3 Selects a quarter note 4 Selects an eighth note 5 Selects a sixteenth note 6 Selects a thirty-second note (Press the Shift key at the same time you type each number key to select the corresponding rest.) Tools Eraser X Mod Clr C Arrow F10 I-beam ' Time Modifiers Dot D Triplet L Quintuplet V Accidentals Flat B Natural N Sharp R Dynamic Modifiers ppp p-p-p pp p-p p p mp m-p (and so forth) SCORE WINDOW To change a note's duration or time modifier, first select a note or group of notes, then hold down the ALT key while clicking the new note duration or time modifier in the Note Palete. You can also use a Note Palette keyboard shortcut in conjuction with the ALT key shortcut. The ALT key technique doesn't work with dynamic modifiers or accidentals. To remove time modifiers, select the note or notes, then hold down the ALT key while clicking MOD CLR, or pressing C. Press the Space Bar to freeze the display at any point during the playback. Press DEL to delete selected notes, groups of notes, or chords. Copy a selected note or chord by holding down the ALT key, then dragging the selected note or chord horizontally. MENUS File New Score, Open Score, Save, Save As, Revert, and Print Score all act as you might expect. Set Print Pause Causes the printer to pause after printing a page of music so you can advance to the next sheet of paper, and also lets you specify the number of staffs (staff sets) that print per page. Show Memory This window contains information about the amount of RAM available for your composition. The first line tells how much memory you still have availabe. The second line tells how much memory is currently being used by the song itself. The third line tells how much memory is being used by instruments. The fourth line tells how much memory is being used by teh Clipboard. The fifth line describes the 'memory level' of the program as a number from one to five - the gigher the number, the more memory available. If the memory level falls to three or below, you should be especially careful about saving your score. If you find that you are running short of memory and still have a considerable amount of work remaining, you should consider splitting the composition into two files to avoid the risk of running out of memory. Save as SMUS File Lets you save a score in SMUS-IFF format. The Open Score command can also open scores written in SMUS-IFF format. EDIT Undo Reverses your most recent action in the Edit, Notes, or Measures Menu. It also reverses your most recent musical entry or deletion. Undo does not reverse Cut. Use Paste to undo a Cut). Cut Removes all selected notes and rests from the score and places them on the Clipboard. Measures to the right of the cut measure move left and fill in areas that are emptied by the cut. Copy Copies all the selected notes and rests to the Clipboard(replacing the Clipboard's current contents). Unlinke Cut, Copy doesn't remove anything from the score. Paste Inserts the contents of the Clipboard into your Score at the insertion point. If notes are selectd in the score when you use Paste, the Clipboard contents replace the selected passage (think of it as "pasting over" the selection). If the Clipboard contains less than a measure, Paste puts the Clipboard contents in the measure containing the insertion point or in the first measure containing a selection. If the resulting measure contains more beats than the time signature calls for, the notes or rests for those beats are dimmed. If the Clipboard contents begin or end with a full measure, the pasted material will begin or end with a measure bar. If the Clipbord contains material for miltiple measures , the content is pasted exactly as it is in the Clipboard, measure bars and all. If the Clipboard contians material from more than one staff, the Clipboard contents are pasted downward into the corresponding staffs. For example,if Staff One and Two are copied to the Clipboard, then the insertion point is placed in Staff Two. The Clipboard contents will be pasted into Staff Two and Three. Paste does not add staffs to accommodeate the selection on the Clipboard. If there aren't enough staffs for all of the Clipboard, only the portion that can be accommodated by the score is pasted. If Two Tracks Per Staff is used while the Clipboard contains one track, the track into which teh Clipboard is pasted is determined by the direction of the note stem in the Note Palete Change Track control. If you Paste into a track that already contains music, the Clipboard contents are inserted ahead of teh existing music. Clear Removes the current selection like Cut, but doesn't copy to the Clipboard. Select All Selects all the music in the score. WINDOW Score This is the main composition window and appears onscreen with the Note Palete and Piano Keyboard when you start DMCS. A DMCS score, like standard sheet music, contains one or more staffs, which in turn contain the notes, time signature, clif, key, dynamics, lyrics, chords, and othe information that combine to describe a piece of music. Entering Notes In The Score You can enter notes in three ways: By selecting notes from the Note Palette and clicking directly in the score; By using Insert Notes in Score and clicking keys in the Piano Keyboard window; By using a MIDI device (such as a keyboard) connected to the Amiga with a MIDI Interface. SELECTING NOTES Clicking on the diagonal arrow in the Noe Palette changes the pointer into an arrow, which you can use to select notes. you select notes by clicking them with the arrow, or by dragging a selection box around them. The last note you enter in a score is selected until another note is entered or selected. Insertion Point The insertion point is a flashing vertical line that indicates where material pasted from the Clipboard or inserted from the Piano Keyboard appears, and where various commands from the menus will take effect. Move the insertion point by clicking the arrow at any point in the score. SCORE SETUP Bars Per Line Controls the number of measures (1 to 10) on a line and how many will be printed per line on paper. Beats Per Minute Lets you tell the program how fast to play music in the score. If you use this control during playback, the change will be heard immediately. Score Width Lets you set the width of a paged score to any setting between 40 and 1000. The Screen Width gadget sets the score width so that all the bars per line called for in that setting can be seen in the Score window. The Printer Width gadget sets the score to a width which will produce a printed score with 1/4 inch margins on 8-1/2 by 11 paper. The width is measured in pixels. There are 72 pixels in an inch. Volume Lets you control the overall volumne level of the playback. Paged Score A highlighted Paged Score gadget tells the program to display the music as it will appear when printed instead of as a score which scrolls continuously from left to right. 2 Tracks Per Staff A highlighted 2 Tracks per Staff gadget sets the score so that two separate rhythmic tracks of music can be entered in each staff. Show Play Styles Ther are sixteen numbered play styles controlled from the Notes menu. The style numbers appear on the score if you click the Show Play Styles gadget. STAFF CONTROLS Choose Staff Number Lets you tell the program which staff you want the other settings in the lower half of the window to apply to. The top staff is number 1, the next is number 2, etc. up to 8. Treble, Bass, Tenor, and Alto Clefs Let you choose the beginning clef for the staff indicated by the Choose Staff Number control. You can change Clefs within a staff by using the Change Clef command in the Measures menu. Add Staff Adds a staff to the score. (New staffs always appear with a treble clef. Be sure to use the clef setting to pick the clef you want). Scores can contain up to 8 staffs. Delete Staff Removes the staff indicated by the Choose Staff Number box. Staff Sound On Turns the sound on and off for particular staffs during playback. First pick the staff you want with Choose Staff Number, then click the gadget off to turn off the sound for that staff. Click again to turn the sound on again. By turning the sound on or off for each staff, you can listen to those parts of a score which you choose without hearing the other parts. Hide Staff Activate this gadget to hide the staff selected in the Choose Staff Number control. To work on an individual part or to print one or severalparts of a larger piece of music at a time, use this control. Text inserted above or below a staff is hidden when the staff is hidden. Hide Instruments Click this gadget to hide all the instrument names for the staff indicated by the Choose Staff Number control. Hide Clef/Key Click this gadget to hide the clef and key signature for the staff indicated by the Choose Staff Number control. Space Above Staff & Space Below Staff Lets you determine how much space appears above and below each staff to get the needs of your music. Changes made here are instantly reflected on the screen. If you are planning to include lyrics in a score, add the extra space for your lyrics with these controls. The available space is measured in pixels. A standard note head is 5 pixels high. Normal, Play 1 Octave High, Play 1 Octave Low Select the appropriate gadget to change the pitch of all notes on a selected staff. NOTE PALETTE The top part of this window contains notes and rests of varying durations, while the bottom part contains most of the note modifiers used in standard music notation, including time modifiers such as triplets and quintuplets accidentals such as sharps and flats, and dynamic modifiers from ppp to fff. The middle part contains the following tools you will need as you work: Arrow Use the arrow for selecting from menus or window, including the Note Palette, or for selecting notes or larger section of a score (see Editing with the Note Palette for more information on selecting from the score). To make a selection from the Note Palette, point and click. The most recently selected item will be displayed in read. Other selections which remain active are displayed with a red border. The arrow is also used for moving the insertion point throughout the score, clicking onscreen controls, and selecting commands from the menus. When you click an item in the Note Palette, the pointer takes the shape of the selected item (as well as any other active selections - for example a dotted, sharped eight note). If one or more items from the note palette have already been selected and the pointer appears as the selected items, click the arrow to get the arrow back. Mod Clr Turns off all modifier selections simultaneously. Eraser Use the eraser to remove notes (including individual notes in a chord), rests, and dynamic modifiers from the score by first selecting the eraser and then clicking on a note, rest or dynamic modifier with it. The eraser does not remove accidentals or time modifiers. I-Beam Click the I-beam to insert text. Dragging with the I-beam creates a text box. Clicking inside the box sets the insertion point. Cut, Paste and Copy are supportd when DMCS is inserting text. To move a box, drag it by the handle on the upper left. To resize one, drag the handle on the lower right. To re-select a box, click any of its text. Text is considered by DMCS to be connected to the staff which is closest to the center of the text box and will be hidden when that staff is hidden. Change Tracks Click here to change the track on a staff which has two tracks per staff turned on from the Score Setup window. The notes of Track One are entered with the note stem up, while the notes of Track Two are entered stem down. Working On The Score From The Note Palette To insert a note or rest, make a selection from the Note Palette, and then point to a spot on the Score and click. The note will be added to the staff to the right of the note to the immediate left of that spot. As described in the Entering notes in the score, horizontal placement will depend on the durationof the note entered and the number of beats already inserted into the measure. If you drage the mouse vertically, the pitch of the note will go up or down to reflect its position on the staff and the tone being sounded will change to reflect the position of the staff. Add A Premodified Note To The Staff By first selecting the modifier and then the note, then clicking on the staff. Dynamic Modifiers ff, mf, etc., are selected from the Note Palette and are applied to the staff position rather than notes. Accidentals Are added by selecting from the Note Palette and clicking the note you want to modify. To change an accidental already inserted into the score, simply choose a different accidental an click over the accidental you wish to change. DMCS automatically hides accidentals that are assigned by the key signature unless an earlier note in the measure has been modified with an accidental. EDITING WITH THE NOTE PALETTE Select individual notes or chords in the score by clicking on them. Select groups of notes and chords by draggin a selection box around them. Use commands in the Edit, Notes and Groups menus to act on selected notes. Select larger sections of a score by clicking on a notehead, scrolling to the desired position in the score, and then clicking on another notehead while holding down the Shift key. If the second note selected is on a different staff, then all the staffs between the two selection points will be selected. Remove individual notes or rests by selecting them with the pointer and pressing Delete. Or choose the Eraser and click the notehead. Or use the Cut command. Change the duration notes in the score by selecting a note or notes with the arrow, holding down the Alt key, and clicking on the appropriate box in the Note Palette (or using keyboard shortcuts). Add dots, triplets, and quintuplets to individual notes by selecting the time modifier and then pointing and clicking on the notehead you wish to modify. Add dots, triplets, and quintuplets to groups of notes in a score by selecting the notes with the arrow, holding down the Alt key, and clicking on the appropriate box in the Note Palette (or using keyboard shortcuts). Press the Alt key, and clicking on the appropriate box in the Note Palette (or using keyboard shortcuts). Press the Alt key again and click the appropriate box in the Note Palette again to remove the modifier. Change accidentals (sharps, flats, and naturals) by placing anew accidental over an existing accidental. Change dynamic modifer settings (p,pp,ff,etc.) already inserted in the score, by holding down the Right Amiga key and clicking on a dynamic modifier in the score with the arrow. A requester appears on the screen. Select any number from 0 to 127. The volume of the selected dynamic modifer will be changed. PIANO KEYBOARD Insert Notes In Score Clicking on the Insert notes in the score box on the piano keyboard turns the note insertion function on or off. When it is on, notes at the corresponding pitch will be inserted into the score as you play the piano with your mouse. Be sure to use the arrow to select the insertion point in the score before you start playing the piano. The note duration value is determined by the selection in the Note Palette. ( You can use the keyboard shortcuts to quickly change the duration of piano ntes as you play). DMCS automatically draws the bar lines and creates new measurs when you insert notes into the score with the Piano Keyboard, however, it does not automatically scroll the score when new measures are added past the boundaries of the Score window - use the scroll bars to manually bring new measures into view. Single Notes This gadget sets the Piano Keyboard so that only single notes are inserted when you click the piano keys. Chords Click the Chords gadget to tell the program that you want to insert several notes at the same vertical position to make a chord. Advance Use Advance to move the insertion point to the next available position in the staff when Chords is activated. Insert Rest Click this box to insert a rest instead of a note. Change the duration of a rest in the same way as you would change the duration of a note. If Two Tracks per Staff is turned on the Score Setup window, notes are entered in the track indicated by the direction of the note stems in the Note Palette. The keyboard makes the sound of the instrument checked in the Sounds menu. To change the play style for the keyboard sound, use Keyboard Play Style in that same menu. PLAY Play Song Plays the entire song from beginning to end. Play Section Plays the section of the song specified with the Begin Section and End Section marks (<< and >>). See Begin Section & End Section below. Uses Flash Notes and Player Piano if those commands are selectied (see below). Stop Play Stops the playback and returns the score to normal display. Pressing the Space Bar also stops playback, but brings the measure shown on the measure counter - at the bottom of the Note Palette - into the score window, and selects the last note played. Resume Play Resumes playing the score from the measure that was playing when you used Stop Play, or pressed the Space Bar. Begin Section & End Section Define a specific section for playback with the Play Section command. Begin Section marks the measure containing the insertion point, or a selection, with an international open quote (<<). End Section marks the measure containing the insetion point, or a selection, with an international close quote (>>). The first measure of the score is always DMCS' default section - the Begin and End Section marks always appear above the first measure when you open a score. Flash Notes When Flash Notes in on,using Play Song causes the music to flash and scroll by as the score is played. Using Stop Play freezes the scrolling music at the last note played before the Stop Play command was issued. Using Play Section with Flash Notes causes each note to flash as it plays, buy only for the section chosen. Turn Page A score normally advances automatically only when you lay the music with Flash Notes selected. Selecting Turn Page keeps the score advancing as the music plays, even is Flash Notes is not selected. Player Piano Causes the corresponding keys in the Piano Keyboard window to flash as the music plays. Bring the Piano Keyboard window to the top before playing the song to avoid slowing down the music during playback. The red indicates that this command is on; select it again to turn it off. Repeat Play Causes the music to play continuously until you use Stop Play. Works with Play Song, or Play Section. A check mark next to this command indicates it is on; select it again to turn it off. NOTES Up & Down Half Step Raises or lowers the selected notes one half step, the smallest interval in conventional Western music. (Adjacent piano keys are one half step apart). DMCS inserts accidentals as necessary to show the change in correct notation. These commands produce sharps and naturals only if the key signature contains sharps. They produce flats and naturals only if the key signature contains flats. Up & Down Level Raise or lower selected notes to the next vertical position in the staff (the next space or line). Accidentals move right along with the notes they modify. Up & Down Octave Raises or lowers the selected notes a full octave (12 half steps). Invert Chord Up & Down Raises the lowest tone in a chord one octave, or lowers the highest tone in a chord one octave, respectively. If the chord already contains the invertd note, the note being moved is placed an octave above or below the second note in the chord. Half Time Halves the duration of the selected notes and rests. For example, half notes become quarter notes. Note, half time refers to note duration, not tempo. Double Time Opposite of Half Time. Flip Note Stem Inverts the stems of selected notes. In a one track per staff score, DMCS automatically flips notes below the middle of a staff up, and notes avove the middle of a staff down. If there are two tracks per staff, notes in the first track have their stems up, and notes in the second track have their stems down. Using this command on a group of notes that have stems pointing in both directions, aligns all the stems in the same directions. Using the command again reverses that direction. Set Play Style Opens a requester box from which you can pick a play style for selected notes. Click OK and the play style number appears above every note it applies to (or below each not in track 2 music). you can also hide the play styles by unchecking the Show Play Styles control in the Score Setup Window. GROUPS The Groups menu contains commands that affect selectd groups of notes by adding or removing notation such as ties, slurs, and beams. All commands in the Groups menu can be turned on and off, and all act on notes which have been selected with the arrow. To cancel a group command, you need only select one note in the group, and use the command again. Each o f the Groups menu commands is explained below. Tie Notes (Up) & (Down) Joins selected notes of the same pitch (either above or belwo the notes), so they are played as one continuous tone. Drag notes horizontally to improve the appearance of the tie. When you use Tie Notes, the command is highlighted in read in the menu to show you it is active for the selected note or notes. To remove a tie, select one or all of the tied notes, then select the Tie Notes command again. The red gighlight around the command will disappear along with the tie. Tie Notes is only command in the Groups menu which does not use additional RAM. Beam Notes Connects selected notes with a heavy black line. When you use this command to beam notes, the command is highlighted in red in the menu to let you know the command is active. You can adjust the angle of the beam by dragging it to obtai the best appearance. Beam Notes have no effect on the way the music plays. Most printed orchestral music uses beams to connect notes of the same beat. You can remove a beam in the same way you remove a tie; select one or all of the beam notes, and choose the Beam Notes command to deactivate the beam. Slur Notes (Up) & (Down) Draws a curved line over or under two or more selcted notes, and playback glides smoothly from note to note within the slur. Liek ties and beams, the command is gihlighted in read when the selected notes are slurred - select the command again to turn off the slur. The audible effect of this command is subtle and difficult to hear with some instruments. Crescendo & Descrescendo Plays the selected notes successively louder (crescendo, <) or softer (decrescendo,>). The volume change begins at the current volume setting when the crescendo or decrescendo sign starts, and ends with vvfffvv or vvpppvv unless you place a different dynamic modifier within the >, or < sign. In that case, the crescendo or decrescendo ends at the volume level set by the dynamic modifier. Octave Raise & Lower Marks the selected notes for playback an octave higher or lower than originally written. MEASURES Note: Operations performed with the Measures menu cannot be Undone. Set Time Signature Sets a time signature for all the staffs in the score, beginning with the measure conataining the insertion point or selection. The time signature stays in effect until you assign a new one in a subsequent measure. Click a number in the top row of the time signature requester box to set the number of beats each measure will contain. If you don't see the number you need, click the Other scrollbar and scroll it to any whole number up to 99. Click a number in the bottom row to set the note value that receives one beate. (For example. 4/4 means 4 beats to the measure, quarter note gets one beat. and 6/8 means 6 beats to the measures, 8th note gets one beat). Set Key Signature Sets a key signature that takes effect beginning with the measure containing the insertion point or selection. The key signature stays in effect until you set a new one in a subsequent measure. Selecting different signatures shows your selection on the mock measure in the upper left of the key signature requester box. Click OK when you see the one you want. If the affected measures contain music, click the Don't Transpose gadget to leave the notes as they are. Click Transpose Up or Transpose Down to move existing music up or down to the scale of the new key. Set Clef Opens a requester box from which you can choose one of four clefs: treble, bass, alto, or tenor. Click OK to assign the selected clef to the measure containing the insertion point or selection. The assigned clef remains in effect until you assign a different clef to the same staff in a later measure. Set Instrument Assigns the selected instruments in the Sounds Menu (including MIDI channels and presets) to the staff and measure containing the insertion point or selection. An instrument remains in effect for a staff until you set a different instrument in a subsequent measure of the staff. Set Tempo Assigns the current Beats Per Min value from the Score Setup window at the measure containing the insertion point or a selection. The new setting remains in effect until you reset tempo at a later measure. The setting appears in the score above the staff and measure where the change takes place. Erase Inst & Tempo Erase the instrument and tempo setting for a number of selected measures, or a single measure containing the insertion point. Insert Measure Inserts a blank measure (in every staff of the score) in front of the measure containig the insertion point or selection. Split Measure Inserts a bar line at the insertion point, thus splitting a measure in two. Join Measures Removes the bar lines that separate adjacent measures containing the selected notes. (Selections must span tow or more measures.) Realign Measure Moves the notes within a measure so they are displayed in proportion to their duration. If a bar line has been moved, Realign Measure restores a measure to a standard length and note positioning. Begin & End Repeat Inserts a Begin Repeat or End Repeat symbol in the measure containing the insertion point or selection. DMCS plays the music that lies between the symbols twice before proceeding to the following measures. 1st & 2nd Ending Used in conjunction with the repeat signs, the 1st Ending marker can be used on any measures between the repeat signs to say "Play this only the first time through." The 2nd Ending marker can be used on any measures between the repeat signs that you want played the second time through, but not the first. Double bar Inserts a double bar at the end of the measure containing the insertion point or selection. A double bar marks the end of a section of a musical composition. SOUNDS Midi Channel 1 Opens a secondary menu from which you can choose one of up to 16 different MIDI channels. The channel number currently in use is shown in the secondary menu in read and in the MIDI Channel # commmand in the Sounds menu. The number of channels you can use is determined by the capabilities of your MIDI device, consult your Owner's Manual. Use the Set Instrument command from the Measures menu to assign the MIDI channel and preset to a specific staff and measure in the score. MIDI presets and channels are shown in the score like regular DMCS instruments. You may not use the same MIDI channel for the same measure number in different staffs - each staff must have its own MIDI channel. MIDI Active & MIDI Input Enabled Turns the MIDI Port and MIDI input capability on or off. Make sure you turn the MIDI port off before reconnecting another device to the Amiga ports. Turn MIDI Input Enable off if you want to play your MIDI device without inserting notes inthe score. MIDI Setup Opens a requester box in which you set the follwing MIDI interface paramaters: MIDI Preset Changes the settings of the external MIDI device from within the score. you can select a number from 0 to 128. Click OK to confirm your entry. The number of presets you can use is determined by the number stored in your MIDI device, consult your Owner's Manual. Some MIDI devices number their presets from 0 to 127, but DMCS assigns "none" to preset 0. For this reason, you must add one when assigning preset numbers for some devices. For instance, to use preset 0 on a device where the presets are numbered from 0 to 127, you would assign the preset as 1 in DMCS. Preset 1 would be assigned as 2,2 as 3,3 as 4, and so on. Use the Set Instrument command fromthe Measures menu to assign the MIDI channel and preset to a specific staff and measure in the score. MIDI presets and channels are shown in the score like regular DMCS intruments. You may not use the same MIDI channel for the same measure number in different staffs - each staff must have its own MIDI channel. Change Input Delay Lets you contrl the Input Delay that enables DMCS to determine the duration of notes inserted in the score from an external MIDI device. When you play a note on the MIDI device, the "Input Delay" is the amount of time, measured in sixtieths of a second, that must elapse before the note changes to the next larger note duration. For example, if you select a quarter note from the Note Palette, and set the Input Delay to 60 (60/60ths of a second, or one second), then playing a note for less than one second on the MIDI device inserts the note in the score as a quarter note, holding the note for one to two seconds changes it to a dotted quarter note, holding for two to three seconds changes it to a half note, and so on. Remove Instrument Removes the selected instrument from the Sounds Menu, and score. Load Instrument Opens a requester box containing a directory of DMCS intruments. Select the instrument you want, and click to open. To close the requester box without loading an instrument, click the Cancel gadget. Instruments loaded into DMCS are shown in the top third of the Sounds menu, with a check mark in front of the active instrument. Instruments are saved with the score. The Load Instrument command loads instruments into the Sounds menu only, not the score. Use Set Instrument from the Measures menu to assign selected instruments to the score. Using Play Song or Play Section without instruments causes DMCS to use "First Voice". Keyboard Play Style Sets the play style you'll hear for the checked instrument (including MIDI) when you click the Piano Keyboard keys. Hints For Inserting Text And Printing In addition to inserting lyrics in a score, you can also use text boxes to insert non-musical information, such as titles, copyright information, composers, and so on the top or bottom of a score. This is very helpful for inserting the written musical instrutions that often appear in the upper left- hand corner of a composition. Experiment with the white space above and below the staff (controlled from the Score Setup window), to create the most aesthetic layout, and to give yourelf enough room for lyrics or other text. More Hints On Editing And Fine Tuning Eliminate a note in a chord by dragging it vertically until it merges with another note. Dragging notes changes their tone by scale steps (eight to an octave), so a sharp or flat note will only merge with another note if the accidental is removed. Use "Two Tracks per Staff" when notes of different durations are played at the same time in one staff. For instance, if one note of a chord lets up while others are sustained, insert the note of shorter duration on the second track. You can issure a global Beam command by using Select All in the Edit menu, then selecting Beam Notes from the Groups menu.