Welcome to the forum. I'll address a few of these and leave the style question to others.

For this notation, perhaps you are in Triplet Mode, the default mode in the Notation Edit window, and you need to exit that. Click on the Options button (under Song and Style, left of Print) and Uncheck "Triplet Resolution" in the upper left corner. Back in Notation Edit, you should now see 4 broken vertical lines per beat. For your rhythm, starting with the first vertical dotted line, left to right, your notes would be on these vertical lines: 1, 5, 8, 9, 13, 16.

I'm pretty sure version 2008.5 allowed you to press F5 at a bar and enter the number of beats. That is how you get 2/4. Remember to do F5 and change it back as needed.

It is not surprising the key changes and tempo changes do not transfer from your other software. Also in that F5 dialog, you can enter a changed tempo at any bar.

I think you might need to upgrade to be able to change the key signature within a song; that came around a year ago. In version 2011, it is another one of the options in the F5 dialog.


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors