HI ALL Just wondering what setting you folks use as your default INSERTED NOTE DURATION. I believe the normal default is set to 80%, This is adjustable in options / notation / more This results in all notes being slightly shorter than their written notation value
No problem for short notes but a whole note at 80% is only 3 beats and 22 ticks that’s nearly a beat short! If you say tie two whole notes together you will finish up with a note just over 7 beats
I realise that you can change this after in the piano roll or by right click note edit Or even for the whole song in MLODY / EDIT MELODY TRACK / QUANTIZE /HUNANIZE LEGATO%
Just wondered if anyone had hit on a golden all time default setting. I guess if you don’t use a lot of long notes and use piano it's no prob, but I would have thought with instruments like sax or any wind or string part it was quite important , Is there a default legato insert mode ??? cant find one. Your thoughts appreciated, Mike
I like this post. I'm always intrigued when there is a question about something that's been assumed for a long time.
The default 80% has been fine for me for 25 years with no trouble. Yes, I sometimes adjust individual notes as you mentioned, but for a typical whole note, I am pretty happy with the default on horns and I use trumpet/alto or tenor sax on most tunes. [I do use a pretty nice hardware synth, and the reverb tends to make the note seem a bit longer.]
I could see a nice Wishlist post out of this, though. Add a setting for Duration that could be adjusted on the main screen. A number, or a slider perhaps. It would adjust the channel that is currently selected.
An alternative would be an icon that takes you to the Options, Preferences, Notation, More dialog that contains more fine-tuning controls than would be practical on the main screen. My normal notation program also has just such an adjustment. It asks how short I want a staccato note to be played, for example. The default is 75% but I changed it to 40%. I like that level of control rather than specifying a few choices such as legato, staccato etc.
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Note insert in the Notation view is unusual and takes a bit of getting used to. Generally, if you enter a note on the first beat, it will appear to take the entire bar - plus some (about 7 beats), until you either enter another note or a rest later in the bar, which will then truncate it.
As for the note length, mine defaults at 6 beats 42
I never worry about it because the note length will truncate to fit whatever else is later in the bar. It's different, but quite versatile.
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Right. The spacing between notes is also adjustable, which affects that automatic truncation of a note when the next one is entered. By the way, I think this note entry scheme might be BIAB's best feature.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Thanks for your replies Yes I have seen DAWS that have a gate timing value that you can set the % of all or selected inserted notes value to. I am sure that the default 80% is fine for most work .it’s just the long tied notes can finish up a bit short. Many of the voices I use such as sweep pads take a while to develop to their full sweep so I don’t want them cut short , also I tend to use a lot of ambient and evolving Voices these to need time if I want 3 bars say 12 beats I don’t want to finish up with Much less like 11 beats and a few ticks. Still as you say you can always edit the note in the PRV or right click I do agree the notation entry method in BIAB is very quick and second to none IMO.
But whatever the entry method I do want best part of the value of the notated note. Some small gap between notes would occur if played live on a keyboard say as you lift off to move to the next note unless you deliberately hold on for a legato effect. Just my thoughts Mike
Mike I have my default set to 95 (Opt/Pref/Notation/More) which suits me. I like the melody notes generally to flow from one to another father than having an audible break unless I specifically require it.
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I'm like Dave, I have my note length set to 95%. I have also used 98%.
I use notation editor a great deal for writing and playing melodies and I like a legato sound. I find it easier to reduce note length of those few notes at the end of phrases or for staccato sounds, etc., by using staff roll mode or inserting rests than it is to lengthen the many notes needed to obtain a legato melody.
Looks like we are on the same wavelength here then.
Noel As I said there is a couple of useful commands in the Melody Editor Re Or even for the whole song in MLODY / EDIT MELODY TRACK / QUANTIZE /HUNANIZE LEGATO% this increases all notes in the song.
If this results in overlapping notes you can then use / EDIT MELODY TRACK / QNANTIZE / ELIMINATE NOTE OVERLAP
Overlapping notes only become a problem if both notes are the same pitch . If they are different pitches that’s ok as they then become a slur (and can be annotated as such) but both notes will sound.
Where as tied notes should only sound once for the duration of the note. And mid does not like receiving another note on until it has seen the first note off. You can finish up with stuck notes. Ugh.
As you say stretching lots of short notes is a pain. Thank you all for your interest Mike
Usually, the only notes I need to adjust manually are as Mike mentioned: the ones that go three measures and have to be changed from under 4 beats to under 12.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
When I enter notation, I usually use 95-98%, so there is a slight gap, and adjust specific notes after the fact.
Actually, most of the time, I play the part in using my MIDI keyboard, then quantize using 95% or so, then go back to see if anything got quantized to the wrong division (in the event I played it closer to the previous note accidentally). But it also accomplishes the desired % note duration.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
By the way, I think this note entry scheme might be BIAB's best feature.
Very agree in that Matt. Actually just discover that a few days ago, as I have never used this feature before... First I got frustrated, because I did not really understood how it worked. When I figured that out, I was thinking; Wow, this is a genius way to do it ! Only I have to figure out now is the value of each note so I know exactly where, in what beat, to put it...
Forever Grateful, BUT, sometimes pissed of. Trygve "Leo" Larsen BiaB 2020, Windows 8.1, Intel Core i5 CPU, 270GHz, 32 Gb RAM My OLD tracks on Soundcloud; https://soundcloud.com/trygve-larsen My NEW is unpublished The Universe = Uni-verse ie one song.
Good tip .... immediately took action ... time saver again boyz. thanks.
BTW some how the possibility to use the marker line (yellow below) for say "verse , middle 8 etc" got switched off, as i re setted BIAB, and i cannot find were to turn it on again. Help, help ... ??? F
Being a legatoish type trombone player, I always use 100%. If any overlap occurs there is an action to cure this.
However, I do wonder how the Embellish 'Melody Dialogue', 'More', 'Legato Setting' with its default of 65 affects the note duration; since my understanding of legato is "in a smooth flowing manner, without breaks between notes". That is if you have Embellish switched on with that area ticked. But I always do, because I always want a vibrato applied. Although I am not sure if filling in the top of the 'More' box actually applies the entries at the bottom? Perhaps it only happens when you apply all the other Embellish settings?
Just quietly, it seems to me that most of the default settings are designed to create the right sound with guitars and pianos and not necessarily trombones, trumpets and saxes.
Well it is great to get so much interest on this and I thank you all for your thoughts on this, Obviously there is no one setting to suit all but reading through all the post it seems that a lot of you favour a higher setting than the default .
So I am going to give 95% a go and see how that works for me and most of my music.
Thank you again for your participation this is a really great forum. The best collection of folks that know about music and the technical side of things. Sort of Musician / Technicians and always ready to help. Thanks,
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