Today I have a tip to improve your accuracy when entering music into Finale in real time.

Finale’s HyperScribe tool offers a variety of ways to enter notes in real time using your favorite MIDI device. You can play along with a click, tap the pulse with one hand while playing with the other (as I described in a previous blog post), or play with both hands while tapping a pedal.

Today’s tip works equally well with all three of these entry methods. 

The tip? Be kind to yourself, and adjust your beat/tap appropriately. By this I mean if you’re going to enter a bunch of sixteenth notes, configure your beat or tap close to the smallest duration you’re entering.

To do so, go to the HyperScribe menu, select Beat Source, and indicate whether you’ll play with a click or a tap. Either way you’ll be able to indicate whether your Beat or Tap is a quarter note, or something different. While you might be tempted to set this to a quarter note when that’s the pulse of your music, if you’ll be entering a bunch of 16th notes, you might find that an 8th note tap or beat produces better accuracy.

Please try it out and let me know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below.

Does this tip improve your accuracy or Finale’s? That’s a question a gentleman would never ask. <g>