I love HyperScribe, Finale’s ability to notate what I play – as I play it – from any MIDI device. In a previous post I described the first time I saw HyperScribe® in action: As a keyboard player, this was like the heavens opening up: Now I could finally get my musical thoughts into a computer and subsequently share them with others.

Today I’d like to share a HyperScribe-related tip. But first I’d like to share two personal observations:

• The great thing about HyperScribe is that it notates exactly what I play.
• Sometimes I wish HyperScribe wouldn’t notate exactly what I play.

The truth of the matter is that I personally have a tendency to lift up my fingers too fast. For example, if I’ve specified that I’d like Finale to quantize to a sixteenth note, my eighth notes often appear as a sixteenth note followed by a sixteenth rest, as seen below:

One solution would be to leave my fingers on the MIDI keyboard a little longer, but my habits are a bit ingrained at this point. Another solution would be to simply quantize to eighth notes, but as you can see, I often play those too short too!

My preferred solution is a handy plug-in called “Modify Rests.” To see it in action, try this:

1. Select the region you wish to edit and go to Plug-Ins>TGTools>Modify Rests.
2. In the resulting dialog box, click on the “Simplify” tab and check “Minimize rests…” (as I have done below) and click “Go.”

You’re done! Here is the result – a cleaned-up, real-time performance:

That’s pretty slick and easy, and exactly what I had in mind, if not exactly what I played.

Let us know how HyperScribe, or any other aspect of Finale, is working for you by clicking on “Comments” below.