Change key signature

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LucidMusicInc
Posts: 23

Post by LucidMusicInc »

Not sure if it’s been requested but some midis aren’t displayed correctly because there’s no key signature embedded so it shows as CMajor. Can we have an option in the iOS app to specify the key signature? Also maybe that could serve as a sort field, organising lists by key. Would it be asking too much to get a transposition function too? Making more challenging pieces easier by setting it to an easier key to read?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Transposition ends up being harder than you might expect.

Regarding incorrect or missing key signature information... mine is more of a philosophical stance than a technical one. Changing the key in Synthesia feels like a band-aid fix. For my part, if I find a song that is broken, I want to fix the song before I start using it in my practice app. Changing/adding a key signature is usually close to the simplest operation in every one of the free music editors (MusInk, MuseScore, Finale Notepad, Sekaiju, Aria Maestosa, etc.) so it feels a little like duplicated effort to include the feature. That might even be fine for songs with a single key signature, but it gets more interesting when it changes several times throughout the song. Now Synthesia needs a key signature editor where you can accurately place them at specific measure/beat locations.

This kind of feature in Synthesia is not without precedent: the hand assignment tool fits the same arguments. It should have been the job of the music editing app. There are two strong reasons that I eventually added it to Synthesia that don't apply to key signature changes:
  1. Splitting a single part into two separate MIDI tracks (or channels) is a rare, strange workflow that is often challenging in most music editing apps.
  2. The benefit in Synthesia to having split-up tracks is huge: you can practice your hands independently and have Synthesia play the other one for you.
For key signature updating, that list looks like this:
  1. Adding/changing a key signature usually takes a single menu item click in any editor.
  2. All you get for having a correctly specified key signature is (arguably?) slightly better key/note labels.
You could make an argument that Synthesia should be completely turn-key and never require an outside app for anything, but the logical conclusion in that case is a complete suite of editing tools being included.

Otherwise, all of that said, I like the idea of detecting key signature information as a field to sort on. It would mean opening/reading every file that Synthesia finds (which is... more work than the song list does today). And there is an open question of how to handle songs that transition through multiple keys (maybe the song gets listed as the key it uses the most often?), but it's an interesting idea.
LucidMusicInc
Posts: 23

Post by LucidMusicInc »

This might be easy to do on a PC but in IOS free apps are that support these functions don’t exist yet and the premium apps are quite complicated. I’m using staved & tabs without much success, gave up entirely on Notion. Anyway if it’s possible that’ would be another tool in making us better musicians. Thank you! When will 11 hit?
LucidMusicInc
Posts: 23

Post by LucidMusicInc »

I’ve managed to solve the problem. Staves &Tabs has been a phenomenal investment. I’m able to isolate tracks from the score, change them to the correct stave and change the time and key signature and what a difference it makes reading notes now!!!
gwales
Posts: 26

Post by gwales »

I want to assign a key at the beginning (C#minor - E major). How do I do that? My main concern is having C# not Db (and G# not Ab, etc) on the falling notes.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

It will take a separate MIDI editor to adjust the key signature stored in the file.

A faster approach that will work for all songs and not require any adjustments in a separate editor, might be to customize the labels to force the sharps. This post has the instructions.
gwales
Posts: 26

Post by gwales »

Thanks Nicholas. I changed it in Logic Pro. Nice to see all sharps at last - for my song, anyway.
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