Using Rests as Display Quantize setting

Above we used Display Quantize for notes. There is a similar Display Quantize setting called “Rests” which is used to set the smallest rest to be displayed. Often, this setting is very effective.

Let’s start with the following note example:

As you see, the first note appears one sixteenth note late. If we change the Display Quantize value for notes to eighth notes, the score is displayed like this:

Figure: With Display Quantize: Notes set to eighth notes

Unfortunately, this moves the first note to the same position as the second, since sixteenth note positions are not allowed. We can solve this by inserting extra Display Quantize values within the bar with the Display Quantize tool, but there is a much easier way: Change the Display Quantize value for notes back to sixteenths, but set the value for rests to eighth notes! This tells the program not to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except when necessary. The result looks like this:

Figure: With Display Quantize: Notes set to sixteenth notes, but Rests set to eighth notes.

How did this work? Well, you instructed the program not to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except when “necessary”. Since the first note appeared on the second sixteenth note position, it was necessary to put a sixteenth rest at the beginning of the figure. All other rests can be hidden by displaying the notes as eighth notes, and were therefore not “necessary”.

This leads us to the following general guidelines:

  • Set the Notes value according to the “smallest note position” you want to be shown in the score. If you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, for example, set the Notes to sixteenth notes.

  • Set the Rests value according to the smallest note value (length) you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat.

    Common Display Quantize settings would be to have Notes set to 16 (sixteenth notes) and Rests set to 4 (quarter notes).