Lengthening/Shortening figured bass figures

You can lengthen/shorten the duration of figured bass figures after they have been input. Lengthening a figure that was input without a specified duration gives it duration and shows a hold line.

Hold lines indicate that chords remain the same over changing notes in the bass.

Procedure

  1. In Write mode, select the figured bass figures you want to lengthen/shorten.
    Note

    When using the mouse, you can only lengthen/shorten one figured bass figure at a time and it must have duration already. When using the keyboard, you can lengthen/shorten multiple figures, but they must all have duration already and this only affects their overall duration, not their suspension duration.

  2. Lengthen/Shorten the figures in any of the following ways:

    • To lengthen their duration by the current rhythmic grid resolution, press Shift-Alt/Opt-Right Arrow.

    • To shorten their duration by the current rhythmic grid resolution, press Shift-Alt/Opt-Left Arrow.

      Note

      When using the keyboard, lengthening/shortening figures only moves their end. You can move the start of figures by moving them rhythmically, or by clicking and dragging the start handle once they have duration.

    • Click and drag the circular handle at the start/end to the right/left.

      You can click and drag the duration handle and/or the suspension resolution handle.

Result

The selected figured bass figures are lengthened/shortened according to the current rhythmic grid resolution. If they previously had no duration, they now have duration and show a hold line.

Tip

You can also use the Duration property in the Figured Bass group of the Properties panel to change the duration of figured bass figures. The left value field allows you to change the duration, and the right value field allows you to specify that the hold line ends at the position of a grace note.

For suspensions, you can use the Resolution pos. property to change the position of the resolution figure relative to the suspension figure.

Example

Figure 1. Figure (selected) with no duration
Figure 2. Figure (selected) with duration and hold line