Creating custom noteheads

You can create custom noteheads; for example, to represent different performance techniques in contemporary music.

Note

You can also edit existing noteheads. However, if you edit a notehead that appears in multiple notehead sets, your changes affect its appearance in all notehead sets that contain it.

Prerequisite

If you want to create custom noteheads in a custom notehead set, you have created that notehead set.

Procedure

  1. Choose Library > Notehead Sets to open the Edit Notehead Sets dialog.
  2. Select the required notehead set category from the Category menu.
  3. In the notehead sets list, select the notehead set in which you want to create custom noteheads.
  4. Create a new notehead in one of the following ways:
    • To create a new notehead with default settings, click New Notehead in the Notehead action bar.

    • To create a new notehead that is a copy of an existing one, select the existing notehead in the Notehead Set section and click New from Selection in the Notehead action bar.

  5. In the Notehead Set section, double-click the notehead to open the Edit Notehead dialog, in which you can customize its appearance.

    For example, you can add glyphs to your notehead using the options on the right, then arrange and resize them in the editor.

  6. Click OK to save your changes and close the Edit Notehead dialog.
  7. In the Notehead section, enter a name for the new notehead in the Name field.
  8. Customize the settings for the notehead using the available notehead options.

    For example, you can change the stem direction and note durations for which it is used.

  9. Optional: If you want your new custom notehead to be available in all future projects you open on your computer, click Save as Default in the Notehead action bar.
  10. Optional: Repeat steps 4 to 9 for each custom notehead you want to create in the current notehead set.
  11. Click OK to save your changes and close the Edit Notehead Sets dialog.

Result

The new custom notehead is created in the selected notehead set. If you clicked Save as Default  so that it appears as , the custom notehead is available in all future projects on your computer.