Tempo popover

The following tables contain examples of what you can enter into the tempo popover to input tempo marks, tempo equations, and rhythmic feels for swing playback.

When you start entering a tempo into the tempo popover, a menu appears with suggestions containing the letters/words you enter. You can select one of these suggestions to input, or enter your own tempo into the popover.

You can open the tempo popover in Write mode in any of the following ways when either an item is selected or the caret is active:

  • Press Shift-T.

  • In the Notations toolbox, click Popovers Popovers button, then Tempo Tempo button.

  • Select an existing tempo mark and press Return.

  • Choose Write > Create Tempo.

The icon on the left-hand side of the popover matches the corresponding button in the Notations toolbox on the right of the window.

Figure 1. Tempo popover with an example entry
Figure 2. Tempo button in the Notations toolbox

Tempo marks

Example tempo mark

Popover entry

Adagio

Adagio

Presto = 176

Presto q = 176 or Presto q=176

Largo ( = 52)

Largo (q = 52) or Largo (q=52)

= 96-112

q = 96-112, q=96-112, 6 = 96-112, or 6=96-112

  = 84

q. = 84, q.=84, 6. = 84, or 6.=84

= 60

h = 60, h=60, 7 = 60, or 7=60

= 120

e = 120, e=120, 5 = 120, or 5=120

rit.

rit. or rit

ritardando

ritardando

accel.

accel. or accel

accelerando

accelerando

più

più

meno

meno

Rubato

Rubato

Faster, with energy

Faster, with energy

This list is not comprehensive as you can enter tempos freely and there are many possible metronome marks and tempo marks. It is intended to illustrate how you can structure your entry to input different types of tempo marks and metronome marks.

Note

The tempo popover is case-sensitive. If you want your tempo mark to start with a capital letter, you must enter a capital letter into the popover.

Metronome mark beat units

Metronome mark beat unit

Popover entry

64th note

z or 2

32nd note

y or 3

16th note

x or 4

Eighth note

e or 5

Quarter note

q or 6

Half note

h or 7

Whole note

w or 8

Double whole note

2w or 9

Rhythm dot

. (period)

Tempo equations

Example tempo equation

Popover entry

=  

e = e. or e=e.

=

q = e or q=e

 =

q. = h or q.=h

This list is not comprehensive as there are many possible tempo equations. It is intended to illustrate how you can structure your entry to input different tempo equations.

Note

Tempo equations do not yet include tuplet durations. This is planned for future versions.

Rhythmic feels for swing playback

Rhythmic feel

Popover entry

Light 16th note swing rhythmic feel

light swing 16ths

Light eighth note swing rhythmic feel

light swing 8ths

Medium 16th note swing rhythmic feel

medium swing 16ths

Medium eighth note swing rhythmic feel

medium swing 8ths

Heavy 16th note swing rhythmic feel

heavy swing 16ths

Heavy eighth note swing rhythmic feel

heavy swing 8ths

Straight rhythmic feel

straight (no swing)

Triplet 16th fixed rhythmic feel

2:1 swing 16ths (fixed)

Triplet 8th fixed rhythmic feel

2:1 swing 8ths (fixed)

Dotted 16th-32nd fixed rhythmic feel

3:1 swing 16ths (fixed)

Dotted 8th-16th fixed rhythmic feel

3:1 swing 8ths (fixed)

Tip

For rhythmic feels, the popover uses the name of the rhythmic feel as set in the Rhythmic Feel dialog. If you have created custom rhythmic feels, you can enter the name of these into the tempo popover.