Start and Stop Times

Noteman says: For a more complete discussion of Start and Stop Times and the MIDI tool, see Tutorial 8: Playback.

Start Times and Stop Times, which you can edit directly with the MIDI tool, essentially refer to the attack and release of a note. They don’t refer to the notated durations of the notes; instead, they relate those notated values to the captured MIDI data. Captured MIDI data is the MIDI information generated by your original performance in HyperScribe, before it’s quantized and transcribed into notation.

The terms Start Time and Stop Time refer specifically to the difference between the quantized duration of a note (that is, its starting and ending points when given its full notated value) and your actual attack and release of the note in your performance. In the figure below, the indicated Start Time is a positive number (because the note was played slightly after the beat), and the Stop Time is a negative number (because the note was released slightly before the next beat):

The Start Time is the difference between the actual (performed) attack point and the notated, quantized attack point. The Stop Time is the difference between the actual (performed) release point and the notated, quantized release point. These differences can be either positive or negative; Stop Time (a), above, is a negative number—because the note was released early—but Stop Time (b) is positive.

Start and Stop Times are measured in very small rhythmic increments called EDUsEDUs, or ENIGMA Duration Units, are Finale's high-resolution measurement for the duration of notes and rests, defined as 1024 EDUs per quarter note. (ENIGMA Durational Units), of which there are 1024 per quarter note (see the Equivalents topic for more information.) If you hold down each note you play for precisely its notated value, with 1024th-beat accuracy, the Start and Stop Times will both be zero, with no difference between the quantized and the actual attack point of the note. Of course, no human can play that precisely.

To edit the Start and Stop Times of selected notes

Choose Window > Advanced Tools Palette. Choose the MIDI tool , and select the region whose playback data you want to edit. Click to select one measure, SHIFT-click to select additional measures, drag-enclose to select several on-screen measures, click to the left of the staff to select the entire staff, or choose Edit > Select All.
If the region you wish to edit is on one staff, double-click the highlighted area to enter the MIDI tool split-window. Select the specific notes whose Start and Stop Times you want to edit. Once you’re in the MIDI tool split-window, you can select entire regions of notes by dragging through the “graph” area of the window. You can also select specific notes to edit by selecting their handles (in the notation display at the bottom of the window). Select one handle by clicking, additional handles by SHIFT+clicking, a group of handles by drag-enclosing, and additional groups by SHIFT–drag-enclosing.
Choose MIDI tool > Note Durations. If you’re in the MIDI tool window, you can click the Note Durations icon (second from the top) instead. Once you’ve selected the notes to be affected, you can apply one of the MIDI tool’s menu commands:
Choose the desired command in the MIDI tool menu. Each command brings up a dialog box in which you can specify how the selected notes are to be altered.
- Set To allows you to give every note in the selected region the same Start or Stop Time. In this way, you can shorten or delay all notes by the same amount.
- Scale gradually shortens (or lengthens) the Start or Stop Times of the selected notes from one value to another.
- Add alters every selected note’s Start or Stop Time by a positive or negative value you specify.
- Percent Alter increases or decreases the selected note durations by a percentage of their current values—ideal for creating a staccato effect for the selected music.
- Limit lets you set a maximum and minimum Start Time and Stop Time value for the selected notes, in effect pulling the beginning and ending of each note closer to the beat. You can think of the Limit command as a form of quantizing.
- Alter Feel changes the start and stop times of Downbeats, Other Beats, and Backbeats. (Backbeats are defined as the half beats [in a duple meter] or the second and third offbeats [in a triple meter]. For some interesting uses of the Alter Feel command, see Swing.)
- Randomize alters the selected notes’ durations by a random amount, giving the music a less quantized, more human feeling. You might enter an EDU value of 1/16 (or less) of the predominant rhythmic values in the music; to subtly soften the rhythmic precision of an eighth note (512 EDUs) passage, for example, you might type 32 into the Start and Stop Times boxes.
Enter the desired degree of Start or Stop Time modification, and click OK.
Close the MIDI tool split-window by clicking the MIDI tool.