Quantization Guide

Your success at creating notation with the HyperScribe Tool depends largely on the settings you make in the Quantization Settings dialog box. The more simple the assortment of rhythmic values in your piece, the better Finale will transcribe them; but Finale can handle even rhythmically complex pieces if you’ve made the proper settings.

These settings include your beat source (called Time Tags in the Transcription window), the smallest note you will input, and your quantization type settings. For a complete discussion of the beat source and quantization options, see Quantization Settings dialog box, Recording with HyperScribe and Transcribing a sequence).

The following table is designed to help you make the correct quantization settings before you begin. Consult this table if you find that (1) Finale is quantizing (rounding off) smaller values—such as sixteenth notes—into chord clusters with larger values, such as eighth notes, or (2) Finale isn’t quantizing enough—in other words, you’re finding that eighth notes are being notated as sixteenth notes separated by sixteenth rests, for example, or (3) Finale isn’t correctly notating triplets or other tuplets.

Consult the Beat (Tap), Rhythm and Time columns of this table to find the assortment of rhythmic values and Time Signatures that correctly characterizes the rhythmic values of the piece you’re trying to notate.The Smallest Note Value and Type of Quantization columns show you what settings to use in the Quantization Settings dialog box to notate the described rhythm.

(To specify a Beat Duration—that is, the rhythmic value of your tap—in HyperScribe, choose Tap from the HyperScribe Menu and click a note value in the Tap Source dialog box. In the Transcription window, choose the corresponding value from the “First Tag is” submenu of the Time Tag Menu before you record Time Tags.)