3.6. Use Tuplets

Use Tuplets

Adding a tuplet

One-liner: select a Cluster then check Begin a tuplet on this cluster in the Editor. Adjust as needed.

Explanation:

In MAIDENS tuplets are defined by properties set on their first Cluster. Ticking a Cluster's Begin a tuplet... property makes that Cluster (and some of its siblings) exempt from normal note duration handling, subject to the values provided to related properties Put and for.

The Put and for properties are meant to describe an equivalence point between normal and exceptional duration handling, essentially telling MAIDENS how to accommodate the tuplet within the current time signature. For example, an instruction such as Put 3 quarters for 2 would essentially tell MAIDENS to:

• monitor durations of current and subsequent clusters, up to a total of 3 quarters (crotchets);
• allocate two thirds of a regular quarter to each of the tuplet quarters (2/3 of ~0.67). Note that you need not actually use quarters, any durations amounting to the expected time span will do;
• only count 2 quarters for the entire group.

In other words, Put gives you the nominal value of the tuplet, while for gives you its regular duration equivalent. A couple examples:

• to produce an eights triplet, you would enter: put 3 eights for 2;
• for a quintuplet of sixteenths, you put 5 sixteenths for 4;
• to obtain a septuplet of eights, you put 7 eights for 4 (or, in a compound meter such as 6/8, you put 7 eights for 6 ).

You provide durations inside the tuplet the same way you provide durations outside it, which means that you are free to use dots to obtain, e.g., dotted triplets, etc.

Notes:

• MAIDENS does not currently support nested triplets; you will not be able to tick Begin a tuplet... on a Cluster that is already part of a tuplet.
• Tuplets close automatically; if you provide a durations combination that does not fit in the declared tuplet nominal value, ghost rests will be provided to account for the space that cannot be filled (see Edit or Remove Notes Rests or Chords for a discussion on ghost rests);
• Some tuplets support alternate spellings. In most cases, you can access an alternate spelling by changing an existing tuplet's note value/duration and its for property: Put 5 eights for 2 creates the same tuplet as Put 5 sixteenths for 4, but they are spelled differently.

Deleting a tuplet

One-liner: select the first Cluster of a tuplet and uncheck Begin a tuplet on this cluster in the Editor.

Explanation:

Turning off the Begin a tuplet... property of a Cluster converts all previous tuplet durations to regular durations. This usually results in an overfull measure, which will be indicated by ghost rests showing on other voices (this is a sign that content of current voice is "bigger" than what time signature would allow). See Measure Node for a discussion on overfull and underfull measures in MAIDENS; see Edit or Remove Notes Rests or Chords for a discussion on ghost rests.

Tuplets and nudging

Due to their special nature, tuplets cannot be nudged: selecting the first or last cluster of a tuplet and clicking Nudge before, respectively Nudge after in the Toolbar will have no effect. However, there is special use for these buttons when tuplets are involved:

• nudging is permitted inside the tuplet: you can freely reorder the clusters of a tuplet; it will act as a container and confine nudging to its boundaries;
• you can freely nudge the regular/normal duration clusters around tuplets; each tuplet encountered while nudging will be treated as a monolithic structure, meaning that the regular cluster being nudged will "skip" the tuplet rather than traverse it.

Note: if you need to bring a regular Cluster inside a tuplet via nudge, it's doable: disengage the Begin a tuplet... setting (see Deleting a tuplet above), perform the nudge, then engage Begin a tuplet on this cluster again.