Questions & Answers

Is it possible to have independent time signatures for certain staves, e.g., parts in 9/8 and one part in 3/4?

+2 votes
645 views
asked Nov 26, 2017 in Notion by marshallshaw (280 points)
iMac - Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014
macOS High Sierra 10.13.1
Notion 6 - 6.2.439, 64-bit
Play - EastWest Sounds - 5.0.4

3 Answers

0 votes
answered Nov 29, 2017 by TRevMFB (3,280 points)
As far as I’m aware you’ll need to continue to change the time signatures in the timeline. Above the tempo bar.
0 votes
answered Feb 15, 2018 by byroncmayes (270 points)
Yes. And no.

You can enter individual time sigs on a per staff basis. Select the staff you want and then use the Add time signature tool. Enter your numerator and denominator values and UNselect "Enter for all staves" in the dialog box (it's selected by default). This will put it only in the selected staff.

BUT

NOTION isn't smart enough to know what to do with such things. Both visually and in playback, it will keep the notes in line meaning your 3/4 measures will line up with the first 6 eighth notes of your 9/8 staves and then wait for the other three to finish before starting up again after the bar line. NOTION cannot figure out that you want your 9/8 bars to be compound time and your 3/4 bars to be simple time running concurrently. Nor can you tell NOTION that's what you want to do.

It's the worst tease in the notation software world. I'd rather that they'd just made it impossible to do this because it just doesn't work as it should. I consider this a bug that needs to be fixed. There's no way this can be considered a "feature."
+2 votes
answered Feb 25, 2018 by waynerose1 (3,760 points)
Yes, but if Notion actually did allow compound time on separate staves it would take the music notation world by storm.

It can be done on a single staff now.

Set your time signature in either ¾ (6/8) or 9/8, then subdivide your bar measures to create poly rhythms.

9 bars of 6/8 would equal 6 bars of 9/8. Accent your 6/8 bars as 3 /4, and create the patterns you prefer.

No doubt though, it would be nice to set it up on two staves. Compound time signatures, e.g., 6/8 + ⅝ would also be nice.

Think of the possibilities! In fact, let's make this a feature request.

Best regards.
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