Note Entry

Note input is the heart of the editor. Press N to toggle note input mode; the cursor advances after each entry. You can enter notes two ways — by clicking the staff or by typing pitch letters — and freely mix them.

Durations

Pick a duration before entering a note. Both naming systems below are used internationally, and the same keys work in both modes:

Key	Fraction-based name	Semibreve-based name
1	Thirty-second	Demisemiquaver
2	Sixteenth	Semiquaver
3	Eighth	Quaver
4	Quarter	Crotchet
5	Half	Minim
6	Whole	Semibreve
7	Double whole (breve)	Breve
8	Maxima	Maxima

Press . to toggle an augmentation dot on the current duration (and on a selected note in normal mode).

Pitches

• Click the staff at the line/space you want. The pitch follows the active clef and key signature.
• Type A–G to enter a note at the nearest octave to the previous one.

In note input, Alt+↑ / Alt+↓ moves the just-entered note by a diatonic step, Alt+Shift+↑ / Alt+Shift+↓ by a chromatic semitone, and Ctrl+Alt+↑ / Ctrl+Alt+↓ by an octave.

MIDI keyboard input

Open Settings → MIDI Input, enable access, and select the profiled keyboard port as the Performance input. Unprofiled MIDI ports can be monitored in diagnostics but do not yet enter notes.

Playing outside note input auditions the profile's fixed preview sound. In note input, hold one or more keys and release them to enter a note or chord at the cursor; the editor previews the held pitches through the current instrumental part while you play.

The selected toolbar duration controls the entered rhythm. MIDI velocity is used for audition but does not replace the document's notated dynamics.

Ruler and click snapping

Move the pointer over a staff in note input mode to show the insertion preview:

• the ghost notehead snaps vertically to the nearest staff line or space;
• the blue cursor shows the horizontal position where the note will be entered;
• the ruler below the staff shows the available rhythmic snap positions;
• the highlighted ruler tick is the position nearest the pointer.

By default, empty space is divided using the selected duration and augmentation dots. With a quarter note selected, for example, clicks snap to quarter-note positions; with a dotted eighth selected, they snap to dotted-eighth positions. Existing event onsets and tuplet-internal positions remain available even when they do not fall on that duration grid.

Hold Alt while pointing or clicking to temporarily use an undotted sixteenth-note snap grid. This provides finer placement for the common quarter-, eighth-, and dotted-duration grids. Alt changes only the insertion position: the entered note still uses the duration and dots selected in the toolbar.

The ruler uses longer ticks for downbeats and whole beats, medium ticks for half beats, and shorter ticks for finer subdivisions. Existing event onsets are also emphasized, making it easier to align a new note with music already in the measure.

Chords

To stack notes into a chord:

• Typing: hold Shift and press a pitch letter (Shift+A–Shift+G) to add to the current chord instead of advancing.
• Clicking: Shift‑click a note head that already exists to add a pitch to that event's chord (the durations must match).
• Chord‑lock: press Q to lock chord mode so plain A–G add to the chord without advancing. Press Q again to release. From normal mode, Q jumps straight into note input with chord‑lock on.

Rests

Press 0 in note input to insert a rest of the current duration. In normal mode, Delete / Backspace replaces the selected event(s) with a rest of the same duration.

When Viritura creates or repairs ordinary rests, it spells generated rests to show the active meter's beat groups and primary divisions. In 4/4, for example, rests do not cross the middle of the bar, but a two-beat span contained within one half may use a half rest. In non-compound meters generated rests are undotted; compound meters may use dotted rests within their three-unit beat groups. This does not alter explicitly entered or imported rest spellings, full-measure rests, or rests inside tuplets.

When you click a note onto an empty measure, the full‑measure rest is replaced automatically — you don't need to clear it first.

Accidentals

Key	Action
-	Flat
=	Sharp
\	Natural (note input)
0	Natural (normal mode)
Shift+-	Step down (♭ → ♭♭)
Shift+=	Step up (♯ → ♯♯)
Z	Double flat (input)
X	Double sharp (input)

Accidentals follow standard engraving practice: a pitch altered earlier in the measure isn't re‑marked, and a note tied across a barline keeps its accidental without restating it. When a note at the start of a new measure changes the previous measure's spelling of the same written pitch, Viritura adds an unenclosed courtesy accidental automatically. Tied continuations remain unmarked, except for a parenthesized reminder at a system or page start. These automatic marks are layout-only and do not change the MNX document. When no accidental key is selected, note input inherits the alteration already in force for that pitch in the current measure.

Ties, slurs, and grace notes

• T ties the current note to the next (note input) / to the next note (normal).
• S begins a slur to the next note.
• / toggles grace‑note entry in note input — the next note(s) you enter become grace notes attached to the following main note.

Tuplets

Press Shift+T in note input to open the tuplet menu (triplets, quintuplets, …). In normal mode, Shift+3 opens the tuplet radial menu for a selection, while Shift+T sets tempo at the selection.

Voices

Up to four independent voices share a staff, organised as directional lanes: Up 1, Down 1, Up 2 and Down 2. Switch the active input voice with Alt+1 … Alt+4 (in that order). The lane follows its voice from bar to bar, even when bars store their voices in a different order.

A lane's direction is a hint, not a force. When two voices share a bar, Up voices take stems up and Down voices stems down. When a voice has the bar to itself — the other voice is empty or holds only hidden rests — its stems follow pitch like a single voice. To force a direction for one note, flip it with F.

Moving the cursor

Key	Action
← / →	Move by one event
↑ / ↓	Move between staves / instruments
Space	Advance without entering anything
Backspace	Delete previous event
Delete	Delete current event
Esc / N	Exit note input

Auditory feedback

Each note you enter is previewed through the playback engine. Percussion instruments preview the mapped drum sound rather than the clicked pitch.

For the complete shortcut tables (including normal‑mode editing and the radial menus), see Keyboard & Mouse.

For selection, palettes, the inspector, and clipboard history, see Notation & Editing.

For syllable entry, melismas, translations, and lyric-line metadata, see Lyrics.

For entering and styling harmonic labels above the staff, see Chord Symbols.