Compose Quick User Guide 

 
The start menu 

The left side panel offers the user 4 ways to create a score: 

● Quick creation : create one page with one default instrument in 4/4. 
● Use a template from a prepared library of templates. These templates are 
located in the “Documents/Templates” sub folder of the root directory. 
● Open an existing score from the cloud. It lets the user open the documents we 
have put into the “Documents/Documents” sub folder of the root directory. 
● Import a MusicXML or MIDI file. 

Score navigation 

Once a score is open, it is displayed in the main area of the screen. More than one 
score can be open and they will be aligned in the working space. 

To navigate in the working space: 

● Right-click anywhere in the working space and drag the content around. 
● Use the mouse wheel for vertical motion, and with SHIFT + mouse wheel for 
horizontal motion. 
● To close a score, click on the close button present at the top right corner of 
page 1 of that score. 

● To zoom in and out, right-click anywhere in the working space and while holding 
down the right mouse button, use the mouse wheel. You can combine dragging 
the score around and zooming. The mouse location keeps the same location in 
the score. This makes it quite easy to navigate only with the mouse, with no 
need of keyboard shortcuts. You can also use the standard CTRL+mouse wheel 
to zoom in/out. 
 Warning: closing the score does not save it automatically at this point. 

The ​highlighted​​ object 

● When moving the mouse over the score, the closest object is automatically 
highlighted​: 

● A ​highlighted​ object is a message from the object to the user, saying “Here I am, 
you can click me!” 
● There is only one ​highlighted​ object at any given time. If the mouse is too far 
away from an object, there is no highlighted object. 

The ​selected​​ object(s) 

● The selection tool is the default tool, active when no other tool is active. Its 
shortcut is ​ESC​. 

This shortcut will also: 

○ Disable the current tool. 

○ Disable the entry cursor. 
○ Disable the duration dot tool. 
○ Set the current layer/voice to 1. 
○ Disable the tuplet tool. 
○ Cancel any object selection. 
● To select an object, click on it. 
● Most objects (notes, clefs, time signatures, bar lines, key signatures, text 
symbols, chord symbols, endings, rehearsal marks, metronome) will display 
their property panel on the left side of the screen when they are selected. This is 
where you can modify the properties of these objects. 
● Selected​ objects are displayed as follows: 
  

● There can be one or more objects ​selected​. 

● The same object can be ​selected​ AND ​highlighted​ if the mouse is close to a 
selected object, even though the graphic selected display overbears the 
highlighted display. 
● The following shortcuts change the current ​selected note/rest​: 

→​ Select the next note/rest.  

←​ ​Select the previous note/rest. 

↑​ Select the next upper note in a chord. 

↓​ Select the next lower note in a chord. 

 

Score defaults 

● An empty score has all its measures filled with rests. 

Basic note entry (without the entry cursor) 

● The note tools have the following keyboard shortcuts. Using a shortcut simply 
selects the tool in the palette, whether that palette is currently visible or not.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - 
● Click on the staff to enter a note. There are several possible situations: 
○ In an empty measure that contains a pause: 
■ You can place the note value anywhere in the measure. 
■ A ghost sequence is displayed to show where the note/rest will be 
 entered. 
■ When holding the ​ALT​ key, there are twice as much magnetism 
divisions available 
■ The full rest is removed, the new note is added and the measure is 
filled with rests to complete its duration. 
○ On an existing rest, the behavior is: 
■ Replace the rest by a note; if it is longer than the original rest, it will 
overwrite the content that follows that rest. 
■ If it is shorter, then one or more rests will complete the original rest 
duration 
○ If the measure is not full, you can: 
■ Insert a note/rest before or after any existing note/rest: the content 
is shifted. 
○ When entering a note that would overlap the measure content, the note is 
automatically splitted in two (or more) tied notes. 
○ Before you release the mouse button, the note can still be repitched. 
● By clicking on an existing note you can repitch it or move it horizontally inside 
the measure to reorder the existing notes/rests. However, if there is a duration 
tool active, the duration of the note will be overwritten. To simply move/repitch 
the note, use the selection tool (​ESC​​). 
● When adding a note (with a click) while holding down the SHIFT key, the 
corresponding rest is added instead of the note, with the same rhythmic 
duration. 

● The ​DEL​​ or ​← (​ backspace) shortcuts will remove the ​selected​ object. A note is 

first replaced with its corresponding rest. If the rest is deleted, it disappears and 
the following notes/rests are shifted to the left, leaving the measure incomplete. 
With the current default editing options, this is the only way to get an incomplete 
measure, as in other cases, it is always completed with rests. 

● The ​s (​ lowercase S) shortcut swaps the ​selected note/rest​ to its equivalent 

rest/note. 

● The ​l (​ lowercase L) shortcut flips the stem of the ​selected note​; on slurs, 

hairpins and octavas, swaps the symbol above/below the staff. 

● The ​Alt + c​​ (​ lowercase C) shortcut switches the ​selected note ​between a normal 

note and a cue note. 

● The ​u​ (​ lowercase U) shortcut adds/deletes a tie starting from the ​selected note​. 

● The ​/​ (​ slash) shortcut breaks or joins the beaming between the ​selected note 

and the note that precedes it.  

● The ​.​ (​ period) shortcut adds a dot to the ​selected note/rest​, provided that the 

resulting note duration does not exceed the measure duration. 

● The ​: ​(colon) shortcut adds a grace note to the ​selected note​. 

● The ​=​ (​ equals sign) shortcut adds a slashed grace note to the ​selected note​. 

● Adding a note while holding down the ​CTRL​​ key will force beaming it with the 
previous note. 

● The ​t​ (​ lowercase T) shortcut enables/disables the tuplet tool in the palette. 

● The numbers ​1​ to ​9​ together with the ​CTRL​​ key will enable the corresponding 
tuplet. 
● By adding a note above or below an existing note, the new note is attached to 
the same stem to build a chord. The current selected tool does not affect the 
original rhythmic value of the chord. 
● The letters ​a​ to ​g​ will repitch the ​selected note​. Using the virtual piano keyboard 
or an external MIDI device, this will also repitch the current note or chord. 
● With ​SHIFT​​, the letters ​A​ to ​G​ will add a chord note to the selected note. 
● The following shortcuts move the ​selected note​ up or down: 

↑​+ ​CTRL​​: moves the note a second up. 

↓​+ ​CTRL​​: moves the note a second down. 

↑​+ ​SHIFT​​: moves the note an octave up. 

↓​+ ​SHIFT​​: moves the note an octave down. 

● The following shortcuts act on the ​selected note's​ accidental: 
○ + ​changes the accidental to a semitone higher; on dynamics, goes 
through the series from ​pppp​ to ​ffff;​ on hairpins, switch to a crescendo 
 hairpin. 
○ - ​changes the accidental to a semitone lower; on dynamics, goes through 
the series from ​ffff​ to ​pppp;​ on hairpins, switch to a decrescendo hairpin. 
○ n ​(lowercase N) sets the accidental to natural; if already present, hides it. 
○ 9 ​browses through the note enharmonics. 
○ For a staff with a drums map defined, accidentals are disabled but the 
“+” and “-” keys will browse through the different note heads defined. For 
instance, it is possible to define a snare drum on the C line with a 
standard note head, and a rimshot snare drum on the same C line, with a 
slashed note head. Using “+” and “-” will swap between both. 
● Notes can be entered in 4 independent voices (or layers) per measure. The 
layers are displayed in 4 different colors. The following shortcuts act to select 
the active voice: 
○ 1 ​+ ​SHIFT​​ + ​ALT​​: Voice / layer 1 
○ 2 ​+ ​SHIFT ​+​ ALT​​: Voice / layer 2 
○ 3 ​+ ​SHIFT​​ +​ ALT​​: Voice / layer 3 
○ 4 ​+​ ​SHIFT​​ + ​ALT​​: Voice / layer 4 
○ 0 ​+ ​SHIFT​​ + ​ALT​​: Automatic voice handling 

(warning: it should be the numbers in the main part of the keyboard, not on the keypad) 

● Automatic voice handling is used to enter music so that the user does not need 
to switch manually from one voice to the other: 
○ When starting to enter notes in an empty measure (or in a measure with a 
pause), voice 1 will be used. 
○ The user should then complete the measure until voice 1 is full. 
○ It will then automatically switch to V2. The same process happens with 
V3 and V4. 
○ The ghost note displays a small "V1", "V2",... to show in which voice a 
note will be entered. 

Note entry with the entry cursor 

 ● The entry cursor tool is enabled/disabled by the ​i ​(lowercase I) shortcut: 

● When enabled, it displays a blinking entry cursor, specifying where notes will be 
entered or modified: 

● Click anywhere in a measure to reposition the entry cursor. 

● Most of the above tools and shortcuts still apply, except when superseded by 
the following behaviors. 
● The ​ENTER​​ key will add a note at the cursor pitch and time position, using the 
current rhythmic duration tool. The entry cursor will move to the next position. 
● The ​0​ (zero) key will add a rest at the cursor pitch and time position, using the 
current rhythmic duration tool. The entry cursor will move to the next position. 
● The following shortcuts moves the entry cursor: 

→​ To the next time position.  

← ​To the previous time position. 

↑​ Moves the pitch cursor up. 

↓​ Moves the pitch cursor down. 

● Clicking on an existing note or rest will set the entry cursor to that time position. 
● If the entry cursor is set on a rest or empty location, letters ​a​ to ​g​ will enter a 
note at that location and the entry cursor will move to the next position. 
● If the entry cursor is set on a note, the letters ​A​ to ​G​ (with ​SHIFT​​) will add a 
chord note to the current note. 

Note entry with the piano keyboard or with a MIDI device 

The icon will show/hide a piano keyboard at the bottom of the application. It can 
be resized vertically by moving the grey separation bar. You can shift the keyboard 
horizontally by dragging it with the right mouse button. 

The notes played while listening to the score will be displayed by default on the 
keyboard. 

A note played on a MIDI device connected to the computer will be displayed by the 
keyboard and played by the current staff instrument. For this to work, you must ensure 
that Chrome enables the use of the MIDI devices connected to the computer and 
recognized by the OS , as this is not necessarily the case by default. 

Step by step note entry 

To enter notes with the keyboard (virtual or real MIDI device), the entry cursor must be 
active and blinking. It determines the location of the next entry. 

● Playing a note on the virtual piano keyboard or directly on the MIDI device will 
enter that note at the cursor position, using the current rhythmic duration tool. 
The entry cursor is then moved to the next position. Pressing several keys 
together will enter a chord. 
● If the entry cursor is placed on an existing note or chord, playing a note will 
repitch the note/chord and the cursor will move to the next entry. 

Real time note entry 

Set the entry cursor at the measure where the recording must start. It will start at the 

beginning of the measure. Use the icon to start recording. One count-off measure 
is played and the recording begins. The notes will be displayed as stemless noteheads 
to provide a feedback, but the final transcription will be done when the recording 
stops. 

 
The recorded notes will replace the current layer of the recorded measures (other 
layers are not touched, so you can record one layer at a time for instance). 

All other staves and layers will play while the recording progresses. 

The transcription algorithm is working in most cases, but it needs to be improved to 
cover more cases and to provide more options, like deciding whether to quantize or 
not, limiting the definition of rhythmic precision required, splitting hands for keyboard 
recording. 

Adding symbols 

● Note symbols like articulation and ornaments are available in the property panel 
of a note. Other symbols are in the ​Dynamic​​, ​Text​​ and ​Symbol​​ palettes. 
● Whenever possible click on a note head or rest to place a symbol. This will 
associate it to the correct time position (for the playback effect) and you will 
benefit from the automatic positioning mode, so that in most cases, the symbol 
is correctly positioned with no further need for manual adjustment. 
● Staff symbols (like dynamics, pedal, text expressions,...) can be moved by 
clicking and dragging the symbol. However, the vertical position is at this point 
always computed by the layout engine. 
● Moving the mouse will ​highlight​ symbols and notes 
● Clicking on a symbol will ​select​ it. Clicking on a note to add a symbol will attach 
it to the note. 

● Using the ​DEL​​ or ​← (​ backspace) shortcuts will remove the selected symbol. 

● The rehearsal mark tool : click to add a rehearsal mark, a property panel 
appears. 

• The chord tool : click to add a new chord symbol or click on a existing one. The 
property panel lets you define the chord. 

Lyrics 

● To edit lyrics, use the tool. 

 ● Existing lyrics have a light background color (different colors for the 4 possible 
lyrics lines). 

The lyrics cursor blinks under the current note. You can then: 

● Edit by adding characters. 

● Use ​DEL​​ or ​Backspace​​. 
● Left and right arrows either moves the caret inside the current lyric or to the 
next/previous lyrics (created if it does not yet exist). 
● Up and down arrows are used to reach the 4 possible lyrics lines. 
● ENTER​​ go to the next position. 
● Space moves automatically to the next lyric (except if in the middle of a lyric) 
● SHIFT​​ Space adds a space into the lyric without moving to the next 
● Underscore ( ​_ ​) adds/removes an automatic extension line for that lyric. It ends 
before a new lyric is added. 
● Hyphen ( ​-​ ) adds/removes an hyphen between this lyric and the next one. 
● TAB​​ or ​SHIFT ​+​ TAB​​ to go the next/previous lyric 

The property panel that is displayed to the left, enables to modify the lyrics font color 
and alignment, either for all lyrics, the current lyrics line, or only the lyric under the 
cursor. 

Multi note symbols 

● For slurs, hairpins and octavas (​Line​​ palette), add the symbol by clicking around 
the start-point, drag the mouse and release the button around the end-point of 
the symbol. 
● To modify an existing multi note symbol, click and drag its handles. 
● These symbols can be extended over more than one measure, as well as over 
system breaks. 

Score tools 

● The clef tool : click on an existing clef to modify it or inside a staff to add a 
 new clef. 

● The key signature tool : click on an existing key signature to modify it or 
inside a staff to add a new key signature. 

● The time signature tool : click on an existing time signature to modify it or 
inside a staff to add a new time signature. 

● The metronome tool : click to place a metronome marking. 

● The staff and bar tool : The score displays a pencil icon for each staff 
and each bar: 

Clicking in one of these will either highlight a full staff (from first to last measure of the 
score) or a full bar (one bar for all staves of the score). The corresponding property 
panel will give you the following options: 

● Add/remove measures. 
● Add/remove instruments. 
● Measure numbering options. 
● Grouping staves and handling brackets. 
● Editing the staff labels. 
● Handling pickup measures and incomplete measures. 

Page Layout 

The page layout tool helps you re-organize the page layout. When this tool is 
active, the score displays the systems and the frames (presently there is only one 
frame per page, specifying the margins inside which the systems are distributed). 
 ● By clicking on a system, the score displays handles and buttons:

The handles lets you resize a system horizontally and move it vertically. The buttons 
act as follows: 

● Moves the last measure of a system at the beginning of the next system. 
Only the current system and the next system are modified. 

● Moves the last measure of a system at the beginning of the next system. 
However, the next system keeps the same number of measures and its last 
measure is moved to the next system, and so on up to the last system of the 
score. 

● Moves the first measure of a system at the end of the previous system. 
Only the current system and the previous system are modified. 

● Moves the first measure of a system at the beginning of the previous 

system. However, the previous system keeps the same number of measures 
and its first measure is moved to the previous system, and so on up to the first 
system of the score. 

● Moves the system to the next page. Only the current and next pages 
are modified. 

● Moves the system to the previous page. Only the current and 
previous pages are modified. 

 
When a system is selected as shown above, its property panel appears in the left part 
of the screen. You can modify the indentation and vertical position by clicking the 
Apply​​ button.  

By clicking on a frame (between systems or before an indentation), the score displays 

its handles: 

The handles lets you adjust the frame in which the systems are distributed. 

When a frame is selected as shown above, its property panel appears in the left part of 
the screen. You can modify the margins by clicking the ​Apply ​button. Each value can 
be applied to the current page or to all pages. 

By clicking in a page, but outside of a system or frame, the whole page layout is 
selected for that score. 

The page layout properties are then displayed to the left and you can recreate a new 
page layout by choosing the parameters you want, like the paper size, staff size, 
optimization and specification for the number of measures per system. 

Object selection and the clipboard management 

As mentioned before, clicking on an object will select that object and display its 
property panel for editing that object. The selected object can also be copied into the 

clipboard using the icons. 

However, it is possible to select more than one object. In this case, the property panel 
of the objects are not displayed, but now you can use the selection for copy/paste 
operations. 

Score playback will start at the measure that contains the first selection, otherwise at 
measure 1. 

 
When the selection changes, if the resulting selection does not call for a specific 
property panel, the general Edit Selection property panel appears to the left. You can 
access functions that will apply to the selection, like for instance “Transpose”, but 
there will be other features added as the program evolves. 

There are 3 types of selection operations to select one or more objects in the score. 

Selection of individual objects 

● Click on the object: it is selected and its property panel is displayed. 

● Click while holding the ​CTRL​​ key: this object's selection is toggled; use it 
to add another object to the selection or to deselect an object that is 
already part of the selection. 

● Click while holding the ​SHIFT​​ key: only valid for a note, it will extend the 
selection from the last selected note to the current note. It is an easy way 
to select a melodic line. 

● Starting outside a measure and with no highlighted object, drag a free rectangle. 
When released, the objects inside that rectangle will be selected. If done while 
holding down the ​CTRL​​ key, the objects are toggled in/out of the selection. If 
done while holding down the ​SHIFT​​ key, they are added to the selection. 
  

Selection of a block of measures for one or more staves 

● Click inside a measure to select it. 

● Clicking while holding the ​SHIFT​​ key will extend the selected block 

● Clicking while holding the ​CTRL​​ key will add the measure to the existing 
selection; this makes non-consecutive measure selection possible. 
  

● Double-clicking to the left of a staff will select the whole staff (from first to last 
measure of the score); holding ​SHIFT​​ will extend the selection and ​CTRL​​ will 
toggle that staff. 
● Double-clicking just above a measure will select the stack of measures below 
that location; holding ​SHIFT​​ will extend the selection and ​CTRL​​ will toggle that 
stack of measures. 
● Double-clicking elsewhere will select all measures on all staves (the full score). 

Selection of a partial range of measures for one or more staves 

● Click inside a measure and drag the mouse to select the expected time section, 
on one or more staves. Holding the ​SHIFT​​ key will extend the closest range of 
selected measure. Holding the ​CTRL​​ key will add the new range to the existing 
selection. 

● You can build a selection that combines one or more of each of the 3 selection 
operations. 
  

● An additional and specific mode enables to select one or more symbols, like 
this: 

● The sequence of symbols can then be copied and applied on any other 
sequence of notes. For this to happen, there must be no other types of selection 
than symbols. 

Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete 

Based on the current selection, the standard cut/copy/paste/delete operation icons 

can be used. 

● Copy the selection into the clipboard (also by ​CTRL​​ + ​C​ ) 

● Paste the current clipboard content to the current selection (also by ​CTRL​​ + 
V​​ ). In case of a complex type of selection combining all the above described 
modes, the exact location of the destination of the operation is determined by 
priority to be: 
○ The beginning of the first measure and first staff of the first block 
selection. 
○ If no block selection exists, then it is the beginning of the first measure 
and first staff of the first partial range selection. 
○ If no partial range selection exists, the first individual object determines 
the location where the paste operation will be executed. 

When pasting a complex and/or non-consecutive selection, the content is first 

concatenated into a continuous and time ordered sequence, then pasted at the 
destination. If more than one staves are copied/pasted, the destination offsets of the 
staves stay consistent with the source of the original staves. 

●   Makes  a  copy  of  the  current  selection  to  the  current  clipboard  and  deletes 
the selection from the score (also by ​CTRL​​ +​ X ​). 

● ​DEL​​ or ​Backspace​​ deletes the content of the current selection. 

Clipboard manager 

● The clipboard manager is displayed with the icon: 

● When the clipboard contains music data, it is displayed as a miniature: 

● You can save the content of the current clipboard as a “saved clip” to be used 
later. There can be many of these saved clips. They are associated and saved 
with the current score. They are displayed in the lower part of the clipboard 
manager: 
  

● You can delete the clip or use the clip. When clicking on the ​Use ​button, the 
content of that clip will follow the mouse cursor as a “ghost score” and will be 
pasted at the exact location of the next click: 

● If the clip contains only individual symbols, they may be applied (dragged) on 
the current selection and the symbols will be applied to all the notes of the 
selection. This can be used to apply an articulation (or a sequence of 
articulations) to a set of measures in one shot. 

Drag and drop 

● The copy/paste operations may be executed based on an intuitive drag and 

drop feature. 
● Clicking inside an existing selection in the score and dragging the mouse will 
initiate a drag & drop operation. A “ghost score” follows and will be pasted at 
the exact location where you release the mouse. 
● This operation does not affect the current content of the clipboard.