If you have a MIDI keyboard,
you can use it to enter notes in MuseScore 4 quickly and intuitively
First, you’ll need to check that MuseScore recognises your MIDI keyboard.
Go to Preferences, and select “I/O” (short for input/output).
Then in the MIDI section, open the dropdown menus next to “MIDI input” and “MIDI output”,
and select your device. Then click OK.
MuseScore 4 should recognise your device straight away,
so you shouldn’t need to restart the program before using it.
Next, go over to this settings icon in the playback toolbar,
and ensure that “Enable MIDI input” is checked.
Now you’re ready to enter notes using your MIDI keyboard.
First, enter note input mode by clicking on the note input mode button,
or by using the keyboard shortcut “N”.
It’s important to remember to set the note duration you wish to use
before you play a note on your MIDI keyboard.
To enter one note at a time, press and release each key completely
before pressing down the key for the next note.
If you press and hold multiple keys at the same time,
MuseScore will enter all these notes together as a chord.
It’s worth mentioning that the on-screen piano keyboard will visually reflect the keys
you press on your own MIDI keyboard.
You can also use it to enter notes into your score,
by clicking on the piano keys with your mouse.
You can show or hide the piano keyboard
by going to "View" and selecting "Piano Keyboard",
or by using the shortcut P.
Depending on the model of your MIDI keyboard,
you may be able to assign some of its controls to a range of actions for entering notes
and playing back scores.
For example, I can assign some of these playback controls to switches on my keyboard.
Go to Preferences, and select “MIDI device mapping”.
I’ll select the play action and then click “Assign MIDI mapping…”.
Now when I press an assignable control on my MIDI keyboard,
MuseScore will recognise it and assign it to the play control.
You can also assign actions to actual keys on your MIDI keyboard.
For example, I might assign these note durations to the lowest note on my keyboard.
This will allow me to set durations with my left hand
while entering notes with my right hand,
meaning my hands never have to leave the keys while I’m entering music.
If you liked this tutorial and want to learn more about MuseScore,
check out some of our later chapters on our YouTube channel
or look through our online handbook,
which is linked in the description below.