Tweaks to make it capable for MU4

[pastfuture-music]

I've found out that this plugin ain't updated for MuseScore 4 yet, and here's my fix (from 19th line to id: 'pluginId' ):

MuseScore {
      menuPath: "Plugins.TempoChanges"
      version: "3.4.1"
      title: "Tempo Changes"
      description: qsTr("Creates hidden tempo markers.\nSee also: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/tempo#ritardando-accelerando")
      pluginType: "dialog"
      requiresScore: true
      categoryCode: "tempochange"
      id: 'pluginId'

Would you maybe update this code into the project? Thanks in advance!

(cuz i know nothing about how to use github pull request 😅 so i post it here)

[jeetee]

I'm reluctant to make it MS4 compatible (which indeed is an easy thing to do) because MS4 has tempolines built-in.

To that end it'd be more interesting to know why you'd still prefer to use the plugin over the built-in function so we can direct energy at improving the built-in version instead.

[pastfuture-music]

oh i didn't notice that.... i didn't find the built in one yet

[jeetee]

For the built-in ones look at the Tempo palette, which features a rall. and a rit. line. See also https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/tempo-markings

[ThatOtherAndrew]

IMO this would still be good to have, because tempolines are quite limited - the tempo changes are really coarse and gradual tempo changes over more than just a few bars sound awful.

[bbikdash]

I'm reluctant to make it MS4 compatible (which indeed is an easy thing to do) because MS4 has tempolines built-in.

To that end it'd be more interesting to know why you'd still prefer to use the plugin over the built-in function so we can direct energy at improving the built-in version instead.

This Plugin in MS3

This tempo change plugin, which I used in MS3, offers way more control than the current built-in tempo change available in MS4. With this, I can control the start and end BPM, how to get there with the curve setting, and the exact starting and ending notes in which it is applied. This method is absolute since you know the start and ending tempos.

Compare to MS4

In MS 4.1.1, their tempo change is relative; you set the starting and ending notes of the tempo change but the slowdown or speed up is computed using percentages (i.e. 50% slowdown or 175% speedup). You also have to manually keep track of the current tempo marking that acts as the start tempo of the tempo change which may be several /measures pages before. Similarly, the control of the exact curve that the tempo change follows in built-in MS4 is limited to 2 options. This becomes difficult to manage and know the exact tempo that MS4 is using internally if you want to do complex tempo transitions (like multiple rit. or accel. back to back, each slightly different).

Conclusion

Making this compatible with MS4 or if the devs included this plugin right off the bat for users that want more control would be fantastic. Right now, MS4 tempo change is okay but the tweaking I have to do to achieve the same results with this plugin is more effort and the end result is generally not to the quality that I'd like.