Hi there,

We hope that you are all doing well and you enjoy the last few days of your holidays. On our side summer was nice but we didn't get too much rest because we wanted to take advantage of the low activity that comes with the summer, to work on the most eagerly awaited feature since we launched the platform.

Being able to Insert a note or a rest wherever you want in an existing composition hassle-free.

We are super excited to announce that you can finally do it on Flat!

With the insert feature comes two major improvements in Flat

Being able to change the duration of a note/rest and chose how it will impact your creation

You will notice a new button in the tool-bar:

Button to select the behavior of duration changes

There you can click on the second option to change the behavior of the changes of duration:

The two behaviors for changing durations

Now, when you will change the duration of a note, instead of inserting rests or removing notes, the whole content after the edited note will be shifted.
Here I am selecting a quarter note.

Initial state

If I change the G note duration to a half note duration, it will push the other notes to the right:

After changing duration to half note

Instead, if I change its duration to an 8th note, it will pull the other notes to the left:

After changing duration to 8th note

You can see that the quarter notes that fall between two measures are cut in two 8th notes, connected with a tie.

Insert a note or a rest of any kind or duration and have your existing work move forward.

Note insertion

Here is the button you need to press to switch to insert mode:

Insert mode button

The shape of the cursor is now changed:

Cursor while in insert mode

Now you can insert notes, that will shift the content after to the right. Here I am adding a middle C in the middle of the score.

After insertion of middle C

You can also choose the duration and the alterations of the note to be added. Here I am adding a high C sharp, with a duration of a half note.

Selection of sharp, and half note
After insertion of high C

Rest insertion

You can also insert rests with this button:

Button to insert rest

Here I am adding a rest of a quarter note duration.

After rest insertion

Deleting note/rests

While you are in insert mode, you can also remove rests/notes, that will result in pulling the content after to the left.
For instance there:

Initial state of the score

I am deleting this A note. Here is the result:

After removing the A note

Future improvements

At the moment, we cut notes and tuplets that get between two measures, but we do not merge those back when possible. This is something we plan to improve in a future version.
Also, we want to combine this insertion possibilities with the time signature edition, so you will be able to change the time signature and have the content preserved.

We know for sure you will enjoy using this new feature because even for us that was a game-changer while composing 😍

If you have any questions, feedback or just want to say "Hi" feel free to reach out any time by message.

Have a wonderful day.

Best,