Standard notation

The staff above the tab or on its own, its clef and its key signature.

Available on iPad, iPhone and Mac.

The standard staff

On a guitar or bass track, Reflow draws the standard staff above the tab and keeps the two in step: a fret you write on the tab shows as a note on the staff, and a note you write on the staff goes on a string of the tab. A piano, a voice or another instrument with no strings has the staff alone.

To write on the staff, put the cursor on one of its lines or spaces: the keypad’s 0 writes a note there, and 1, 2 and 3 make it flat, natural or sharp. On the Mac, the number keys do the same.

A clef, a key signature or a time signature starts at a bar and holds until the next change: put the cursor in the bar where it changes (or select that bar with the Measure tool) before you open its dialog.

Clefs

In Edit, Attach › Clef opens the Clef dialog; with the Measure tool, Clef in the bars’ toolbar does too.Score › Clef (⇧C) opens the Clef dialog. Its name shows at the top right as you choose:

• Clef: G (treble), F (bass), and the C clefs, C1 to C5, the C on the staff’s first to fifth line (C3 is the alto clef, C4 the tenor clef).
• Transposition: No Ottavia, or the clef with an 8 or a 15 above or below it, for an instrument written an octave or two away from where it sounds: One Octave Lower (8vb), One Octave Higher (8va), Two Octaves Lower (15mb), Two Octaves Higher (15ma).

Apply puts the clef at the bar.

Key signatures

With the Measure tool, select the bar and choose Key Sig in the bars’ toolbar.Score › Key Signature (⇧K). The Key Signature dialog shows the key you pick at its top right:

• Major or Minor, at the top.
• The keys in three rows: the flat keys, one to seven flats; C major (or A minor); the sharp keys, one to seven sharps.

Apply sets the key from that bar on. For a modulation, set another key at the bar where it changes.