Hello,
In the following example, I do not understand why Dorico draws the stem of D after A upward?
Is it a bug or Could I resolve this in the preferences?
It’s probably because of the preceding note. Dorico stem direction is dynamic depending on the surrounding context. Check Engraving Options—Notes—Stems to change preferences. See here as well: Stem direction
Thank you!
I love the feature “determine by context”.
However, It seems to be strange that D is affected by a perfect fourth lower pitch.
Could the algorithm be improved?
I’m not really crazy about changing the stem direction of notes on the middle line except under rare circumstances. Take a look at scores made by good publishers; they seldom if ever flip the stem direction of middle line notes upwards. As a player, I’m used to seeing those notes with the stems down and it affects one’s reading. Under certain circumstances, seeing those notes stems up can even be confusing. The example by the OP is really unacceptable.
Take a look at scores made by good publishers
The following example is the same piece engraved by “Breitkopf und Härtel”:
The default stem durection is already “down”
If the D comes after B and C#, then the upward stem direction is entirely OK.
That’s correct, I was going to remark that setting the default as “up” or “down” doesn’t really address the issue of the change in the middle of the bar. As the light blue text description says, this is only for instances where context doesn’t inform the stem.
It seems Dorico is setting the first D stem-up because of the preceding notes. But I agree that it shouldn’t change mid-measure. I don’t claim to have an authoritative reason, but it definitely looks odd to me.
I have noticed Dorico’s default convention used in British engraving from the early 20th century. I’m not sure how widely used it is today.
Here on an odder example with the same setting above.
I think the algorithm seems to need to be improved.
This is NOT what dorico does by default - there’s got to be something odd about what you’re doing.
I think you have done something to force the stems to be all down, but it’s impossible to tell just from a picture. If you attach the score somebody will probably be able to find the problem.
Thank you!
I had reset all stem directions to default, and the stem directions in the second example are now ok.
However, D after A in f clef has still upward stems.
The other thing is be careful that you aren’t accidentally in a second voice. If you enable a second “downstem” voice it will force stems down (or visa versa).
This is expected behavior - Dorico is deciding the stem direction based on the context (the previous note).