Hi all,
I have some trouble with a divisi. Solo cello and gli altri, I would like to have the solo staff added above so that the gli altri can tie normally. But it seems it’s only possible to change the normal staff into solo and add gli altri below, resulting in this.
Any workaround?
Welcome to the forum @arjanlinker
Divisi always works top-down, so you can’t visually show a solo staff going above the “primary” staff for that player.
I also would recommend trying to put divisi changes before or after tied notes, as mid-tie divisi changes can be a bit tricky to work with.
Hi Lillie, thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately the tied note below is very long so there isn’t really another place for the change. What would be the way to do it mid-tie?
Have you considered using an added staff rather than divisi for the solo voice?
Hi Arjan, nice to see you here! 
I have been bothering the developers about exactly this issue pretty much since the day divisi was introduced in version 2.0, nearing seven years ago.
Indeed you can fake things with solo staves, or manually hide the top staff when it’s no longer needed. In that case, work backwards and add the visibility reset before hiding anything.
Hey Hugo!
Thanks for the workaround! Then I’m with you on this one
@Lillie_Harris do you know if this issue will be adressed in the near future? This is the second project I run into this issue, last time I got around it by putting the unison in a different place but of course ideally my notation program shouldn’t influence my musical choices. Would be great if this could be fixed at some point. For the rest the divisi works like a charm!
Maybe this could be changed in the future? If solo staves could be added above the main staff, this could solve the continuity problem.
Also, after a solo/altri section, a Unis. should display as “Tutti”.
Maybe - it depends on how tricky it would be to make that change, vs other development requirements. It’s something we know that some users would like.
For unis vs tutti, see here:
You can also edit individual labels using the Properties panel.
Thanks @Lillie_Harris.
Regarding unis vs tutti, the setting you mention doesn’t solve the problem, because both are needed – Unis. after a “divisi”, and Tutti after a “solo/gli altri”.
The only workaround for now is manually editing “Unis.” in Engrave Mode.
(Unfortunately, inserting another divisi change for “Tutti”, produces a different result than reseting to Unis.)
The point is: Tutti and unis. are not variants of each other, they’re not equivalent. This is not a matter of taste, or house style — they’re essentially different beasts.
As stated above, Solo (or any smaller subsection, like first desk only) alternates with Tutti, while divisi (of the whole section) is ended by unisono. There may even be combined cases (like two desks divisi a 2).
Of course, one can change any individual label, but it would be nice if Dorico would actually have two different Engraving options here. One for your preferred spelling of ‘unis.’, and one for how you call a ‘tutti’.
[Edit: maybe my remarks are a bit redundant now, never mind]
