Is there an easy and efficient way to make aleatoric boxes in Dorico Pro 5? I’ve tried many of the workarounds and I just can’t seem to make them work…
Did you follow the steps explained in this video? They work pretty well for me:
Robin,
Thanks for that solution; it works pretty well! Is there a way I can adjust the height of the box as well as the width?
Robin,
Sorry for the repeated questions, but do you put the box in first and then put the notes in or do you put the notes first and then enclose with the box?
I’ve created the lines and they seem to work reasonably well.
My only doubt is: if one needs smaller boxes just around a few noteheads, does one need to create multiple lines with shorter hooks to make it work?
I’ve personally tried the above video’s method but I have found it can be fairly inflexible to adjust and time-consuming to build. There’s also the free font AleBoxes, which I think is more flexible, but yes, it’s another workaround. I believe the team is looking at a way to make this easier in a future update. fingers crossed
In the meantime I actually prefer somewhat of a hybrid, I simply create a special repeat bracket/brace around the notes I want, and I then use the big long center line as recommended in that video above.
Is it possible for the music inside of aleatoric boxes to spread out over more than one measure, and to hide the barline. Can Dorico do something like this excerpt from Corigliano’s first symphony?
No, boxes presently require workarounds. And no, they can’t erase bar lines.
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Thanks for the news. I’m already missing Finale’s Staff Styles! Hopefully in Dorico 6…
But you can insert an open meter locally in flute 1 at that spot and use an empty text frame with border to create the box in Engrave mode.
Thank you.
I tried it, and works, but the flute1 barline, when it appears before and after the box, is separated from the rest of the woodwind group. Is there any way to prevent fix that?
Yes, I see … I tried, but the usual ways of reconnecting barlines seem not to work in this case, not sure why though - can some of the wise clarify?
Is this close enough?
I gave the first flute and clarinet staves local 4/4 time signatures and gave the barlines inside the boxes local tick barlines with the Tick adj. property set to -1/2 for Out and In in engrave mode.
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Ah … praise to the Master @johnkprice , again!
Thanks! He is the guy to learn from …
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Thank you Mr. Price! I can’t wait to try it.