Is there any way to automatically hide chord symbols when an instrument isn’t playing? For instance, if I have a song with rhythm section where the guitar isn’t playing for 8 bars at a time, having to go into the part and manually hide the chord symbols every time is tedious. Even more so if I later decide I want them back.
I’m not aware of too many instances when a composer would want chord symbols over rests for a musician, it would be really useful if they could automatically be hidden every time.
You could try changing the settings for Chord Symbols in the guitar to ‘Hide for All Instruments’ and then use the create a chord region to show them where you need them.
That’s the same clunkiness though, of course the workaround is there. The copyist in me is just worried I’ll miss something at some point and slow down a rehearsal when a musician sees music over empty bars and has to have it explained as a copy error. Seems like a simple enough but really powerful tweak to the chord system is all.
Also as someone who’s trying to be evangelical to other industry professionals about Dorico, this is one point that’s pretty hard to explain away. Of course Finale and Sibelius are garbage. But whenever I’m trying to win over converts, it’s very clear that people have figured out all their old garbage, and are very reluctant to learn about NEW garbage. Especially about something on a basic level, that kills it every time.
That’s been suggested, but it’s an extra step (just as selecting and hiding is). It seems counter to the Dorico philosophy of reducing menial tasks/keystrokes. Mind you, the kind of writing I do usually require more hiding if chord symbols than most. I usually have 50/60 flows and 4 rhythm instruments 3 of which have chord symbols. Manually hiding/adding them for me is a tedious task. I would guess my needs fall outside the norm.
It may be very true that you write more unusual music than most, but I think this is a really common problem! Anyone who’s not exclusively writing lead sheets would HOPEFULLY be good enough at orchestration to not have every rhythm instrument play at all times.
Not unusual music, but more like musicals…I have several flows (50+) per project with mostly rhythm instruments (small pit band). It’s common for me to have those instruments resting in various places throughout the flows. It’s tedious, to say the least, to either hide or create chord symbols regions. That being said, I’m still a HUGE fan of Dorico. It saves me a ton of time in the long run and always looks great.
Josh, they read every post here. They don’t necessarily actually reply until they have a useful answer. Don’t be disheartened by a lack of immediate response, particularly when your initial post was on a Friday evening after office hours (on a week when at least some of the team have been at an expo).
I’ve also posted about this topic on 2 different occasions. This would be the third post that I’ve been involved in on this specific topic. They (Dorico Team Members) have responded to the other posts if you want to search for them.