I see in the 6.1.10 version history that Bravura has been updated to version 1.455. Has the design of the Brace changed in this version?
If so, are the old glyphs still accessible within Bravura? I need the design to be consistent with some older projects.
Here’s a PDF generated a few months ago:
And here’s the same project, opened today:
It does look like there has been some slight adjustment at some point; but I’m not sure when. The latest change was for the tuplet brackets.
I prefer the older brace version because it complemented the aesthetic of Not-a-set dry transfer system.
This is awful! The new design has nothing to do with a classical look. I agree with @NorFont.com . How do I keep the previous design after upgrading?
You’ll need to replace the glyphs in Music Symbols editor for those in another font, or restore an earlier version of Bravura from your backup.
Note that there are several different braces, used at different sizes. There are threshold settings in Engraving Options.
I can’t find any mention of the change, either in Version History notes, nor in comments here by @dspreadbury, so we’ll see whether it’s intentional.
Assuming other aspects of Bravura is improved, excluding the brace, can I ‘mix’ two fonts, just using the ‘old’ bravura for the brace, and can two bravura fonts coexist at the same time? I know very little about font handling.
I’m hoping the change was an accident. For a publisher such ‘large’ changes are not good. It changes the look dramatically and for large ongoing projects where consistency is required this is a problem.
You can’t have two copies of the same font installed; but you could create a modified version of Bravura with a different name.
I’m just off to buy some cheese; but if you hang on, I could create a font just with the old braces in it.
Or you could have a look at FinaleMaestro, or other fonts.
I haven’t upgraded yet to latest version so I’m running the ‘old’ font with the prefered brace. I would very much appreciate your help in having a “modern font with the old brace” for the latest Dorico version. I’m on Mac if that is important. Many thanks!
I do like the Bravura look in general so I’m using it with great results (IMHO).
What else has changed in the new font? Changes in “tr” or similar symbols? I don’t like radical changes in fonts without detailed information which the release notes might have omitted (but I don’t read them letter by letter either…)
By the way, this is my (private) Brace Designer ©, a Python-developed app. The app can create and capture any brace design and emulate it. It’s still in the works.
It would be fantastic if Dorico had a tool like Finale to customize the piano brace.
—Nordine.
Is there a version history for Bravura? I can’t seem to find one. I’d love to know what else has changed that I haven’t noticed.
I feel like this is a significant change; the brace being (often) the first and largest object of a system of music.
I could find this on GitHub.
Ends with version 1.392, Jan 2021 though, can’t find if there’s a more recent version public available elsewhere.
Since Dorico 6,1 Bravura is version 1.455
Now that Dorico can draw curved lines, including brace-type ‘mirrored’ shapes, I wouldn’t be surprised if piano braces were eventually created this way at some point in the future.
I have also noticed this - to me unwelcome - change in the brace design. However, I don’t think there’s any need to mess around with fonts. Go to Engraving Options/Brackets and Braces and under Advanced Options change the value for Regular brace to a much lower number.
To me the new brace for small sizes looks overly chunky and lacks the graceful flow of the regular one.
Regardless of aesthetic tastes (respect to everyone’s opinions regarding brace design), it is very important to me to maintain consistency among and within projects, especially for certain clients. I would really like to see documentation on what else, if anything, has changed in Bravura.
Never has a more British phrase been uttered. 
I did indeed adjust the brace design in an internal revision of Bravura some time ago, but we didn’t update the version of Bravura that we are shipping with Dorico until version 6.1.
The new brace design is intended to be more graceful, particularly in the middle, where the former brace looks a little thick, and where the curve on the “inside” of the brace isn’t very good; the new brace also tapers to a finer point.
You can see the contrast in this image:
The other changes between Bravura 1.45 and Bravura 1.455 (the current version) consist of:
– Kerning improvements for the glyphs in the ‘Tuplets’ range (U+E880–U+E88A).
– The new ‘Tuplets supplement’ range (U+EF10–U+EF1F) with the new roman and italic brackets and parentheses for tuplet digits.
– New stylistic alternates for these new ‘Tuplets supplement’ glyphs, and a new stylistic alternate for guitarVibratoBarScoop (U+E830) to provide the appearance favoured by various UK publications.
I’ve been lax in keeping the official Bravura GitHub repository up-to-date, so I will remedy that in due course. The difficulty is that Bravura is a little ahead of the current state of SMuFL development, and I’ve not got time to completely harmonise them at the moment.
Below is the piano brace I used in Finale, the settings given to me by Wesselin Karaatanassov. I think the one by NorFonts above is also beautiful and hope he issues his app soon and that it can work in Dorico. The old Bravura is along the same lines, but as Daniel said, it doesn’t thin out enough. I have however reconciled myself to it, and I will not upgrade to Dorico 6.1 until someone reports that they are able to use the old Bravura piano brace in 6.1 or can recommend one that works and is better.
I am currently preparing a font with lots of braces, including the old Bravura one, and a glyph based on Wess’s Finale settings. I’m also adding a whole bunch of braces from the Lilypond Gootville font, which need of bit of work for use in Dorico. (of which there are over 500…)
You can then replace the existing braces with those from this font – or indeed, from any other font like Sebastian** or FinaleMaestro – in the Music Symbols Editor.
Worst case, just keep a copy of the old Bravura, and then delete the ‘new’ version, copying the old one to the system Fonts folder.
** I did spend a bit of time a while ago making sure that the Sebastian braces were quite good, with a … whatever the word is for size as they get bigger.
Brilliant @benwiggy
Jesper
