Say I want to more closely space just the notes at the highlighted section here:
Is there any way to make a selection and have the note spacing change apply to just that? I know at present you have to put another note spacing change at the end of the change to ‘reset’ it, but it would be great to be able to do this, or just have a note spacing change reset function or similar.
Try this:
Go into Engrave mode > Note Spacing.
Select the square edit boxes above the notes then press alt-left arrow a few times. With any luck. that should “squash up” the selected notes.
It is possible to use the marquee selection to drag across the edit boxes and select them all in one movement.
I typically use Shift-arrows to select a group of square handles to adjust them all at once.
I’ve just learned something. Thank you, Dan.
You could also use a Note Spacing Change signpost, and then reset the change. While this approach is perhaps better for larger selections, it has the advantage of staying in effect, even if the system casting off changes.
I agree with Andre and think that it would be better if note spacing changes applied to selected areas only and automatically reset to the previous spacing at the end of the selected area. It is cumbersome to reset after each group and makes what is a very powerful tool into something one is less likely to use.
If you know the extent of the region, you can place the endpoint first, which will have the current settings, and then put in the change at the start. Even if you’re just estimating the endpoint position, you can move it later.
Thanks for that great tip, @Mark_Johnson. That does make it a little less cumbersome.
Also, Note Spacing Changes are not the only tool – as said above, you can just select the note ‘rectangle’ anchors in Engrave > Note Spacing, and press Alt/left arrow a few times.
Thanks @benwiggy. My initial tendency was to use the Engrave>Note spacing handles too much until someone pointed out the alternative. It takes some time to begin to sense which technique is best for a certain situation.
While we are here. I would like mention another possible improvement to Engrave>Note Spacing Change… The window closes every time one makes a change and presses OK and then one has to open it again to try another. It isn’t at all clear how a particular change is going to affect the overall spacing and it would be very helpful if the window stayed open so one could try out various possibilities more quickly to compare the results immediately. But now someone will possibly tell me that this is already possible…at least I hope so.
Yes, that irks me somewhat. However, once you have pressed “OK”, the Change signpost is still selected, so you can move around, and as long as you don’t touch anything, you can press Return to return to the dialog, even if it’s not in view.
For this reason I have assigned a keyboard shortcut (Shift-N), but yes it would be nice if the window stays open, just like the Layout-options window does!
Thanks @benwiggy and @JeroenH. Those are very helpful suggestions! And I am glad that you support my suggested improvement. As JeroenH said, the Layout option window stays open, and actually don’t all of the options windows stay open while one makes changes?
Not Font Styles. Some windows do, some don’t.
I see. Thanks @dan_kreider.
I didn’t know about these signposts — thanks!
For anyone else trying this, there is a trick to it. You can’t just bring up the note spacing dialogue box to create your endpoint, leave the current settings and hit OK, even though it puts a Note Spacing Change blue box in the music at that point. You must actually go through the exercise of clicking a reset button and a Change tab before you hit OK. If you don’t, when you make a new note spacing change previous to the endpoint Note Spacing Change box, it will override the endpoint Note Spacing Change box as if it were not even there.
At least that is my experience with it, and I found it surprising.
Yes, the dialog comes up set to “do nothing”, probably because there isn’t a likely enough default action.
@Mark_Johnson Well, I thought that trick was working. But it isn’t quite that easy. It appears that you must actually change the numbers and then back before it sticks. I think I will still use this, but it’s unfortunately not much of a time saver as it is set up.
In my opinion, one should be able to highlight an area and simply apply a note spacing change to it, leaving everything around it as it was.
Sorry, I was mis-remembering. I was thinking of the manual staff visibility dialog. I’m away from my Dorico computer for today. Will re-investigate tomorrow.