Chord symbols can't be edited

Attempting to change the minuscule size of the 6/9 by editing chord symbol appearances yields no results after hitting “apply”. Anyone else having this issue?

Check your preference setting of which 6/9 symbol is being used.

Which arrangement are you trying to modify, @bobsabin?

For these purposes, I’ll assume you’re using Diagonal arrangement under Appearance of 6/9. Here’s what I’d do:

  1. Choose Library > Chord Symbols.
  2. Enter e.g. C6/9 in the entry field at the top left.
  3. Select the C6/9 chord symbol in the list at the left of the dialog.
  4. Now in the main preview grid, select the 6/9 component.
  5. Click the pencil to edit that component.
  6. Select the 6, / and 9 components in turn in the editor that appears, and change their scale from the default of 50% to something you like better, e.g. 85%.
  7. You will probably want to drag the / and 9 components closer together.
  8. Click OK to complete this edit, then click Apply and Close in the parent Chord Symbols dialog.

That should hopefully take care of it – if not, please let me know what’s happening for you.

Hi Bob! Editing stacked suffixes in Dorico is definitely my least favorite thing to do in the program. The editing window is not WYSIWYG so everything is guesswork and trial and error experimenting. For example, I prefer the 69 stacked without the crossbar. To get this in the score …

… it needs to look like this in the Edit Component window:

(That’s using Baseline attachment points which seem more reliable than Bottom.)

For global suffix changes, I prefer to use doricolib files, so I can always be able to start from File/New and don’t have to make suffix edits for every root (for some suffixes). I don’t know what look you are going for, but here’s a doricolib file with the stacked 69 suffix I’m using. It may or may not look correct with your default fonts so you might need to edit it. Just unzip the file, and add it to your user DefaultLibraryAdditions folder. On the PC that lives at Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Dorico 4\DefaultLibraryAdditions.

Chord69.zip (893 Bytes)

If that doesn’t work, or you want a different look, just PM me. I was practicing out of your Bass book last summer so I figure I owe you!