Hello,
I wrote a piece that includes 2x4 horns sitting antiphonally so I wanted the first page of the conductor’s score have two staves - (1,2,3,4 & 5, 6, 7, 8). The automatic condensing cannot figure out how to list the horns sequentially, so I made a custom condensing setting in Engrave mode.
The only problem is that my changes do NOT apply at the rhythmic position, but rather at the start of the next page. The “Condensing Change” flag is located where I need the change.
Putting the Condensing Change at the start of bar 1 will solve it. The “problem” here is that Dorico starts drawing the system in bar 1 using whatever condensing configuration it has determined automatically (123/47/56/8). Separate instruments can’t switch staves halfway through a system, therefore your change can only begin to apply at the start of the next system. I agree that that may feel couterintuitive, especially as the first two bars are empty. But it’s not strictly speaking a bug, as the behaviour is otherwise predictable.
Alternatively, if you want to have this setup for the entire project, you could also make custom condensing groups under Layout Options>Players>Condensing that contain horns 1234 and 5678 respectively.
Thank you so much for the reply, this fixed most of my issue (I was able to get 1-4 and 5-8 on different staffs)! I would still like the distribution to be much clearer… I have horns 1-6 playing this triad and I tried a bunch of custom condensing groups to make this look clean. The attached is the best I could come up with. Any suggestions?
When I put Horns 1-6 on one staff I end up with a triad printed twice immediately next to eachother. This also screws up my triads on the next page when horns 7 and 8 come in.
(Assuming this is your own orchestration and not reproducing someone else‘s work:) How about giving the opening triad to horn 123 and 567, i.e. three from each antiphonal group, to be joined by nrs. 4+8 at bar 6, when the chords are expanded to 4 instruments on each side? Not only will there be a perfect balance between both groups, but your score will also look very organised from the start.
This is my composition - Funny story, I changed the orchestration from exactly what you described simply to make it easier to condense. My first problems with condensing this started because horn 4 and 8 were resting.
I actually just learned that the horns won’t be antiphonal for this session so it doesn’t matter as much. I can try again with what you described and make another custom condensing scheme!