Condensing change trouble

Dorico
1

Hi folks. I’m trying to figure out how to use a condensing change properly (it’s my first time). Right now I have 6 horns on two staves that look like this

1, 2, 3
4, 5, 6

And I want to recondense them to look like this on the new page (and then back the next page)

1, 2
3, 4
5, 6

The problem is I cant figure out how to do this. When I try to separate horn 3 from 1&2 it lets me but I can only put it on its own staff. I can’t figure out how to join it with horn 4. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

2

Set your horns as entirely separate to begin with and only use manual condensing changes . If you set default groups at the start, my recollection is (at least in earlier versions of Dorico) that you cannot then recombine them in ways that are less rigorous than the initial setting.

1 Like
3

Yes, @Derrek is correct:

If you specify custom condensing groups, you can’t then combine instruments in different groups using condensing changes. (That’s the whole point of them, I guess).

Remove the custom condensing group via Layout Options and then add a condensing change at bar 1 to show 123/456 and then change it wherever you need to show 12/34/56 or whatever.

1 Like
4

Thanks for the replies. I was using a custom condensing configuration so I suspect that was it. I will try it out and report back if I encounter any further difficulties.

So should I just not use custom condensing configurations at all then and just have every instrument separate? How are you running your templates?

5

It depends.

You ever want to be able to split instruments into any combination - e.g. Horn 1 and Horns 2/3/4 vs Horn 1/2 and 3/4 - then you mustn’t use custom condensing groups.

You should put a Manual Condensing Change at the beginning for how you would like the staves divided at the beginning (otherwise it will display as Horns 1/2/3/4). Then, put another Manual Condensing Change set to Reset where you think it should change and let Dorico change it for you (it should do the sensible thing in relation to your Condensing settings).

You might be able to leave it at that or repeat the steps for the rest of the flow based on if you want it a particular way in a particular place.

1 Like
6

Thanks for the reply. Great info. :+1: