I see some related threads but I don’t know if I’ve run across this specific case on the forum. In 2023 I engraved the first movement of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and from what I remember it worked fine.
Opening the file now, whenever I try to condense strings with double stops, some of the notes disappear (bars 51-64) and there the occasional double noteheads (cello bar 52, violins and viola bars 56-60). But they are all there in galley view.
Was my memory mistaken and this was always an issue? Did I do something wrong in the condensing? There is no divisi in the file. Thanks for any ideas!
If the difference int he double stop is only a quarter note, I would notate the upper triple-stop as three noteheads on a single stem, which should simplify the condensing situation. I would expect any current string player to realize they could not hold the lowest note.
If the upper notes were half notes or longer, then I might seek a different solution, perhaps using grace notes.
You didn’t show what the lower instrument was doing on the beat containing the triple-stop. That could make a difference.
Hi Richard,
I appreciate the clarification. Any chance this will be considered in a future release?
It’s not uncommon to write double stops for orchestral string sections string sections. What Dorico currently does is a disaster. See for example, the image below which was condensing beautifully until I added in the open string double stops:
(Here, the Violin I & II are divided and treated as individual players, mostly playing unique lines. The condensing that they were doing was V I 1-5, V I 6-10, V II 1-5, V II 6-10. It is going to take me hours to clean this up for what is actually something really simple:
In your case the music is presumably only in a single voice, on each source staff? That’s different from the case I was talking about before, where the music on the source staff was in multiple voices. If you want me to take a look at what’s going wrong in your example I’d need to see a project file showing a short extract.
