Condensing Violins 1 & 2 (2 voices per part)

Dorico
1

Totally lost re. condensing…

I can see where to set instruments to allow condensing in the Layout options window, and I’ve found the ‘Condensing change dialogue’ here:

I’ve got used to inputting different percussion parts (in Galley view) for different percussion instruments played by one percussionist. All works fine there.

…But having defined the instruments Violin 1 and Violin 2 in section players ‘Violin 1’ and ‘Violin 2’ respectively, I find Dorico won’t let me add a second Violin 1 instrument inside Violin 1 player (to make the needed second stave in Galley view so that I can enter voice number 2).

In a nutshell: how should I set up the staves for each of Violin 1 and Violin 2? (I have two voices for Violin 1 [part] and two voices for Violin 2 [part].

Thanks to anyone who can get me on the right track.

Often, online Dorico ‘Help’ videos show what Dorico ‘can’ do, but not how to do it step by step + what each step achieves.

I’ll keep looking.

2

Section players can only hold one instrument. However, they can divide if you want to split them up onto more than one staff.

If you don’t need more than one staff for a section player, and instead are happy to represent their parts with up/down-stems on one staff, just use voices on the staff like for any other.

3

Thanks Lillie. This gets me unstuck.

I’d still like to learn about condensing though and will keep reading to try to figure out the differences between:

  • condensing change
  • condensing groups
  • manual and automatic condensing
  • condensing options
4

The section in the manual on condensing starts here, then look at the topics beneath this one in the list on the left.

Condensing options are available on a per-flow basis in Notation Options. You can then override these for specific sections using condensing changes (similar to how note spacing changes override your per-layout defaults for note spacing).

Condensing groups determine which players can be condensed together.

Manual condensing is where you override the default condensing result, for instance, if for some reason two identical parts are refusing to condense into a single voice, despite checking that all their slurs, dynamics, articulations etc are exactly the same.

5

Thank you for the navigation overview for ‘Condensing’ Lillie.