Hello,
I am trying to dive into the condensing feature of Dorico.
There is a setting I can’t find in Notation Options: where can I tell Dorico to condense two players to be condensed onto a single stem versus to be condensed onto two opposite stems?
Have you tried the Condensing Change function in Engrave Mode?
More on it here. Dorico 3.1 released: condensing changes, dynamics lane, lines, and more – Dorico
If you want to enforce that Dorico should always use two stems for two players when condensed, you need to use manual condensing by way of the Condensation Change dialog to specify that the first player should be assigned to the up-stem and the second to the down-stem.
Thank you David and Daniel, yes this is where I am at the moment, I do it all manually.
I was hoping to find a setting in Notation Options.
Strange thing in my score is: the way Dorico handles the condensation seems a bit random to me still.
For example, my flute thirds are being condensed onto one stem, my bassoon thirds, just an octave below in the same musical phrase get two stems, one up, one down. This by Dorico’s default.
I went through the whole score and have fixed it all manually to show two stems.
Now my publisher wishes it to be the other way round…
Going through manual condensing changes again seems to be my only option.
Dear k_b,
As you’ve probably read a certain number of times, only providing the file can help when about condensing issues, because it is so… delicate. I understand where you are, but still, I think it can help to understand deeply how Dorico does the choices it does when condensing. If bassoon lines were really a copy of the flutes lines (downed by 2 octaves probably) the result should indeed be the same automatically. What matters here is :
• Are the lines really identical in every way (dynamics, accents, rests) ?
• Do the musical sentences start and end at the exact same place ? (That’s when simply putting a condensing change is really effective, to make Dorico think this is a new start)
I am very sorry to read that your publisher now wants the other way round. That’s the kind of case where it’s probably better to have as many automated things as possible, in order to simply change the options…
Let us know if you’ve found some pattern that caused you problems and if you found a nice way to work this through!
Marc, you will probably understand, that I do not want to upload a file here, which is on the way to be commercially published quite soon…
I will try to convince my publisher to have another look at the score - as I think with Dorico‘s help I came up with quite an aesthetically and musically pleasing solution…
Perhaps the publisher would not mind (or would approve) your isolating and posting the few measures necessary to evaluate the problem.
It is an aesthetic and also a musical decision, how one wants condensing to appear. In classical music I like to have the wind instruments “Harmoniemusik” to appear more pronounced - that’s why two opposite stems seem appropriate.
I did not get any guidelines - except that it should be simple and easy to read - he has discovered Elaine Goulds book - so there should be no problem.