Custom staves

Hello!
I need to notate unspecified pitches. I would want to use custom staves: one line for a singer, or three lines. After trying and reading in the fantastic updated manual, I understand it that:

  • pitched instruments are locked to five line staves (or tabs)


  • unpitched percussion instruments use one line staves (separate or in the nice percussion kits) with the limitation that all notes are written on the line. Which makes it impossible to use unpitched percussion instruments as a work around for pitched instruments playing unspecified pitches.

I know I still can write unspecified pitches using hidden noteheads and hidden ledger lines (which demands that I switch between write mode and engrave mode). But still I would like to be able to create custom staves like in this example from Ligeti’s Aventures:


So this is a feature request.

Thanks
Henrik

Yes, this has been discussed at length (for example, here) and it’s on our list for future versions.

1 Like

You can circumvent this (current) limitation if you plan a bit ahead… you can create a tonal single line staff in (e.g.) Finale and export it as MusicXML. Dorico will respect it on import and you can continue working with it and add surrounding instruments as required…

slp.png

Thanks fratveno!
However the noteheads are only placed directly above, on or below the single staff line. A friend showed me how this is possible in Dorico using percussion kits.
However it’s not enough for the type of writing that I need to do. Look at the examples here: Staff styles - Dorico - Steinberg Forums