As you can see from this image there is a random bar with 5 beats in it. Everything is in 4/4 time as evidenced by the other bars around it. I admit to really struggling with this software but I just can’t figure out how to make Dorico remove the extra beat.
Please help!
Please show the signposts (menu View > Signposts > Show Signposts). Probably there are hidden time signature changes.
If so delete the 5/4 signpost, which results in a 4/4 and an 1/4 bar, delete the 1/4 bar with SHIFT B -1 and delete also the obsolete remaining 4/4 signpost.
Were you experimenting with insert mode?
Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.
The “Signpost” says “4/4 (q, 1+1+1+1)”. What does that even mean, and more importantly, how does that suggest that it is appropriate to put 5 beats into every bar of 4/4 time? I just don’t get it.
I don’t even know what that is. I’m trying to transition into Dorico from decades in other composing software and everything is just so counterintuitive to me. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Please select the barline before the 5/4 bar, open the property panel with ⌘/CTRL 8. Is there a hidden time signature? If yes switch it off.
I don’t see anything that implies it would be a bar of 5.
I do really appreciate your time and your help.
The triplet in the 5th staff looks pretty weird. Delete it, you can reenter it. Maybe it’s not supposed to be a triplet at all.
Did you import an XML file into Dorico?
Yes. I imported an MXL file into Dorico. It did not bring in most of the dynamics. I’m having to go through and reset them all.
I deleted it, no change. When I delete the “Signpost” or the 4/4 Time Signature it just pushes an extra beat into the following bar.
I’ve had this problem before with files I imported from Finale. It’s usually due to Finale’s Independent Time Signature feature being activated for that bar.
Any idea on how to fix it?
What happens when you add an explicit 4/4 time signature after the corrupted bar and then delete the wrong 4/4 signature ?
If you double click the time signature you will likely see 4/4,5 in the popover. That means a 4/4 time signature with 5 beats in the bar (which Dorico will treat it as a pickup bar, so the following bars will all be straight 4-beats)
I know you are frustrated with Dorico - but it is essential you get your head around how Dorico handles “musical time”.
It is a good idea to do a lot of experimentation (eg. take some simple scales and add a new time signature at then end. Then add some intermediate time signatures and see what happens - with and without the various insert modes being turned on)
I’d insert two measures at the 3rd measure in the image (select the whole note, press Shift-B and then +2). After that, you can transfer the contents of measures 5 and 6 (3 and 4 in the image) to the new measures (make sure you deselect the time signature change). Once you do so, you can delete measures 5 and 6 (click the bar above the measure). If the time signature change remains, you can just delete it.
You can also delete the corrupted measure in the original file and then re-insert it in Dorico manually (not copy-paste). If you do this, be sure to save extra copies as necessary.
I sometimes get this problem, so I create a new bar next to it, copy and paste the original notation into the new bar and delete the offending bar. Works for me.
Isn’t it better to understand why it happens in the first place and how to fix it, rather than ignoring it and doing extra work?
Have you tried putting the caret at an appropriate place in the measure and typeing SHIFT+B -1q?
