Drum set default voices

Dorico
1

This issue I’m about to describe isn’t causing any problems as far as I’m aware, but I’d like to understand the reasons for it.

I have a project with drum set which is showing Up-stem Voice 3 as the default. The instruments in the kit are set to use voice 1. Right-clicking on Percussion → Change Voice → Up-stem Voice 1 doesn’t do anything (the selection stays as Voice 3), and Percussion → Change Voice → Down-stem Voice 1 moves the selection to Down-stem Voice 3. Percussion → Change Voice → Reset Note Destination Voice doesn’t make a difference either.

If I add a second drum set, this defaults to Up-stem Voice 1, although some flows default to Down-stem Voice 1 for no apparent reason.

Any notation I input respects the stem direction set in the kit, so this is not causing me any problems – I’m just curious about what has happened to voices 1 and 2 in the first kit (and why it seems I can no longer use them) and the reason the second kit doesn’t default to up-stem voices in all flows.

I’ve attached a cut-down version of the project showing these issues.
Drum set voices.dorico (588.1 KB)

2

The short answer is that percussion kits handle voices in a way that’s quite different to pitched instruments, and it’s not worth getting hung up on what voice index ends up being shown in the status bar when you select notes and rests in a percussion kit.

The voices that Dorico uses when it is showing music for a percussion kit in either the grid or five line staff presentation type are ones that it creates and manages itself. Notes from the individual percussion instruments are assigned (in a similar fashion to how condensing works) to these kit voices when the music is re-notated and the contents of the various component voices are combined.

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