I have watched YouTube and looked at help pages, but I am unable to understand how to change the Layout to fit more systems on each score page when I get to Engrave mode. My score is for 4 players including piano, so five staves. The default settings produce one system per page, and I want at least 2 if not more. Adjusting all the vertical spacing numbers seems extreme, and a waste because I have to tweak almost every system’s height in Engrave anyway. I read something about staff size - how does the differ from adjusting the master scaling during printing? Lastly, do the Layout editor’s settings directly affect what you see in Engrave mode?
I know that’s a lot - but it’s all about the same thing. Thanks for help!
I do not experience that. With default settings I get 2 systems per page, which is what I would expect for this combo. Pushing it to three would be most unusual, but I guess it all depends on the size of your page and your basic Space size.
Empty measures will fit, sure. My score uses maximum pitch ranges for all instruments, so between the notes above and below, plus slurs, dynamics, accents, etc., it no longer fits more than one ** with default Rastral size **. I finally located this help page:
As I said… it all depends on your space size. Please don’t go ‘tweaking system heights in engrave’. That will only lead to frustration. 99% of the time there is a global setting that will meet your needs.
There is nothing special about the “default” rastral size. Different target groups use different staff/space sizes, and Dorico does not know how to anticipate what sort of group a score will serve.
Adjusting the vertical spacing settings, in addition to assessing the most appropriate staff size, is almost never a waste of time, as it in most cases reduces the amount of manual adjustment you need to do.
Note that manually moving staves up/down in Engrave mode will never prompt Dorico to move systems between pages.
Things you can do to get more music onto a page include:
reducing the staff size (if appropriate given the context, ie will the staves still be large enough for their purpose – look up reference materials like Elaine Gould’s ‘Behind Bars’ for recommended sizes)
reducing the vertical spacing settings – remember that Dorico will always do its best to avoid collisions, in addition to these values, so you can set the “Ideal Gaps” to be quite small if needed
reducing the minimum gaps between staves/systems with extra content (Layout Options > Vertical Spacing) and also the default gaps between various notations and the staff/other items. Eg in a very tight score, you might want to reduce the minimum gaps between dynamics and the staff, to let them tuck in closer
If in doubt, watch these videos which are very helpful:
It’s quite normal in chamber music with a piano to print parts other than the piano in the score (which is also the piano part) in a smaller staff size.
My score uses maximum pitch ranges for all instruments, so between the notes above and below, plus slurs, dynamics, accents, etc., it no longer fits more than one ** with default Rastral size **. I finally located this help page: