Hi all,
I have a score here with Horn 1/2 in one stave (and more like this). I’d like to explode it into two seperate staves (Horn 1, and Horn 2).
I already found the Paste Special > Explode function. But this means I first need to create two empty horn staves.
Is there a quicker way, where it explodes and while doing that creates the new staves itself?
Thanks!
How to do it is contingent on whether the existing notes are in a single voice (as chords), two voices, or a mixture of the two.
I find the simplest route is:
This isn’t entirely clear. Logically, Dorico automatically condenses such horn parts, and in this case, a staff for the second horn is already available in your setup.
So: is this a score that Dorico has condensed, or is it a score in which you have written the horn parts in condensed form yourself?
In the first case, simply exclude horns parts 1 and 2 from Dorico’s automatic condensation (in Layout options ; see screen capture below); in the second case, follow the instructions provided by Janus.
Thanks Janus and Obi!
It is case B: This is a score where it is “by hand” written into one stave.
However, I wonder if Janus procedure works. Because sometimes it is also marked “a2”: Thus there is just one note in the bar, but it should be played by both horns.
Does Janus procedure still work for that?
In Sibelius there is a plugin “Explode” which detects the situation and copies the music accordingly. "(It can also create the needed single horn instruments.) Is there maybe something like that in Dorico too?
You would need to copy those sections and paste into a new voice, or simply copy those across to the additional horn. (As I said the difficulty will depend on how the original has been notated)
To follow up on Janus’s advice, in these “à2” passages you can use the filter to select only the lower notes of the chord, then copy and paste it into the new horn part you’ve created.
Where the horns are actually written in two voices (if certain passages are), you will need to filter voice 2, copy it and paste it.
This will take a while, and I sincerely hope your score isn’t too long. These steps are unavoidable when the file you’ve received hasn’t been created ‘the Dorico way’.
Thank you both very much again.
Unfortunately this is quite a quirky workaround.
E.g. slurs are not copied to the other stave. (E.g. in homophonic passages where all share the same articulation and slurs.)
I wonder, why this is so complicated in an actually much newer software than Sibelius (where there is a good-working plugin for that.)
Are there maybe other ways to do this in Dorico?
I don’t think it is quirky (or complicated) at all. Which tool you need to use will depend on the particular notation you are trying to split at a point in the score.
eg. for a homophonic passage you can select and paste special>duplicate to the staff below. Similarly you can copy and paste special>paste articulations if you need to duplicate slurs and accents etc.
I’ve forgotten all the Sibelius plugins now, but I do recall they all had their limitations and would get things wrong.
Hi @Stefan_B, as always, the best way to receive effective help is to upload a Dorico project example, with a couple of bars that have the passages that you need to explode, so we can give precise advice and suggest strategies based on context.
It is complicated because Dorico works in the opposite way to other software: you enter the parts first and then condense them, whereas other programmes engrave the score first and then extract the parts.
So, Sibelius nowadays offers a brilliant split-system tool (it’s not a plugin but a built-in feature) which, in such situations, produces two separate parts from a condensed stave. But Dorico, which doesn’t think in this way, doesn’t have this sort of tool, so you have to find another way.
The reverse is also true: users of Finale, Sibelius, MuseScore or similar programmes will be tearing their hair out trying to reformat XML exported from Dorico, given the proliferation of all those instruments staves. These are the inevitable limitations of exchanging files created by different software programmes.
I did tell you that it would be a long job. I think you’ll need to be patient enough to transfer all the notes to your new stave, and then re-enter the dynamics, slurs and other markings. I’m sorry I can’t suggest a quicker way ; it takes a bit of effort, but it’s not insurmountable.
