Dorico’s “as soon as possible” treatment of instrument change labels is generally very practical. However, in certain cases it can cause problems. For instance, this rather mundane passage:
Clearly, the change from bass drum to marimba should be shown in the 4th ending, not within the repeated bars. Because the bass drum does not permit voices, the workaround I’d normally try (creating a note in a second voice and putting its opacity to zero) is not possible. And the often used kludge of inputting an empty text object has no effect. Nor does forcing duration on the bass drum whole rest.
In the end I have to input a whole note, change its opacity to zero, and recreate the whole rest as a text object—frustratingly time-consuming.
Eventually, it would be nice to be able to change the rhythmic position of the instrument change label. Meanwhile, if there are any quicker workarounds, I’d love to know.
We do plan in future to have a means of specifying whether an instrument change happens “early” as it does now or “late”, i.e. immediately before the entry of the new instrument. Ideally we would also make Dorico take repeats into account when determining a position for an instrument change, which is something I’ll think about.
It would be nice to be able to overide the instrument change labeling if you so choose.
There are instances with some of my VSTI’s where its not needed. Not sure if this is doable yet.
Eagerly awaiting this. I hope it is still on the list for addition. There are MANY situations in which being able to control this would be helpful. Some are cosmetic, but others have profound benefits for clarity in score and parts. The current available workarounds are quite clumsy and have unfortunate domino effects.
Daniel: I see your comment that you may implement a “early” or “late” option (which would be an improvement), but I would much rather see a handle that could be moved like cues have. This would give us very helpful editorial control and enable more nuanced things like moving changes after page turns or making them coincide with double-bars or rehearsal divisions.
