Feature request: Staff with one line for pitched instruments without XML hack

[FredGUnn]

Yeah, it’s not a perfect workaround. Alt+arrow doesn’t move the notes, but Alt+Ctrl+arrow will move an octave, and Alt+Shift+arrow will move up or down chromatically.

At least for me middle C is still one ledger line below the staff line, but the little ghost note that appears as a preview is off by a line. This next note will input as middle C on a ledger line below the staff even though it is appearing on the line. As long as I know what to expect it doesn’t really bug me I guess.

There might be a way to change to definition though. I’ll play around with it.

[FredGUnn]

Ok, I think I figured it out. If you add this doricolib file to DefaultLibraryAdditions, it will create a new clef in the Uncommon category called “Percussion Clef for 1-Line”
PercussionClefFor1Line.zip (538 Bytes)

It defines the line to be middle C, the ghosted preview note will be correct, and it’s possible to move the notes around vertically as you normally can. Gif below:

I set the clef entityID to be clef.percussion3. If you want it to be the default clef for your 1-line custom instruments, you can specify that ID in the doricolib file you are using for the custom instruments.

[klafkid]

wow, thank you so much! That’s very much appreciated. I want to create 2 and 3 line instruments for well “new music stuff” I am working on, so this will really help a lot!

[FredGUnn]

I haven’t tested it with 2 or 3 line instruments, but in theory you should be able to create clefs for them as well if needed. Any new clef will need a new unique entityID, staveIndexFromBottomLine will change the clef positioning, and hotSpot changes the note definition of the line(s). There was a bit of trial and error with this as I’m still not 100% sure what the reference points are, but it works!

[klafkid]

thanks, I just wanted to ask about staveIndexFromBottomLine. If I have further questions, I’ll come back, and if I succeed I surely will be posting the files here!

[FredGUnn]

@klafkid

I just wanted to ask about staveIndexFromBottomLine

Positive values there seem to move the clef positioning up. I used a value of 4 in the file I posted. Changing it to 8 moves the clef up to here:

Obviously you may need to play around with that setting for 2 or 3 line instruments.

[klafkid]

Update: I figured out how to create new instruments. Neat! But: How do I get the stave lines spaced further apart? I would like to achieve a total of 4 spaces distance (so same height as a regular 5-line staff).
Does anybody know? I didn’t see a property in the .doricolib that would help me achieve that…

EDIT: I assume it must be in the “staveDefinition” Tag, but there’s only: numStaveLines, barlineSpan, bracketSpan, useBrace, isVocalStave, defaultContextualStemDirectionIsUp

I guess I need something like “staveLineDistance”, which obviously doesn’t work?

[FredGUnn]

If a setting like that exists, I haven’t seen it. One solution could be to use a 5-line staff and just remove the unwanted lines in Acrobat once you export the PDF.

There is a gridNumSpacesBelow setting in the kitDefinitions.xml file, but I have no idea if it’s somehow possible to use a non-percussion percussion kit.

[klafkid]

Yes, but that’s hard when having a bigger score… that’s why I am trying to do it “out-of-the-box” with the 0, 1 and 3 line staves… I will try things out.
Sadly I don’t have a Sibelius license, I guess it would be possible to do it the „old“ way of exporting a 3-line instrument as xml, right? Is it then possible to check the instrument definitions in Dorico?

[Derrek]

If the 3-line staff is not big enough, would using Preferences to increase the staff size slightly help, using the same property normally used to reduce a violin staff (say) in the piano part of a violin sonata?

[klafkid]

I don’t think that would help, it would also scale noteheads and dynamics… basically I am trying to achieve what’s in @FredGUnn ‘s top line of the screenshot (and/or bottom line)

[FredGUnn]

I just tried with Finale. I set up the file with a 3-line staff and the line spacing set to 2 spaces (48 EVPUs in Finale-speak). After exporting and re-importing into Finale I get this …

… but importing into Dorico results in this:

I suspect Dorico won’t honor the spacing if the XML comes from Sibelius either.

[klafkid]

That’s sobering… maybe I will download and play around with Musescore later… thank you!

[klafkid]

@FredGUnn

kitDefinitions.xml file

I checked it, it is literally drawing the kit as two separate instruments and using the spacing defined in your tag for distance.
It’s kinda doing exactly what the kit editor suggests it would do

[FredGUnn]

LOL, yeah, I figured it would be a long shot. Oh well.

[klafkid]

Doing the same (creating a 3-line staff with two spaces distance, exportings as xml, reimporting) in MuseScore gives me the following:

and dorico is outsmarting me… I indeed started with woodblocks, which it correctly imports as a kit lol

Doing it with a melody instrument brings me just where you arrived with Finale. Dead end?

[FredGUnn]

I’m stumped. If I had to do this, I think I would go the Acrobat route. At a couple of clicks per system, it’s pretty fast! Of course, if you have hundreds of systems, it will be a pain, but at least you should be able to have a 3-line staff that uses 2 spaces between lines. GIF below:

[dspreadbury]

Dorico doesn’t at present have any way of specifying which staff lines appear, or how they should be spaced, for pitched staves. If you specify 1 line, you’ll get the middle one; if you specify 2, you’ll get the middle one and the one above; if you specify 3, you’ll get the middle three lines, etc.

[klafkid]

Thanks, that’s the nail in the coffin for that… I’ll have to think about other ways!

[klafkid]

And just to close on this: my goal was to add a second instrument to the singer to switch between singing and speech with roughly indicated pitch contours. The switches could (and would probably) happen mid system, so it really would be more complicated, especially for a 30 min piece.