FR: Ignore grouping of dynamics when condensing

When condensing, please ignore grouping information for dynamics.

Here is an example of 2 players:

Condensing result:

Player number 1 just “joins in” and plays the same thing as player number 2, so in my opinion, the top row of dynamics does not convey more information than the bottom.

My next idea was to add a condensing change at the start of bar 3, allowinge Dorico to reconsider its choices. This is the result:

Now only “mf” and “p” are doubled, but only the Dorico Gods would know what that little thing right under the last note is…

Here is the file, in case somebody wants to play around (it really is just two players of the same instrument and those 4 bars): Condense grouped dynamics.dorico (482.4 KB)

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That’s a hairpin flipped inside out, the optical correction makes the point fly off into the fourth dimension. Apart from that, have a +1 from me.

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I have noticed that I avoid writing these kinds of things, since I try to avoid the hassle with condensing… That is of course not optimal for the best musical result…

Easiest (quick) solution for me has been simply to not condense these kinds of bars at all.

Well, I write for wind orchestra with 25+ players. Condensing is a must here :wink:

I understand. Sometimes when “hide empty staves” is on there is enough room to temporarily not condense some of the staves. Sometimes I also just make the staff size temporarily smaller to fit these uncondensed staves. With dynamics both below and above the stave, condensed staves can sometimes take almost as much vertical space as non-condensed staves.

This - and it looks more confusing when you end up with 2x the same dynamics between staves.

Hi. I just stumble upon this thread and I happened to have some time…
I don’t know if things have changed in those fields since 5.1.70 but here’s my result, playing with your file:


I’ve ungrouped everything, then grouped the dynamics from mf to p, so that both instruments share the same grouped dynamics.
Condense grouped dynamics.dorico (481,6 Ko)
Hope it helps!
NB: you can group p and < but then that whole group will look too low, I prefer it that way, YMMV.

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Hi, Marc!
Thanks for spending your time. :slight_smile:
You are perfectly right - once the different players have similarly grouped dynamics, the result (in the score) is better.
But I would consider this just a workaround, as it means that I have to give up “correct” grouping in the players’ parts to achive better result in the conductor’s score.

My point when starting this thread was a more general one. :wink:

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