Hiding note-heads without hiding dots

[Inschrift]

I have not yet found out how to do this. Can anyone help me?
By way of explanation, here is a page from my book Zahl und Rhythmik (Number and Rhythm), published by Leu-Verlag in 2000. I wrote this page with Finale around 1999. On this page you can see stems without note heads, but partly with dots.

This is exactly the function I occasionally need today when arranging, e.g. to write wind phrases in drum parts with staff notation above the system or to give keyboardists or guitarists rhythms with which they should play chord sequences or to give musicians hints for their entries by writing phrases above the system that other musicians play.

These are all situations that often occur in traditional sheet music. They should also be realizable in Dorico. It is also necessary to correct the position of the dot
Swing 8tel.pdf (221.1 KB)
for such notes, by default for all notes without heads, but not for all other notes.

In addition, this score sheet shows the following elements:

• notes without staff lines
• shortened quaver flags
• a changed position of the stem for half notes.
  I have not yet found out how to realize all this with Dorico.

Does anyone here know how?
Dorico 5.1.21, MacOS 12.7.3

[Christian_R]

@Inschrift

stems without note heads, but partly with dots.

Hi @Inschrift to obtain this, select the dotted note and in the properties panels/Common/Color put the opacity to 0% . This will hide the notehead but maintain the dot visible. Also in the properties you can adjust the x offset for the dot.

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@Inschrift

notes without staff lines

look at this :

Instrument with zero lines

Here’s a doricolib file that will add a 0-line and a 1-line non-percussion instrument to Dorico. In Setup you’ll find these in a new Custom category. Just unzip the file and add it your DefaultLibraryAddtions folder. In Windows, this will be found at Users\yournamehere\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Dorico 5\DefaultLibraryAdditions. If you don’t already have that folder, you can create it. 0and1Line.zip (1.0 KB)

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@Inschrift

shortened quaver flags

try to edit the music symbols (for both above and below 8th notes flags):

[Inschrift]

Hi Christian_R
Thank you for your help! I followed your instruction but when I engaged the color switch after selecting a note nothing happened. I was unable to access the color-panel. Most annoying: I was able once but forgot how. Can you help me?

[Christian_R]

Activate the switch and the press on the black little square, in the opening little window you can then set the opacity.

Here some visual explication:

[Inschrift]

Dear Christian,
Thank you very much for your explanation! Now it has worked.
There seems to be a bug here, because this little black box is only visible if you click on a note without dotting. This applies to both the write mode and the engrave mode. However, if you click where the box should be, the color window appears as normal. So I fell into the following trap:
I accidentally clicked on the place where the black square should appear and thus opened the colors window. Then I couldn’t find this box again. Of course, I didn’t take into account that you have to click on a note without dotting to see this box.
Should I post a bug report about this now?
Also: Yes - you can change the position of the dotting point as described by you - but only in the x-axis, but it should also be possible in the y-axis so that it looks harmonious.
Should I post a feature request for this now?

[Christian_R]

@Inschrift

this little black box is only visible if you click on a note without dotting.

I tried and: it works on dotted and undotted notes. If you click on a (invisible) note that has the opacity already set to 0% the little square is not visible: the little square near the Color switch seems to show exactly the color and opacity that you have set up: if the opacity is 0% than you don’t see it (but can click on it because it always exists) If you switch the switch off and on again, the color settings will be resetted to black, and appears black again.

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@Inschrift

you can change the position of the dotting point as described by you - but only in the x-axis, but it should also be possible in the y-axis so that it looks harmonious.
Should I post a feature request for this now?

This was already been requested:

Rhythm dot Y

It has indeed been requested many times before, and it’s something we do plan to add in a future version, though it’s a bit more complicated than it may appear, due to the fact that in particularly dense chords Dorico can end up consolidating multiple rhythm dots belonging to different noteheads, and under those circumstances it’s non-trivial to determine how to position the rhythm dot if it has inconsistent property values. But, as I say, it’s definitely something we plan to tackle at some poin…

[Inschrift]

Dear Christian_R,
I am very happy to communicate with someone from the Steinberg team.
Visibility of the checkbox
You are absolutely right! I made a mistake. I must have set the opacity to 0% and therefore did not see the checkbox. So the checkbox is indeed visible even with dotted notes. Nevertheless, it would be helpful to frame the box so that it is visible even with 0% opacity. What do you think?

Rhythm dot Y
I have often experienced that in software programming things seem trivial but are difficult to implement. Nevertheless, I would like to make two suggestions on this subject, although I suspect that you have already considered them:

1. restrict movement on the Y-axis only to dots that do not belong to notes in a chord or…
2. in Engrave Mode allow dots to be moved just as freely as chord symbols, for example.

[Christian_R]

@Inschrift
I am not part of the Steinberg Team.
I am just a user. . But be sure that the Team is reading all your requests!

[Derrek]

FYI: Members of the Steinberg Development Team(s) who comment here all show the Steinberg icon below their name on their posts.

That is in addition to experienced users who also provide excellent advice and observations on aspects of the Dorico software (as well as general musical practices).