How do I change chord symbol globally?

Dorico
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1

Hi, I just moved over from Finale to Dorico Pro 5. Immediately, I am having an issue with chord symbols. How do I make the change globally? Also, how do I change the default behavior for new documents? I did click【Save as Default】but nothing happened.

Thank you in advance.

Here is my problem:

Monosnap Project Default Chord Symbol Appearances 2024-09-08 09-29-36
Monosnap Project Default Chord Symbol Appearances 2024-09-08 09-29-361920×1782 197 KB

2

Welcome to the forum, @madflute. Here is how I would approach this issue:

  1. In Library > Chord Symbols, type “Cm7” into the box at the top left, then + to add the chord symbol to the list of Project Default Appearances.
  2. Select the - sign in the large editing area on the right.
  3. Notice that the third item in the row below the main editing area is selected. Now click the little pencil icon immediately below. (This will edit that default component so that wherever it appears, your edited version will be used.)
  4. In the dialog that appears, make whatever changes you want to make, e.g. set Scale to 150% for X and Y (both must be set to the same value). Perhaps you also want to increase the Offset in the Y direction.
  5. Click OK to return to the main dialog and see whether you’re happy with the edit. If not, repeat steps 3 and 4.
  6. When you’re happy, click Apply followed by Close.

Now try creating e.g. “Dm7” in the score: you should see that the minus sign has the same scale and position as in “Cm7”.

To save this change as a default for all future projects, go back to Library > Chord Symbols and select your “Cm7” chord in the left-hand list, then click Save as Default at the bottom of the dialog.

2 Likes
3

Hi @dspreadbury ,
Thank you for your response. As you can see in my screenshot, I did all that including Save as Default. And then I deleted the existing D-7 followed by adding it back as a new. The change I made for C-7 didn’t reflect on D-7. If I type C-7, the changes are applied. What am I doing wrong?

Allso, is there any way to apply the change to every single minor 7th chord throughout the document?

4

Please work carefully through the steps I wrote out, and you will get the result you want, including the change to the size and position of the minus sign being reflected in every other minor 7 chord in your project.

If you find that not to be the case, please attach your project here.

5

Hi @dspreadbury

I just tried using one of the factory templates that I have not touched. Please see the screencast and let me know what I am doing wrong :pray:

Ouch! I can’t attach 6MB video here so I uploaded the video to YouTube but it won’t let me paste the YouTube link here. OK, I will attach the project file as you asked.

By the way, my main issue has been solved by creating my own chord symbol font, as suggested by another thread. I am just curious why your suggestion didn’t work for me.

Untitled Project 6.dorico (583.6 KB)

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I’m struggling with this too. I want to move ALL chord suffixes to the right - giving a little more space between the root and the suffix. I can change each chord root of each type of chord. With enharmonic spelling, that’s around 20 MA7, 20 mi7, 20 mi7b5, etc. etc. How can I do this globally?

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@Harold_Steinhardt @madflute when you want an suffix globally to move horizontal go to library - chord symbols - add any chord symbol - double click on the suffix, you are now in Edit Chord Symbol Component.

Here you can move the suffix horizontal BUT that will have no effect, don’t ask me why. It is something that is not is working as it should be.

To solve it you can delete the suffix and add an glyph non breaking space. An empty letter in a way. Then add again the the suffix you just deleted and move it horizontal, and save all. If you ever want to edit again and you select the suffix be aware it selects by default that empty space. So you can think think you are moving the suffix but you are moving the empty letter and that was the part that was not working.

I think I learned this trick from @FredGUnn

1 Like
8

The code for this editor is clearly the same that’s used elsewhere in Music Symbols, Playing Techniques, etc. You can’t adjust the positioning of the first glyph in any of these unfortunately. I’d love to see this changed, so the first glyph can be positioned in relation to a 0, 0 starting point, but as of now in all of these you have to insert a blank space in order for the position of the next glyph you input to be adjustable.

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9

Would the zero-width space (U + 200B) serve any useful purpose?

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10

Yeah, I’d have to try it, but I would think starting with that would basically give the effect of having a 0,0 starting point to offset from. Good call!

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11

Wow — and this from a guy who has to mark each of his pieces Molto ignoranto…:smirk:. Glad I could actually “spitball” a font-related idea that might have merit.

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12

Thanks Maarten for your explanation. I am new to Dorico and I’m already stuck at how to remove the suffix. Any additional assistance would be greatly appreciated.

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Found the trash can! I will try the rest later.

1 Like
14

Just saw this. Would it have any bearing on global chord symbol design?

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No, this is something different. GPOS is an individual positioning of glyphs based on their context. So a glyph could be shifted around based on what was typed before it (that’s called a lookbehind).

It’s a font property, so probably doesn’t apply to Dorico’s internal handling of things.

1 Like
16

I have a feeling that this is quite relevant for Dan’s new plainchant font… :wink:

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It’s very possible!

Yes, I’m realizing I can create a large number of complex neumes, and then simply prefix them by typing 1. or 2. etc. to adjust their position on the staff.

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Can’t wait for people having fun with this… :sunglasses: :+1:

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Hello Daniel -

I have done this but seem to have quite a few “9’” in the chord area. Is there a way to delete all of the other ones and just leave 1 selection for this?

Chord symbols
Chord symbols1162×857 135 KB

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Those will be appearing because you have got a number of manual overrides in your project. Have you been editing individual chord symbols via double-clicking them in Engrave mode and then making case-by-case changes?