I have all the settings set to allow the phrase unison approach but it is making the bottom notes all stem down and the top notes all stems up for every single note, even with the exact same note and rhythm is being played.
There are always some good reason to this, that’s why condensing is, as a side effect, a very good proofreading tool. Keep in mind that Dorico will deal with “phrases” when it computes how some instruments should be condensed. A phrase starts after a rest and ends before a rest.
In your flutes parts (exact same problem in Clarinets in Bb), fourth bar, how would Dorico choose one voice when one instrument plays 4ter-8th notes while the other has a tied dotted crotchet to an 8th? I suppose there are situations like this in all other chunks that do not condense the way you want
Use manual condensing to force Dorico make what you want, and you’ll probably see why it wasn’t automatic 
Now, note that you can force the start and end of a phrase by adding a condensing change (and enabling the instruments that should use this new start/end). That way you can really use Dorico’s full potential for automatic condensing while keeping some power over it.
That kind of makes sense but also kind of doesn’t make sense because there is an option to allow mid-phrase shared stems for unison notes that I also have selected which it is also ignoring. I guess it also seems very unmusical to condense by phrase rather than by figure but if that’s the way it is that’s the way it is. Hopefully that can be changed in the future.
What would be the quickest way to get it to change stems to the same direction for all unison rhythms.
Welcome to the forum @basenicar.
Many times the best thing you can do is attach your project for someone to look at. Condensing is very complicated.
I’d double check the mid-phrase unison settings:
(Or get someone else to!)
Thanks. That was the first thing I checked. I’ve got all those set to allow condensing with same stems whenever possible. I which rhythms make stem directions in the whole phrase impossible but is there any way to make stem directions in the same rhythms go in the same direction or no.
Have you investigate these?
Simply create one at the point you want to start the unison and then another to reset when you get to the end.
I’m not sure if I’ve explained that very well but I have no other suggestions sorry.
yes that did work! It would be so much nicer if they had a way for it to automatically recognize the rhythms are in unison so the stems could go the same direction instead of looking at a whole swath of music from rest to rest and deciding its impossible just because one beat doesn’t line up xD
Glad it’s sorted.
Marc has a good point here. There must be some setting or reason for this. If you had your settings optimised then you shouldn’t have had to do this - especially at the start of a piece(?)
I’m not sure. MarcLarcher did say it deals with “phrases” from rest to rest. My pieces doesn’t have any rests so it’s counting the whole thing as one phrase. Each line has something that’s not exact (at least in terms of what a computer would understand). I just don’t think that it should prevent the whole phrase from choosing stem directions that way. It would be nicer if it checked each rhythm but if that’s not the way it works then I guess that’s that. I’m not sure why it doesn’t at least do the unison notes because there is a setting for that.
Perhaps you are right. I can honestly say I am out of information lol
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The question is how Dorico “AI” would know where one phrase ends and another begins. To date, no notation software has been programmed to read minds.
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I was simply wondering why the stems weren’t going the same direction and it was already explained to me that it is checking full phrases from rest to rest and if any one thing doesn’t line up it will set the stems to different directions. I understood that. I am just saying I wish it would check them differently since not every piece has rests to break things up. There are other natural breaks in music like measures that could be used to run the check instead. So it could check measure by measure instead of rest to rest or rhythmic duration by rhythmic duration. Or there could be a feature to add phrase breaks where you want them that would allow the program to check phrases in different spots. (I’ve learned that you can do this to a certain degree but it is very time consuming). I get it’s a computer program but I was hoping there was a feature that would run a check in a more helpful way to make things a bit quicker. I’m not expecting the program to read my mind. I just simply don’t know every feature in it and came here to check if I was missing something. No such features exist and that’s fine. How would I know they don’t exist if I don’t ask or research.
It’s pretty quick to add condensing changes at the points at which you want Dorico to consider the start of a new phrase. At least for now that’s really the only way to approach this.
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