Imported xml scores missing empty-bar rests

Dorico
1

I’m revisiting the issue of missing empty-bar rests.

It’s common when importing scores via xml that a considerable number of empty bars do not have rests. The preference option is on.

I know of previous suggestions using start/stop voice and manually placing a rest using shift-B.

However, I’m wondering whether anyone has found a quicker way to deal with large numbers of blank bars in a full orchestral score. Both the above options are extremely time-consuming, and a shortcut would be very welcome!

2

Before you import a file, try unticking
Preferences > MusicXML Import > Rests > Rest Visibility.

Some people like to untick all of these options and let Dorico handle everything.

3

Thanks for the tip, Mark. I’ll try that next time. However, I’m already a quarter of the way through this full orchestral score, and the thought of starting again doesn’t fill me with join! I suspect there is no shortcut. Certainly, copy/paste doesn’t seem to work.

4

You’ll need to look for the last note or rest that does appear in each of the affected staves, and switch off the Ends voice property.

5

Thank you, Daniel.
That works at that point in the score, but the rests disappear again following the next entry. This is quicker than entering the rests manually, but it would be nice to be able to select the whole stave and force-enter rests in empty measure. However, I appreciate that this thinking probably contradicts a fundamental way in which Dorito works!

6

You can select all the notes in a stave and turn off Ends voice for all of them, as long as you deselect any tuplets and other things. But if you have multiple voices this may give you too many rests.

In this situation I would do a new import of the same file anyway, and copy some already-edited passages from your current file if you particularly like how they came out.

7

I did try that, but the properties panel disappears as soon as I select more than one note.
I’ll try another xml import and see how I get on.
Thanks!

8

The properties disappear because your selection includes more than just notes and rests.

Make your selection, then 1) Filter>Notes and Rests, 2) Filter deselect [tuplets, grace notes, slurs] etc. until the properties panel reappears.

9

Another way:

  1. Show voice colors (view>Note and rest colors, check voice colors)
  2. Select one note from each voice
  3. Use sellect more (Ctrl+shift+A) as many times as needed.

Depending on the number of voices this way or the one suggested by Janus will work quicker.

1 Like
10

Yes indeed. (I was mainly trying to show how the properties panel is sensitive to what is selected)

11

That’s what I thought. However, the file has patches of missing empty-bar rests. I can select and remedy missing rests up to the next visible entry, but if I select beyond the next patch without rests, the properties disappear.

I think I’ve spent enough time on this! There’s clearly something else going on, but I think it’s time to do it the hard way. I’ll try a re-import of the XML and some copy/paste!

Thanks for the thoughts.

12

A programmer friend of mine used to say (after losing some code in a crash)
“It always comes out better the second time.”

1 Like
13

That’s very true. Going back over this, I did discover a little more about the circumstances.

I thought some more about this and realised, in respect of the troublesome staves, that the score I imported from Finale had a number of 1st/2nd instruments on one stave as 1st/2nd voices/layers. Due to Dorico’s condensing feature, I selected all lower voice notes in hn 1/2, tpt 1/2 etc. and moved them to new staves. Clearly, that process didn’t insert rests in many places on the new staves, not just blank bars. Some missing rests were making up bars with a note or two at the start.

In view of the amount of work already done on the piece, I’ll carry on working through sections removing the voice end commands. However, it will be interesting to see whether importing without the ‘rest visibility’ ticked affects the outcome of the process.