Jazz chord symbols - questions (or likely feature requests)

Dorico
1

Hello,

A few questions (most likely actually feature requests) about jazz chord symbols. I am wanting to do the following things, but there seems to be no option for them:

  1. Vertical stacking of alterations with separate sets of parentheses, instead of a single really tall set of parentheses.
  2. The ability to size the elements of the chord symbol separately from each other. ex. in Cmin7 having control over the size of the C vs the min vs the 7, usually the C would be largest, the 7 the same size as the C, and the min would be a bit smaller. Note: I can partially accomplish this with the option to make the min7 subscript but unfortunately I don’t see a way to make the 7 full height.
  3. Adjusting the spacing in those parts of the chord symbols globally, ex. adding a bit of extra space after the C and before the min in Cmin7. The default squashes them together, and it would be nice to have control over that.
  4. (less crucial) 6/9 chords - there is no factory default option for a superscript 6 with a full size 9 without a slash. The slashed 6/9 comes closest and I can delete the / to make it look right, but it would be nice if there was a factory option for that.

Also I have asked about this before (and I think it was added to the list) but configuration options for accidental size in chord symbols would be really helpful. Sometimes the accidentals are too large at the beginning of the chord symbol (ex. Bb7, the flat is too big) but they are too small in the bracketed alterations (ex. C7(b9), the b is usually too small).

If there is any way of fixing those things currently, I would like to know. Otherwise it would be great if those could be considered for feature requests. I’ve been customizing chord symbols manually as a workaround but it is a huge amount of work - it would be great if there were enough options to get this without having to go through and add C7(b9)(#5) and move things around, then add C#7(b9)(#5) and move things around, then Db7(b9)(#5) and move things around, etc… It is too much work to have to override several hundred chord symbol appearances.

Thanks!

2
  1. This is theoretically possible, but not really doable due to bugs between the Edit Chord Symbol Component and Project Default Chord Symbol Appearances windows. Unfortunately when it looks like this in the Edit Chord Symbol Component window

it looks like this in the score.

I’d love for this bug to get fixed in the next version as it really limits what is possible with chord symbols.

  1. Sure, when you are in the Project Default Chord Symbol Appearances, window, click the Edit Component pencil underneath to make a global change to that suffix. You should be able to delete the composite and rebuild it however you want.

  2. Agreed. Modifying all suffixes to achieve this would be very tedious. A horizontal offset would be desirable.

  3. Here’s how I have my maj69 chords customized to appear:

Not sure if that’s what you want, but it’s not too hard to achieve. There’s a bit of trial and error involved due to the Edit Chord Symbol Component window isn’t WYSIWYG bug, but this one isn’t so bad.

For something like Bb7, you can globally edit the size and position of the flat in the Edit Chord Symbol Component window. If you select it and hit the Edit Component pencil that allows you to make a global change to that glyph. For C7(b9), just realize that the sizing split point is at 75%. Anything 75% and smaller uses the small accidental; 76% and larger uses the larger size. I have my scale factors set to 76% just to invoke the larger, more legible accidentals.