When using doubling instruments, is it possible to have the key change appear at the entry of the next instrument, rather than at the end of the previous instrument? I’ve always found the key sig change right at entry is very helpful so the player doesn’t space out and miss the instrument change. This is especially important when the entry of the new instrument is on the next page. Having the key sig as well as the text appear at the entry has definitely saved me a few times.
No, it’s not possible at the moment. We plan at some point in the future to provide options for whether an instrument transition happens “early” (as it does now) or “late” (just before the entry of the new instrument) but I’m not sure when we will actually have the time to implement this.
Ok, thanks, I would definitely love to have that option in the future!
While I recognise that this is probably more complicated to implement than the “late” approach mentioned, it would be really great if it were also possible to delay the transitionary key signature until the next (global) key signature change.
This can be helpful when the new instrument starts playing shortly before a key change, particularly if the instrument change is intended to make playing in the new key easier (such as Bb to A clarinet or vice versa) where the old key might be quite remote for the new instrument. It also means that the player has one less thing to worry about when changing instrument.
In situations where this occurs in the period of rest prior to the new instrument’s entry, this has the obvious benefit of removing extraneous key signature changes. When there are multiple key changes in the rest period, this would probably apply to the first key change, but I would suspect that there are situations where the last (or even an intermediate) key change might be more appropriate.
I would add my voice to this request for more flexibility on where the instrument’s key change happens. Standard operating procedure in the Broadway copying world is to have the key change occur in the bar where the new instrument enters. Another scenario that I’ve run into, which is similar (but different) to what ClarSco is mentioning, is when the first notes of the new instrument appear in the second bar AFTER a global song key change. In these instances I will actually back up the instrument’s key change to coincide with the song’s key change to avoid having two key signature changes in consecutive measures, and I’ll even put the instrument label in that empty bar as well.
So the ability to set “late” instrument key changes, as Daniel calls them, would be 99% of the battle for me, but extra flexibility to put them anywhere would be icing on the cake.