I have a section of a piece that I am working on that has 4 Trumpet parts and 4 Horn parts. Throughout the piece, they are condensed into two staves each (1+2 and 3+4). This poses no issue until about 60% of the way through, when they have been forced by Dorico onto separate staves for each part. I don’t understand why, as they are all playing the exact same rhythm and most of them are in unison in this section, so condensing shouldn’t be a problem. While trying to fix this, I tried manually condensing the staves back to their original settings. However, this results in every note after the condensing change to not appear on the score at all. It is especially strange because it works for two measures and then everything disappears. I have tried resetting the condensing with a condensing change as well as manually condensing into the upper/lower voice splits as they would normally be. Any ideas on why this happens? I’m trying to get this solved because 8 separate staves take up way too much space on the score. Thanks to anyone who can help!
Welcome to the forum, @dylankahrens! Notes disappearing entirely is indeed rather strange.
The traditional first step most responders will ask for is for you to upload/attach a dorico file as an example. (You may redact as much as you can so long as the redacted file still shows the problem.)
Thanks @kiwimusic! I’m not sure how to redact a Dorico project and due to me being a newer user I can only upload one file (which foiled my plan to submit screenshots), so I have attached a rather crude pdf file showing the area of concern. The first page is the page before this issue occurs, showing what the condensing has looked like up to this point in the piece. The second page is what Dorico automatically did, forcing my brass into separate staves for each part. This doesn’t entirely make sense, as the parts are all the same rhythmically and similar enough pitch wise to be condensed without issue. The final page of the pdf shows what happens when I insert a condensing change at the beginning of the page and manually condense the brass to what they had been. This works well for two bars, and then the music disappears. The players continue to play throughout the page, but no notes are shown. I have no idea why this occurs at all. The only thing I could possibly think of is that this project was originally done on MuseScore and transported to Dorico via MusicXML file type, but I have since rewrote every brass part individually specifically for condensing purposes and saved the file as a native Dorico file, so I’m not sure if that still plays a part in it or not. I’m trying to finish this project before the new year and this is the only hitch I have left. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
CondensingIssue.pdf (1.6 MB)
Hmm, can’t tell from the PDF, sorry!
Of course, you always have the option to just upload the entire .dorico file as is, but in your shoes, I’d
- duplicate your
.doricofile - delete the first 234 bars and bars 240 to the end
- delete all instruments except for the trumpets and the horns
- upload the new
.doricofile.
Hey, I actually managed to figure it out! I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but some of the key signatures were placed independently, instead of having a universal key signature, which prohibited condensing. After removing each key signature than putting one universal KS, it condensed completely normally. It looks significantly better now! Thanks for the help!
Was the original an xml import?
Yes, but I had rewritten the brass parts for condensing, including key signatures so I’m not sure how it ended up like it was.
This first thing I do with an xml import is to check/correct all local key and time signatures…