Niente circle size

Dorico
#1

Hi,

I have, for a while now, been thinking that the circle indicating niente in crescendo/diminuendo hairpins looks a bit small.
I’m concerned that there’s a chance that musicians would overlook it (or in the case of the ill-willed ones, at least comment on it being small).
Is there any way to increase the size of it slightly?

#2

There isn’t at the moment, but I agree that it could possibly stand to be a bit bigger. I’ll have a think about it.

#3

If it’s important for you, and if you feel brave enough you could open Bravura in a font editor and scale the glyph yourself. But you haven’t got that from me… in case you blow up everything.

#4

I agree with this. It’d be great to have an option (perhaps under “Advanced” in that section of the Engraving options) to re-scale the circle.

I looked in Kurt Stone’s Music Notation in the Twentieth Century for an authority on niente-circle notation, but he only discusses the use of n. Maybe the circle post-dates his book (which is 1980).

#5

Agree!
Also, I miss another standard niente sign: the italic ø. (Very practical in that it cannot be mistaken for a harmonic or an open string.)

#6

Rune, you can easily edit this yourself using the Music Symbols editor. Set it once for all future projects.

#7

Thanks a lot, Dan! Is that done by clicking the star symbol (Save as Default) after having edited?

#8

Yes.

#9

Also strongly agree that the niente should be bigger. And actually I was told by an LSO player that the nientes can be hard to spot and players usually prefer ‘pppp’. BUT, if a niente circle is bigger, then I guess players will play them more confidently. Nientes in Dorico are so small that they’re probably not useful at all.

1 Like
#10

It didn’t seem to occur to anyone, but in the same way you can change the niente-circle for the ø, you can also make it bigger. I.e. there is, and has been for a long time, an option for making the niente-circle bigger with the music symbol editor.

2 Likes
#11

@Aasmund thanks - this is just what I want. A great capability to be able to customise this.

The default niente circle diameter is far too small by any standard. If your eyesight is not strong, its almost invisible.

#12

I too find the circle too small to be easy to read.

I would also like an additional style, that is the barred circle (ø).

Paolo