Problem with strings divisi

Dorico
#1

Hello everyone,

I’m encountering some issues with Dorico’s divisi, when I’m engraving my score and my individual parts. The thing is : I don’t really know where to put my divisi when there are rests. Here for example, if I need to put the divisi (in 3) the bar before it actually occurs, because if I put it where the music actually starts, it will stay (in 2). I’m experiencing these kinds of things a bit everywhere in my score, that force me to put divisi a bit arbitrarily in the score, in the middle of a several bars of silence, as long as it is the first bar of my page.

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This is working on my score, but when it comes to individual parts, the divisi placements are incoherent. For example, you can see that the div. a 2 for the cellos there is a bit awkward, but I’m forced to do it like this, because if I move it at bar 69, it will then create something awkward in the score : the third cellos are still there while they should not. If I understand correctly, Dorico consider silence as music, but then, I’m not sure where to put my divisi indications in a way it will work both in my score and my individual parts. I hope I was clear.

Regards,

Francis

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#2

Hi Francis, the way divisi works in Dorico is that the first divisi change in a system applies for the whole of that system; if a 2nd change takes place somewhere in the middle, the number of staves won’t change until the next system.

I think what’s happening in your score is that the prevailing div a2 is “counting” as a divisi change at the start of the system, because it’s still in effect. I would imagine if you restored unison immediately after the previous div a2 section, then added the div a3 exactly where you want it, 3 staves would appear in the bar before in the score. The alternative is to adjust casting off, but I do understand that’s not always possible or desirable.

1 Like
#3

Hi Lillie_Harris, I think I got it! The best thing would be to put Unis. systematically when there a silence to avoid these kinds of problems. And I can delete the unis. mention in my individual parts with with a “space” as a custom text.

Thank you for your help!

#4

Worth considering that the flip-side to that idea, where Dorico automatically restores unison whenever there are rests, might be awkward to work with - e.g. if you’re playing around with who’s getting which notes or copying the notes from elsewhere. If you know you’ve reached the end of a divisi section, let Dorico know by restoring the unison :slight_smile:

#5

Would it be possible to have dorico set the divisi change to the maximum divisi that occurs in the system? This has bitten me before in a rich French impressionist score that frequently switched between a2 and a3.