I am noticed a strange behaviour when I try to adjust the beams while in Engrave mode: there are some position where it happens a sorto of magnetic snap, which unfortunately it is in the wrong position.
It’s collision avoidance. You can see the down stem voice tuck and untuck when you move the beam. Try using alt and arrows for a smoother and more precise experience.
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Thank you, I tried using the arrows but it’s the same. Contrapuntal music is more painful than I thought. I have perused several scores and you just have to squeeze those notes somehow.
Probably now the trend is to have very tall beams the go outside the pentagram. For me it’s easier to read the second example but I have always seen the “squeezed” version.
Yes, it will jump when the tucking is supposed to change. That’s just the nature of it and I’m not sure how it could be avoided.
Assuming this is keyboard and the left hand is taking the down stem voice, have you tried:
If it is keyboard, the right hand cannot play that alone anyway, so this is easier to read and much clearer.
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Apologies, I wanted to write contrapuntal music on guitar! I perused some manuscripts from Bach and I have seen cases where the stems almost disappear. Everything is so beautiful in his handwriting.
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Two staves might still be a decent option. Sometimes complicated piano and organ music is split out onto three staves just to make it all clear anyway. Surely this has been done on guitar before as well. This peculiar combination of rhythms is difficult to fit into one.
Edit: I’ve been doing a deep dive into guitar music on IMSLP and so far have come up empty. I’ve found a few instances of ossia staves, but they seem to present alternate passages rather than extending the primary stave to be read together. I confess I’m quite amazed how committed editors are to one stave when there’s a lot going on.
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For my money, Bach has the best manuscripts of any composer. There is so much life and character in them, but they are still very clear. I love the swoops and curves. They are beautiful.
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Perhaps your first option is best.
I just found this edition of a Giuliani Mauro concerto and the editors used extremely short stems here too, so it seems there’s precedence at least where guitar notation is concerned.
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Indeed! I think JSB would have ditched Dorico 
And Zelenka’s handwriting is interesting too, completely different. We miss a lot using a computer.
Thank you for the example. In similar cases I have always seen the steam shortening approach.
I managed to that in most places but not in my first example. The collision avoidance sometimes seems to let you have beams on top of the note heads.
I think it’s the guitarists. All the Bach’s fugues transcriptions for guitar by guitarists that I could find challenge Dorico’s “collision avoidance” algorithm.