Instead of generic voice labels, it would be nice to label voices as the other instruments in the score.
So for instance, on the piano staves, voice one could be flute, voice two would be oboe, voice three, clarinet, voice 4 bassoon.
Then when you’re done arranging voices with the piano, press a button and have them all move to the the actual instruments in the score… Undo would put them back on the piano staves for further work.
Not sure this request will rise immense interest, as this can be done already quite easily using the filter by voice and move to staff command… I’d rather have the team focused on areas that cannot be so easily “workarounded”
Could you achieve something close to this at the moment using multiple project windows or a split project window, showing uncondensed staves in one, and the condensed view in another. You could edit the uncondensed staves but in real-time see the condensed result, to check how that reads.
Additionally you have the existing reduce/explode commands.
Hmm, what would be nice is a button that makes a piano reduction from a full score!
The Reduce command isn’t bad, but it only makes one decision per use so it works best if you do a bit at a time, separately reducing each time the texture changes.
If it’s a thick orchestral texture I imagine such a function will always need a human to identify which material is useful, duplicated elsewhere in the ensemble or just surplus to requirements. Also to decide whether the thing needs to be playable or to be short score for conductor use (as seen e.g. in Musical Theatre).
I think this really depends if the reduction is for study or to be played. If it’s to be played there are lots of human considerations as Leo pointed out. Here’s a recent video from a well-known orchestration site where this is brought up. He’s mostly discussing doing the opposite and orchestrating a piano piece, but all the elements he discusses can be considered in reverse when making a reduction too.