In the screenshot below, I have just inserted a framebreak moving the next movement to a new page. Sometimes the preceding music is nicely redistributed but other times, as in this example, it is not. This is obviously not a big problem, and I can certainly just move bar 89 to the next system, but is there some reason that this is not always done automatically? Is there a command to force a recalculation without imposing my own fix by moving that one bar?
To expand on what jesele says: your frame (page) is c. 42% full, so Dorico won’t justify it unless the first percentage in the Options is less than that. (TBH, that would be quite spacious, and you could probably get 3 systems to a page easily.)
The second %, by default is 80%, which I think is too low. I recommend 90 or even higher. Basically, when the frame is over 80%, then Dorico no longer spreads out the staves within the systems; but only the gaps between systems. This can cause uneven results, if you’ve got frames that are under the limit and over the limit.
Wait, are you talking about why bar 90 is all on its own? OK, let’s talk horizontally!
Dorico lays out the first system by adding bars until another one can’t be fitted. Then it does the next system. On top of that, you’ve “interfered” with Dorico’s automatic layout with a Frame Break. Dorico does sometimes “balance” successive systems; but in general, it just fills each system with bars that will fit, and moves to the next.
If you’re going to intervene with a Frame Break, then you may need to add a System Break as well.
I don’t understand this. The vertical justification of the systems is just how I want it. It is the distribution of measures within the two systems that is the issue. Here is another example showing wider context. I do not want systems vertically justified but, rather, consistent spacing between systems even when it leaves a large empty space on a page. In this example it seems obvious that measures 28 and 29 should be in the next system making 4 measures in each. Again, I can certainly move the two measures manually, but that imposed system break may be a problem later if other spacing is changed. Why is Dorico not doing that intelligently as it often does in other similar situations?
I’ve added a bit to my earlier post, when I realized what you were talking about.
As said: sometimes Dorico will appear to balance more than one system together, but most of the time, it’s pretty linear. And as soon as you start adding Breaks, then you’re sort of telling Dorico that you’re taking over.
Yes, I think you are right. I would willingly renegotiate this part of our agreement. It would be nice tell Dorico to recalculate the measure distribution based on the existing breaks. Analogous to selecting a section->right-click->beaming->reset beaming. But, as I said at the beginning, it’s not a big deal. Maybe a future feature that would be straight-forward to add.
Richard, Dorico always and constantly recalculates on the spot. If you input a Frame break, it will instantly recalculate based on your Layout Settings. In your case it is the setting for Note Spacing, that will put the first three bars, also based on their content, into the first system.
Good to know, you can at any spot in your layout do a local Note Spacing Change. If you increase the note spacing locally at bar 87 on that page, at some point the third bar (89) will jump to the next system.
I think @rayates56’s point is that it would be nice to have functionality in Dorico which distributes space more or less evenly over available systems, rather than always filling each system as it goes.
For example, let’s say I add a frame break a couple of measures before the end of a page to get a good page turn. Now the page has 9 full systems and one system at the bottom with just two measures in it. I’d like to be able to select all the bars on that page and invoke some kind of “distribute” command to get Dorico to insert system breaks so that each system has roughly the same fullness.
Finale had at least 2 plugins with this functionality. I know that I can get close to this by adding a note spacing change at the top of the page (and a reset on the next page) and then playing with the note spacing values, or by adding system breaks myself, but it would be nice to have a simple command to do it in one go.
(I don’t know whether it would be better for an automatic approach to use system breaks or note spacing changes.)
Yes, a first step would be to have the possibility for dedicated key commands to increase and to decrease Note Spacing.
Yes, That describes my suggestion exactly. Dorico clearly already has routines that do this. It may just be a matter of being able to invoke it for a region and still respect breaks.