Hello, I know there has been an example in one of the very early threads, but I can not find it.
What settings can one adjust to get a very tight layout - like this (quite beautiful) one from Walsh, London 1749?
The tightness here is largely (though not exclusively) horizontal. You can start by setting your note spacing to something like 2 3/4, but it will require some manual work. Forcing system breaks with the “wait for next” property, and likely a good deal of manual note spacing.
Vertically, you’ll also reach a limit for global settings that will require additional adjustment. Set your ideal gaps to a fairly low value, and your minimum gaps to something like 1/2. Also, set your inter-system gap to maybe 7.
You’ve got some centered beams; not sure if those will make a difference or not.
Oh, and in Layout Options, uncheck “Make space for lyrics.”
If you look closely, the vertical alignment of notes (beat position) within each system is off in quite a few places. No doubt intentional on the part of the engraver just to fit everything in. It would be hard to reproduce this entire page as it is laid out on the picture. Is this what you want to do?
Thank you Dan and notesetter.
Now that you mention it, yes, the vertical alignment is all over the place, still it looks ok (I actually like it).
It must be intentional, may be to get a balanced view on the page - or just to make space for an accidental.
If you want to imitate that, it’s quite easy to achieve:
Yeeeeeesssss. I wouldn’t try to copy this too closely. It’s not that quite beautiful - even by 18th-century printing, and certainly not by 21-st century standards.
Still Walsh was one of the most successful publishers in London at that time.