Hello,
If I am using slash regions, it seems the bars do not condense as they would if everything were written out.
That’s correct. Slash regions prevent condensing.
Hi Daniel et al,
Am enjoying utilising condensing to make optional two-instrument charts for small jazz band arrangements (ie, trumpet/sax) via additional instrumental layouts. Occasionally adding manual condensing changes, I am able to make this work mostly, but the Slash Regions do seem to be a sticking point at the moment.
Obviously both instruments in my condensed layout have the same transposition, so the Slash Regions (which have the chord symbols automatically shown) appear twice in my condensed layout.
Is there a way to at least hide some of the Slash Regions within my condensed layout? (Or ideally prevent the condensed layout showing two identical systems for portions of the music)?
I’m afraid not at the moment, no. We didn’t anticipate that it would be a commonly-used situation to want to condense these kinds of scores (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a condensed big band chart, for example). But it would be possible for us to return to this area in future to make it possible, of course, though I can’t promise when we will be able to do that.
Just wondering if there are any workarounds to this situation since 2020. I know slash regions prevent condensing, but it seems that manually condensing them makes the slashes just disappear. Any way to get them to reappear?
I know that’s an old post, but condensed or semi-condensed scores do exist. Some of the Kendor Music scores are semi-condensed in order to fit 2 systems per page, portrait orientation. Here’s an example of a Thad Jones score:
Yes, I use them surprisingly often. Most often when I have a big band playing with many other instruments - eg percussion, singers, strings - and need to save space on the page.
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Of course now that I think about it, this comes up all the time with concert scores and arranging texts, like this Don Sebesky example.
I was referring to scores intended for performance rather than study, of course, not that it really matters!
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Hand copied obviously, but if you need other examples, I think most of the Thad Jones conductors scores published by Kendor Music are formatted in the same semi-condensed, 2 systems per page format.
In my case, I have two guitars, piano, bass, all reading the same slash/chord region. That’s a lot of real estate not to be able to condense. If I could force it manually, I’d be fine—I can certainly see how it might not happen automatically.
Try putting those four instruments in the same condensing group (Layout options >Players >Condensing), butvin the end, you might end up using manual condensing changes to achieve the exact result you’re looking for.
@MarcLarcher But the issue is that when you do manually condense, the stemless slashes disappear entirely. And any stemmed-slash voices revert to actual pitches on the staff.
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My sense here, Fred, is that the Guitar and Piano are not condensed (since they never actually split apart). Instead the Guitar/Piano is a composite Player/Part, and except for the Piano left hand, the entire part is done with slashes and slashed notes.
If this is @jjm_335 's intent, then he should simply create this combined part, and if he wished, he could generate a separate layout for the guitar with the piano left hand staff manually hidden.
Sure, a “Master Rhythm” part is pretty common. I suspect this might be a bit confusing in his case if the 2 guitars have independent parts though.
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@FredGUnn Exactly. @Derrek I suppose I could create a separate “combined” guitar part that features the manual “condensing” built in to the part itself, and then show that only in the score in place of the two guitar parts I need condensed, only for those passages where it’s needed. This is just a lot of work when it would be so much more efficient if slash regions would be condensible. In my case, the guitars go from playing independent lines, then slashes, then rhythmic slashes with stems, then notes again, then explicit chord, etc., within a flow that is 700+ measures long. That’s a lot to have to rebuild into a single staff just as a workaround.
For now, I will just have to show the extra staves in the score.
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Sometimes, to get customized solutions one does have to expect to do a little more work.
If Daniel and his team decide to implement this, I have no problems with it, but not everything can or should be built into the program.
Agreed. But this one would make me happy. 
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Hi, my 2 cents, I would love to be able to use condensed parts with slash regions. For example in jazz arrangements for concert band, there might be slashes (with chords) in two trumpet parts. I would like for that to stay condensed instead of eating up staff real-estate with an extra staff. Or even stay condensed when one player has the slashes and the other has rests, with the usual player label indicating who has the slashes. Thanks for your time!