Smart choral divisi

[Nuggethead]

I’m a recent Finale convert. Conversion wasn’t exactly easy, BUT after spending 6 months with Dorico I can absolutely say that the workflow is MUCH better than Finale, the division of the workspace into write/engrave modes is quite intuitive, and I am very impressed with the Condensing feature. An obscene amount of my Finale time was spent creating custom staves for Flute 1-2 fo the score, and making sure the manually constructed Flute 1 and Flute 2 parts corresponded properly. Dorico does this seamlessly and I’m so thankful.

One thing that does seem to be lacking is the same functionality in choral parts. Say I have a choral score that has 3 conditions for each part, SATB. (1) a unison melody for the section; (2) a divisi melody, with identical rhythm for each part, so the stems are all together; (3) a divisi melody with different rhythms, requiring different voices/lyrics positioning.

It seems that now, I have to do the condensing work for myself manually, as Dorico can’t handle it all on its own. If it could that would be just about the best thing ever!

[Derrek]

I expect this is very much on the to-do list of the Development Team and that many will be happy whenever it arrives.

[johnkprice]

Here is a simple example of condensing a vocal section player with a unison melody, a divisi melody with the same rhythm and stems together, and a divisi melody with different rhythms. In galley view:

In page view:

The condensing change merely checks the player in the left column and makes no other changes. It is needed to cause the stems in the second measure to be together.