Why are my quavers squishy?
Try Engrave mode->Left panel->Reset Layout. And if you manually edited the note spacing, see the image. Also, do you have a fixed number of bars per system? If so, perhaps change the rastral size under Library->Layout Options->Page Setup.
Or share the file.
Jesper
Library->Layout Options->Staves and Systems->Casting off.
It looks like you have forced more bars into the system than Dorico expects should fit, based on various spacing settings.
Either via a fixed casting off value of bars per system (as Jesele says) or forced system breaks.
Another big factor in the horizontal spacing pressure is the lyrics: if you reduce the minimum gaps between lyrics and between lyrics/hyphens in Engraving Options > Lyrics, then the lyrics won’t stretch their notes quite so widely, leaving more space available for all the other notes.
I agree with Lillie. You can very easily see whether there’s too much stuff horizontally in a system: there’s a fullness indicator in Engrave mode, if it’s over 100% then it’s wrong. NEVER go over 100% in those indicators, Dorico is no longer reliable then. You can reduce the note spacing, the space size, the margins, or insert a break…
Yes I had it set for four bars per system, as is the expectation in Jazz notation. I might play with the note spacing then.
I almost always lower the spacing for quarter notes to 3.5 spaces and set the spacing ratio to 1:1.5 for parts or small scores; the default quarter note space of 4 is a hair big IMO and lowering it will allow the spacing algorithm to fit more notes on a staff, and the default ratio of 1:1.41 really spreads out shorter notes.
I’d also try playing around with some of the values in Engraving Options > Spacing Gaps, particularly the “minimum gap after barline” and “ideal gap after barline”: I usually lower these from their default values of 3/4 and 1.5, and right now I currently have them set at 1/2 and 1.25. Looking at the screenshot, the amount of space after the key signature also looks pretty large, so I would try resetting that back to 1 space if the value is currently set to something higher.
For the lyric spacing, I think the default values in Engraving Options > Lyrics > Hyphens are overall too large: my defaults have the minimum gap between a syllable and a hyphen set to 1.5 spaces and the minimum space for a hyphen set to 1/4 of a space, although that first value could probably be even smaller now that I’m looking at it. You could also try changing the lyrics font or change the stretch: I love the look of Academico/Century Schoolbook, but it’s not a particularly lyric-friendly font due to having fairly wide letterforms, and of the included text fonts I think Nepomuk is probably the friendliest for lyrics out of the box (I like Crimson Pro a lot too, but it requires some finagling with the character spacing and stretch to be better for lyrics). If you prefer Academico, I’d try adjusting the stretch of the font to 98% or 97%, which will condense the characters a little bit without looking too different from the regular characters.
Or reduce the Staff Size. It looks quite large. If that system is typical, then note spacing isn’t going to be sufficient everywhere.
The default size of Rastral Size 3 does not fit every ensemble.
Almost as if it were intended! 