Staff size question

[Dissonancely]

In Layout Options-Page Setup-Space Size, the staff sizes in millimeters are: 9.2, 7.9, 7.39, 7, 6.51, 6, 5.5, 4.8, and 3.7. The ratios don’t appear to be consistent linear or by proportion. I don’t recall seeing them in any of the notation books I’ve read. Where do the sizes come from?

[asherber]

History and tradition.

Rastral?

“Rastral size” is the old-timey music engraving term for staff size, because engravers used to have rastrums of different sizes, typically numbered from 0 (really big) to 8 (really small). It’s our way of maintaining the traditions of music engraving even in this unremittingly digital age. The rastral size drop-down allows you to choose from the various preset staff sizes typically used by engravers, while the ‘Space size’ control does indeed give you complete flexibility as to the height of th…

[Christian_R]

@Dissonancely

I don’t recall seeing them in any of the notation books I’ve read.

Hi @Dissonancely, see Gould (Behind Bars) Pag. 483:

[Mats_Frendahl]

You are correct; it is not linear

We can try to find a function…

[Janus]

@Dissonancely

The ratios don’t appear to be consistent linear or by proportion.

You can set the space size to any number you choose, you are not restricted to the defined set of space sizes.

[Dissonancely]

Thank you, everyone, this was informative.