SUGGESTION: Invisible Barlines

Dorico
#1

So far, I’ve found the “INVISIBLE” cleff (which you can invoke from the clefs popover) very useful. I have so far used it for various purposes, such as designing blank exercises to be filled and blank templates for a similar purpose.

I am however missing another “INVISIBLE” item, which would be an “INVISIBLE BARLINE”. This could be accessible through the bars popover as is the same case with clefs. This would be extremely useful, as it would allow users who compose/engrave using no time signatures to have greater and easier control over their layout at engrave mode. Dorico handles stuff between barlines very well (especially in engrave mode since it resizes stuff in between; working with no barlines is a bit of a hassle), so let us who don’t work with barlines get the juice out of it! :smiley:

P.D.: Another little suggestion: Please, add some default margin sizes, like sibelius (medium, large, small, etc.)

#2

Are you aware that system breaks can be used anywhere, regardless of barlines? And that the “wait for next” property can be used to keep chunks of music together, regardless of barlines?

#3

If you don’t need dashed barlines you can set the values for dash and gap to zero in Engraving Options, which will give you an invisible barline when you apply the dashed icon. By adjusting the values for spacing gaps before and after barlines in general you may get close :slight_smile:

#4

Yes, I am. It’s not only for that. What I also want to create in this particular case, is a blanc set of Staves, with no clef nor barlines (not even at the end), so students can write on top as they want. And also a very small exercise where the music is already written and students must place barlines themselves.

#5

I’ll try that!

#6

I’ll have to try this too…

I would also like invisible barlines. I make modern transcriptions of medieval chant and it is customary for the stave lines to continue to the right margin even when the music stops. It is very cumbersome to achieve this effect properly now. An invisible barline would allow me to keep the staves default and simply nudge the “barline” which would nudge all the music before it into proper place. There are also times where I want the music to only use 75% of the system so that the notes aren’t spaced out too far to make reading the text difficult. It is not a good idea to split long melismas across system breaks but sometimes this causes weirdness in transcription where certain lines are shorter than others. Invisible barlines would make dealing with these types of issues substantially easier.

#7

Unless I’m missing something, this is quite easy. Set the final bar line to “invisible” in the Notation options. In Engrave mode, adjust the horizontal spacing by moving the invisible final barline to the right - the bar line doesn’t move right, but the music moves left. Stop when Dorico says the note spacing is 100%.

chant demo.png
chant demo.png834×349 20.8 KB

#8

Rob, you have a real gift for melody. Somethings can’t be taught!

I guess this is *real monophony…

#9

It would have been a masterpiece if the last note had been a D or and A… trully in the style of the gregorian masters. almost-bravo Rob, almost-bravo.

#10

While I think invisible barlines can be useful (for instance for worksheets where you have to put the barlines), why don’t you use the free rhythm option? Where there’re literally no barlines.

#11

Fianl barlines arnt enough in many cases, and having “barlines” even if invisible can have nice spacing effects. The other problem I have had involves needing the tick barline to be right after the note to indicate phrasing/breaths but keep the stave going. You can’t move visible barlines away from the right edge without adding a dummy measure.

#12

Funny re-reading my last post. Typing on an iPad is not my forté lol.

Shifting gears a bit, is it possible to alt+click a dotted barline into only one instrument? I would like to show a dotted barline in an accompaniment part but a brass player doesn’t need to see it as it disrupts the flow of that part. Any tips?

#13

No, this is a bit tricky: you’ll need an existing local time signature on that staff, which you can hide, and then apply the dotted barline to that local time signature, I think.

#14

Well, your trick worked. Since I was applying this to a grand stave instrument I had to add the time signatures (alt+enter) onto both staves, then alt+click the dashed barline on to each, followed by hiding the time signatures. All of that said, it worked like a charm! Thank you!

#15

I thought it was called “monotony”! :slight_smile:

David

#16

http://hz.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/a/a3/IMSLP333257-PMLP49666-Purcell_Mandozzi_Fantasia_upon_One_Note_Z.745_-_Viol_4.pdf

#17

to bring up this thread again: I would like to replicate this end of an aria:

how can I get an invisible barline at the end of this flow?
invisible barline at end.png

#18

On the Barlines page of Notation Options, set the final barline for that flow to be ‘No barline’.

#19

perfect!
Thank you Daniel.

#20

actually, I managed to achieve this in the score:





but not in the parts (where I still would need to get rid of the rest…):


part .png
score ok.png