Hi everybody,
I have horns 1 and 2 condensed onto 1 staff for this piece. But for just this system, the look is not so good. Is it possible in Dorico to specify only 1 system to separate out horns 1 and 2 onto 2 staves? I can’t seem to find that in the condensing change options. Or is there another solution you see? I’ve uploaded the full Dorico file here too. Thanks!
A condensing change that you then reset back to the default after this page is the way to go.
See section 3 in the reference for the dialog:
I’ve played around with these options just yesterday, and couldn’t quite figure it out. I could use a maximum of 2 staves, right – but I thought those 2 staves represented the 2 staves already in use for horns 1,2 then horns 3,4. I can’t add more than that right, to split horns 1 and 2 into 2 staves?
I don’t know if I’m understanding this correctly, but if I select “horns” in the left set of options, I am required to place all 4 horns somewhere or else I won’t be able to apply any changes. But there are also a maximum of 2 staves that can be used in the manual condensing change box, right?
No, there’s no limit to 2 staves per condensing group. You can assign multiple players to the same stave and/or voice, but you don’t have to.
When the four horns are listed on the left, use the “Add Staff” button to assign the top horn to a new stave on the right.
You need to do that while there are still players available on the left, as you can’t drag them around on the right once they’ve been assigned, and you also can’t add more staves when there are no more players that could be assigned to them (Dorico won’t let you have an empty stave dangling below a condensing group, for obvious reasons).
Also, depending on your condensing settings in Notation Options, Dorico could/should split horns 1/2 automatically if they have a lot of pitch crossing in this phrase (unless you’ve already forced them into this configuration of staves). You could try tweaking those options as well.
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Oh wow! Ok, Lilllie. I think it took someone with your level of technical understanding to help me here. I think I assumed you could only keep/add 2 staves in manual condensing because, as you said, I was dragging all parts over and assigning them to staves. But – if I just work with 1 player at a time, then indeed, I was able to make the option happen. Many thanks! I’m still going to do more tweaking here, but here’s the current look:
I understand the temptation to surmise from first-hand experience (I do it often myself) but with Dorico, the chances are that more often than not, there’s a solution 
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I figured there must be a solution someone, because obviously Dorico already will separate out condensed staves for instance if 1 player is holding more than 1 instrument sometimes. But I make notes of everything I learn from you and learn from this forum, so I can reference it in the future.
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