I have a piece in the key of E. When I’m looking at the Alto sax part it is in Db instead of C#. The player I’m writing for prefers C#. Is there a way of overriding this automatic transposition behavior?
I was able to achieve this by unchecking “Prefer enharmonic equivalent” in the notation options under “accidentals”.
The Alto Sax part for a piece in the key of E should never transpose to Db – that’s just plain bad musicianship. That makes the transposition an augmented second lower while the transposition from concert pitch to Eb should be a minor third. That shouldn’t be altered by any setting in a notation program. You shouldn’t need to uncheck some option to get proper transposition. Concert pitch E should always transpose to C# for an alto sax.
Some people prefer less accidentals, some prefer to stay in sharps. I’m a sax player, I prefer to stay in sharps but it’s your choice and there’s a tick option. If you always want that, consider using the ‘save as default’ option.