Triplet entered at end of bar inexplicably creates unwanted triplet at the start of the next bar


See the attached score excerpt. Bar 7 is correct and has a triplet at the end. For some reason the triplet at the end of Bar 7 causes Bar 8 to appear as shown. Why? Bar 8 should just stay the same as Bar 9, 10, etc. If you try to clean-up by deleting the triplet in Bar 8, it also deletes the required triplet in Bar 7. Any idea how to fix this?

Welcome to the forum.

You forgot to change the base of the tuplet to demisemiquavers, so you have a semiquaver tuplet split across the barline.


Hi Janus - thanks for the quick response. I went and created a new bar (Bar 9) and entered the triplet exactly the same as I did in Bar 7. This time the result looks correct (Bar 10 is clean) and the note structure is the same between Bar 7 and 9. I have no idea what is different. I am new to Dorico (ex-Finale) so I may be missing something obvious.

When you create tuplets you can either explicitly define the base as (say) 3:2q (3 quarters in the space of 2 quarters) or 5:4e (5 eighths in the space of 4 eighths) (etc.), or use the currently selected note duration. So if you are entering semiquavers and just type 3 in the tuplet popover, Dorico will use the semiquaver as the base (ie 3:2x, 3 semiquavers in the space of 2 semiquavers). Further, if there is insufficient room in the current bar for the complete tuplet, Dorico will put the overspill in the following bar.

My guess here is that your second attempt had demisemiquaver selected as the base.

Got it. I must have missed an explicit parameter in my first attempt - even though Bar 7 looks correct, the tuplet entry was incorrect causing the spill-over into Bar 8. I’ll need to keep a careful eye on this moving forward. Appreciate the rapid and helpful response.

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Welcome to the forum, @DrDrum!

@Janus’ post #2 (or perhaps #4) above should get the :white_check_mark: Solution mark so that it appears right below your OP for anyone searching. (Plus, of course, credit where credit’s due…)

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Thanks for helping me get started in the forum! I updated the ‘Solution’ spot. Thanks.

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