There are many example where condensing either doesn’t work, or results in double stems, even when an a2 would suffice. It is possible to correct most of these, but it would be very useful if there was some sort of visual aid pointing you to where the problem actually lies. It is very time consuming going through all the various possible solutions, when the “fault” may lie somewhere else.
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I would definitely welcome an extra proofreading tool, picking out missing articulations and misaligned dynamics. However, it would be very difficult to program this in any satisfactory manner, because that would require the software to determine what’s a mistake and what’s intentional. The condensing algorithm is just doing its job based on the given input + settings. It has no choice but to be deterministic. And most of the time there’s a complex combination of reasons why a 2 may not be applicable, making it difficult to point to a single source of the ‘error’.
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Thanks for the reply. Most of the time it’s actually easy to figure out; usually it’s because something is not identical between the two parts. However, at other times even a copy/paste doesn’t fix it.
For you as a pattern-recognising human who (presumably) made the score, it’s indeed easy to figure out. For the software it would require some pretty advanced AI to reliably spot what you’d want/expect it to spot.
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When I first started using Dorico’s condensing feature I found a lot of the defaults created issues where two staves not literally identical would not condense for me. Playing around with the condensing settings under Notation Options allowed me to solve a lot of these issues – usually it has to do with either dynamics, unison, rests, and/ or pitch crossing. I have selected all the options which favor condensing in spite of these things – it required a little trial and error but once I got it right, I have saved it as my default so now moving forward I rarely ever run into typical condensing issues.
I know that’s not what you’re looking for with your request, but I have found it has really helped save me a lot of time!
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If there’s material that won’t condense nicely even when it’s clearly a2/unison, you need to know that Dorico condenses in phrases, where are phrase is defined as all the stuff that comes in between simultaneous rests in all instruments (within the specific group).
To give a specific example, the first two bars here won’t condense to single stems, because of the dynamics in bar 3:
but with rests in both instruments, bars 1 and 2 will condense as a separate phrase to bar 3:
Adding a Condensing Change at bar 3 with only the relevant players ticked will force a new phrase:
(You could also be locally overriding the Notation Options here, but there’s typically no need to do so in these sorts of scenarios).
This would all be the case even if bar 3 was on a different system or page to bars 1 and 2; it all comes down to rests.
If it’s not this, look back at previous Condensing Changes - it could be that you’ve set Notation Options that make it impossible for Dorico to condense in an obvious way, or it could be that you’ve used Manual Condensing (which ties each instrument to a specific voice and stave) and haven’t turned it off.
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