When importing MusicXML files of lead sheets (from Finale), I often get a series of repeated letters that stretch across the score, ad infinitum. The letters seem random; sometimes it’s an O, sometimes an S, sometimes a G:
They slow Dorico to a crawl until I’m able to select and delete them one by one (which can take several minutes between mouse clicks).
Any idea what they are? I’ve tried deleting the rehearsal marks in the original, since they look like rehearsal marks gone awry, as well as anything else I can think of. But it hasn’t helped. Has anyone else experienced this?
It would probably help more if you attached the XML file in question. Perhaps the oddity lies there. I haven’t had this issue with XMLs exported from Finale; quite the opposite, I’m pleasantly surprised that even bar repeats are properly converted to bar repeat regions.
I’ve systematically identified a handful of elements that can mess things up, and overall I have pretty good success with XML import. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but it does slow the score down quite a bit at the front end. Upon a Life- with clarinet.zip (11.9 KB)
I don’t get any funky characters either. Is this reliably reproducable for you, Dan? If you can narrow it down to specific elements perhaps you can find the culprit? Which elements have you identified so far? And which version of Finale are you using?
I probably get it from 75% of XML imports. I’m running Finale 25. I had thought it came from custom rehearsal marks (like “Outro” or “Tag”). But I deleted these before exporting to XML, and I still get the problem.
I did experience other, larger issues (like the file importing as one entire bar, even though there were barlines displayed, or randomly splitting bars that can’t be rejoined), but I traced these back to a hidden rhythm track that I had created to show specific slash rhythms. I’ve now become accustomed to having to delete that before importing; I lose my chord symbols, but the import is still worthwhile.
This [OOOOOOOOO], on the other hand, continues to baffle me. I’m not sure what else to delete. And I’m generally pretty careful to avoid workarounds in Finale when possible, so I think the score is “correct.”
It’s not the end of the world if I can’t hunt it down. It just means several minutes of waiting to select the marks and delete them from the Dorico score. As soon as I do, my workflow resumes to normal speed.
Did you try loading the zip file you posted here to see if it still gives you the same problem? Maybe zipping it up stripped out some invalid characters or something.
I don’t see anything too weird myself, but I think it’s quite likely that it’s a rehearsal mark causing the problem. Probably a good idea to remove the rehearsal marks before you export the MusicXML file from Finale.
So, you’re saying that when you’re exporting and importing the same file (e. g. the file you attached above), 75% of the time you’re getting this and the other times it’s fine? Or is this with different files/projects? You could perhaps delete lyrics and music, too, until you can confirm that you don’t get the error anymore, and then perhaps spot the culprit.
I have Finale 2014.5 (and I’ve never worked with rhythm tracks either), so I probably can’t reproduce this anyway.
