Zero-line staff: changing the reference pitch and clef position

[Vladimir_Gorlinsky]

Zero-line staff: changing the reference pitch and clef position

I’m using a zero-line staff for pitched notation.

As far as I understand, Dorico still keeps an internal vertical pitch reference even though no staff lines are visible. In my case, the vertical center of the zero-line staff corresponds to D4, as shown in example 1.

I have two questions:

1. Is it possible to change the reference pitch of a zero-line staff?
   For example, can I make the vertical center correspond to another pitch — specifically B4, as on the middle line of a normal treble-clef staff?
2. Is it possible to move the clef vertically so that it is centered on the zero-line staff?
   At the moment, any clef I add is positioned too high, as if Dorico were still placing it relative to an invisible multi-line staff.

The goal is to keep normal pitched note input and pitch mapping, but use a completely line-less staff with a controllable vertical reference pitch and a visually centered clef.

I’ve attached a screenshot showing both issues.

[Vladimir_Gorlinsky]

I’ve attached the project file. Please note that you need to add zero-lines.doricolib to the DefaultLibraryAdditions folder before opening the project.

test zero lines.dorico (1.3 MB)

[jesele]

Do you really need it to be a treble clef? You could set it to use an invisible clef or a percussion clef under Library->Instruments. Otherwise, I think @FredGUnn created clefs for 1-line etc…

Jesper

Here’s one thread:

Adjust clef placement on one line staff

Greetings brain trust, I think I need some setup for this question. I’m porting a piece from Finale into Dorico that uses box notation. After that box I want the staff to be a single line. So I’m using the 1-line custom instrument trick and that works fine except for one issue the clef placement. The are not treating the middle line as a B (c) or D more like an E or G. [Music for Humans -clef-issues] How to I get these clefs in the correct placement related to the 1-line. The percussion cl…

Another:

Specialized Staff/Staves: 2-, 3-, 4-line staff?

In D5, it’s certainly easy to create staves with whatever number of staff lines you want, except 0. The catch is that there’s no Clef Designer, so there’s no way through the interface to specify the positioning of the clef and definition of the staff lines and spaces. Welcome to the world of doricolib files! Doricolib files are unsupported and undocumented ways to do all sorts of things, including add or redefine clefs. As they are unsupported, there’s no guarantee they will work in the futu…

Here’s a 0-line using the French violin clef.

0-line clef.dorico (507.7 KB)

[FredGUnn]

You can certainly make a custom clef with a doricolib file to be positioned as you want. It will take a bit of trial and error though. Here’s a doricolib file I made for a couple of different percussion clefs:

I don’t have time this morning to look into this, but here are a couple of doricolib files I’ve written to add additional clefs. Feel free to edit as needed to get what you want.

Invisible Clefs.doricolib.zip (1.0 KB)

Percussion Clefs For 1 & 2-Line.doricolib.zip (1.1 KB)

[FredGUnn]

@Vladimir_Gorlinsky

Please note that you need to add zero-lines.doricolib to the DefaultLibraryAdditions folder before opening the project.

I’m pretty sure you don’t. Typically doricolib files are embedded in the project at the time of project creation, so I would assume the 0-line staff in your project will open correctly for everyone whether they have that doricolib installed or not.

[FredGUnn]

Eh, I’m procrastinating, so went ahead and did it. Here’s the code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<kScoreLibrary>
	<clefDefinitions>
		<entities array="true">
			<ClefEntityDefinition>
				<name>G Clef for 0-line </name>
				<entityID>clef.gclef0line</entityID>
				<parentEntityID/>
				<inheritanceMask>0</inheritanceMask>
				<basicClefType>kGClef</basicClefType>
				<clefTranspositionReminder>0</clefTranspositionReminder>
				<compositeID>comp.gClef</compositeID>
				<clefCategory>kUncommon</clefCategory>
				<clefDefinition>
					<isPitched>true</isPitched>
					<requiredNumStaveLines>0</requiredNumStaveLines>
					<staveIndexFromBottomLine>-3</staveIndexFromBottomLine>
					<hotSpot>
						<noteName>G</noteName>
						<octave>4</octave>
					</hotSpot>
				</clefDefinition>
			</ClefEntityDefinition>
		</entities>	
	</clefDefinitions>
</kScoreLibrary>

G Clef for 0-line.doricolib.zip (902 Bytes)

The notes input in the image are all B4.

[FredGUnn]

For any of the custom Uncommon Clefs, the image on the right panel will not be correct, but that doesn’t really matter as long as it’s correct in the score.

(Oops, looks like I left an extra space at the end of the name. Not important, but you can delete that if you want.)

[jesele]

@FredGUnn

Eh, I’m procrastinating

Ha, procrastinating is my middle name.

Jesper

[Vladimir_Gorlinsky]

Thanks for all the inspiring answers!