Chord symbols: render triangle instead of delta
It would make sense if typing "t" or "^" would call the major triangle symbol—uniE873 in SMuFL—to match the diminished & half-diminished symbols. The deltas look out of place, and it seems from my limited understanding that SMuFL fonts are the only ones fully compatible with chord symbols anyway, so I imagine it would be an easy fix?
Please do correct me if I'm missing the mark here. Thank you!
Comments
That should happen already, see https://musescore.org/en/handbook/chord-symbols#chord-symbol-syntax
In reply to That should happen already,… by Jojo-Schmitz
Right—when typing "t,"
![1.png]( "1.png")
![2.png]( "2.png")
it renders a delta ∆ symbol.
So my request would be that renders a triangle ▵ instead. Small difference perhaps, but I think for anyone reading jazz chords, it would contribute to the professional appearance of the score.
Chord symbols as they are, with delta ∆ major:
![3.png]( "3.png")
Swapped out with triangle ▵ major (rough image edit, but it's the idea):
![4.png]( "4.png")
And out of respect for your time, I'm only bringing it up because the triangle is already supported by SMuFL fonts as the "Major" symbol, and I suspect there wouldn't be any font modification trickery needed on your end. I don't imagine it would be nearly as annoying as my last request LOL
Here's the W3 page I'm referencing, and I can confirm from looking at Bravura in a font editor that the triangle matches the unicode mentioned:
![bravura.png]( "bravura.png")
Caveat: I couldn't find the triangle uniE873 in the Edwin font downloaded from GitHub—not sure if it's also absent in the version included in MuseScore.
Apologies for any lack of clarity.
In reply to Right, when typing "t," … by Gus Bogdanow
Well you can't compare Bravura with Edwin, but FreeSerif with Edwin and Bravura with Leland.
In reply to Well you can't compare… by Jojo-Schmitz
OK—after downloading all of those fonts, I can see that in FreeSerif and Edwin the triangle is
uni25B5, in Bravura & Bravura TextuniE873, and in Leland & Leland Text absent.Maybe not as simple a change as I had previously thought—regardless, I hope my point about the stylistic and functional difference between delta ∆ and triangle ▵ in lead sheets could be discerned from all that.
In reply to OK—after downloading all of… by Gus Bogdanow
We try to use a symbol that we think many fonts will include and size reasonably, and the delta seemed the best fit. I'm not really sure it's really out of character. But FWIW, you could if you wanted create a custom chord description file and change this in your copy.
In reply to We try to use a symbol that… by Marc Sabatella
Yeah, that makes sense. I'll just put it out there that adding the ability to pick individual symbols (even via unicode if that's easier) in the styles chord editor would IMO be welcome—in the meantime, suppose I'll be learning XML :)
On Mac, are the chord style files located within the MuseScore 3 package contents (contents/resources/styles) the correct ones to use? They all say they're for MuseScore 1, so just double checking.
Thanks, Marc!
In reply to Yeah, that makes sense. I'll… by Gus Bogdanow
There are a bunch of older ones for compatibility, but the only two you should be looking at are chords_std.xml and chords_jazz.xml. Pick one, make a copy and place it in your own Styles folder, and just change the line containing the "sym" code for "triangle" to whatever you want - you really don't need to understand the syntax. Actually you'll see there are two such lines, one for the full size traingle in Ct7, one for the superscripted version in C-t7.
In reply to There are a bunch of older… by Marc Sabatella
Gotcha! I have successfully made it render the desired triangle in place of the delta.
I see that the diminished symbol gets superscripted by the program (I'm assuming since the character 0x03bf is otherwise “ο”), but I can't find any code in chords_std.xml that seems to accomplish that. I'd like to have the triangle superscripted in the same manner—is it possible?
In reply to Gotcha! I have successfully… by Gus Bogdanow
Are you using the standard or jazz style? Diminished sign is not superscripted in the standard style, only the jazz. In the jazz style, the character itself is already superscripted.
In reply to Are you using the standard… by Marc Sabatella
Marc, so sorry for the inattentiveness on my end. It is, in fact, in standard style, but I just realized it appeared superscripted because I had vertical offset on the extensions.
This brings me to what I believe to be the root of my issue—diminished & half diminished symbols are affected by extension vertical offset, while major, minor, suspended, and augmented symbols are not. Below are each quality with extension vertical offset at -4 and extension scaling at 1, set in Edwin with the "Standard" style button selected.
![Untitled.png]( "Untitled.png")
Is there a conscious reason for the difference in offset behavior between chord qualities? If not, can it be taken into consideration making them all affected? In the meantime, is there a way to do so manually on my end in the XML?
Thank you for bearing with me.
In reply to Marc, so sorry for the… by Gus Bogdanow
Not exactly conscious, no, just a matter of allowing what seems the most common. Also, what was easiest to implement. But yes, it's possible to tweak the XML to superscript the "quality" symbols also (major, minor) The best I can do is suggest looking at the jazz file for some ideas. Hint - look at the "token", such as the one defining the behavior of "add" with class="quality". Try copying that block but changing "add" to whatever else you want to superscript.
In reply to Not exactly conscious, no,… by Marc Sabatella
Been messing around with it, finally figured out the chord files and put together my own. After all these years—unlimited power!
Thanks for the help, Marc.