Vertical Alignment of Notes on First Beat is Off When Notating Multiple Voices on One Staff
I'm notating guitar music, which often has multiple parts on one staff, and each part may have different note values. I have trouble getting the notes to line up vertically, especially on the first beat. Some notes, especially the lower voice, will be shifted slightly to the right or left. Currently, I have to manually adjust the horizontal offset for each note and note stem. Is there a setting that makes multiple voices line up vertically on the first beat of a measure? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
In order to understand and assist better, we would need you to attach your score. It's normally for notes in different voices on the same staff to be offset if they overlap, but aside from that things should align.
In reply to In order to understand and… by Marc Sabatella
Marc:
Thanks for your prompt response. I understand you are the Musescore guru, so I hope you can help. I have attached a short example. Notice how the notes in the bass part are shifted to the left even though the notes above don't overlap. I hope these is a simple fix for this. Thanks for your input.
In reply to Marc: Thanks for your prompt… by 6Stringz
I think what you're seeing is very specific to how whole notes work, since they are wider than other notes. They will normally align their centers with other notes in other voices, but if there are other notes with the same stem direction, they will left or right align to avoid possible stem collision issues. Looks like your score was created in a quite old version of MuseScore, so I can't be totally sure what you are seeing, but in current versions, that is how it lines up, by design, as it's considered correct in general. If you prefer to change this, just manually adjust the note positions where the alignment bothers you.
In reply to Marc: Thanks for your prompt… by 6Stringz
Marc:
Adjusting the horizontal offset is what I'm doing now, and I hoped to find a more elegant solution. I tried a couple of different workarounds: 1) I made the whole notes into half notes and hid the note stems and half rests. 2) The Inspector has an option named "Small" which fixes the vertical alignment issue, but the whole notes are a little too small. Question: Is there a way to fine tune the size of individual whole notes? It would make the score more aesthetically pleasing. With a handwritten score the whole notes are not an issue.
In reply to Marc: Adjusting the… by 6Stringz
Whole note + multivoices: I think it's related to this former known issue, and infortunately completely forgotten and unsolved. #101871: Misalignment of shared note heads in a multivoices context and a whole note involved
Guitarists (multivoices on a single staff) encounter this problem, the other instruments don't care...
In reply to Whole note + multivoices: I… by cadiz1
It's not others don't care, it's that the rules are complicated and subjective so it's quite difficult to figure out a single approach that works for everyone, or even how to define an option that would create two different behaviors that would please everyone. It's unfortunate indeed that in the four years since I lasted posted to that issue, no one followed up with suggestions. Maybe now that will happen.
In reply to It's not others don't care,… by Marc Sabatella
I agree that the reference to guitarists was meant to tease... :)
That being said, this bug has absolutely nothing subjective. And yet, never solved: for the record, just redone with the 3.4 beta - images below.
It's just a ugly display, and for a guitar use case (a bass in whole note and shared noteheads in upper and middle voice) that really has nothing uncommon, it's rather the opposite.
In reply to I agree that the reference… by cadiz1
Oh, I agree the layout in that specific slaves is objectively bad. The subjective part is deciding exactly what it should be instead, in each of the possible cases regarding which note is in which voice. That is, sure, in the image above, the two eighth note A’s should align. But should they align centered over the whole note, left aligned, or right aligned? And how would we describe the rule to follow in a way that also yields good answers in all the other possible cases regarding which note is in which voice? Those were the unanswered questions I asked back then, and they remain relevant.
In reply to Oh, I agree the layout in… by Marc Sabatella
In the example from cadiz1, it's interesting that the G# notes align perfectly, yet the A notes don't align correctly. The problem is usually on the first beat. Whatever programmatic logic is being applied to the G# notes can be applied to the A notes. If that is not possible, it would be nice to be able to select multiple vertical voices and center them on the beat or turn off Collision Avoidance on specific notes.
In reply to In the example from cadiz1,… by 6Stringz
@6Stringz... Putting aside cadiz' example for now, you wrote:
The problem is usually on the first beat.
Actually, the problem is with whole notes (which in 4/4, usually fall on the first beat).
For alignment with other voices, whole notes possess a "pseudo-stem direction" even they show no "visible stem".
For example, try this...
Open your earlier attachment (which you posted above), "Misaligned-Notes.mscz" -i.e., the snippet from If You Could Read My Mind.
Highlight one (or all) of the misaligned whole notes and, in the 'Chord' section of the Inspector, change the 'Stem direction' from 'Auto' to 'Up'. You will see the whole note(s) re-adjust position - perhaps more to your liking.
In reply to @6Stringz... You wrote: The… by Jm6stringer
Jm6stringer:
Thanks, that tip really helps. It aligns the whole note with the bass part but not the treble part. I can live with that. Now I only have to offset the first note in the upper part.
PS: You must be good at Name That Tune. ;-)