Notehead-Alignment inconsistency
Here I have discovered an inconsistency. While there is no direct rule how it should look when we speak about the alignment of half-note to whole-note noteheads (I prefer definitely centered!), I think here is a multiple inconsistency:
Measure 1: tone E is centered, while tone B is right-aligned.
Measure 2: with swapped voices, tone B is centered, tone E is left-aligned.
I recommend to use centered for all noteheads.
Comments
Indeed, there is no rule for alignment of noteheads of different sizes. Most editions do not center - they left align. For better or worse, we chose to center noteheads in *different* voices (actually, with different stem directions), but centering notes in the *same* voice (actually, with same stem direction) is physically impossible - consider a half note and a quarter note on the same stem, for instance (half notes are larger). Or a chord in which one note has been made small. So while centering is an option betwene notes of opposite stem directions, it is not an option all the time, and actually we *are* being consistent in how we treat this, at least in this particular case: same stem direction = align to stem, possite stem direction = center. No doubt other corner cases might exist where we are not so consistent, though.
I think the point being made here is that the half notes are centre-aligned as a rule but when a whole note comes between them then they are no longer centred. In other words, the half-note is not centred on the whole note. And nor should it, maybe but perhaps the could both be not centred in the same direction so that the halves are aligned with one another? Flipping the whole note with x or [Shift]x causes the half notes to go in and out of alignment.
Yes it is exactly as I said: when the half note and while note have opposite directions, they center. When they have the same direction, they align at the stem side. Centering notes with the same direction is not an option.
I see, I understand now the logic behind the alignment, Marc.
For me the main issue here are:
1. Whole notes don't have stem direction, therefore should be treated equally without;
2. The green and the red notes are not aligned: all notes of the same notehead should be aligned (except in kerning for collision avoidance usually with the same stem direction, and in seconds); and
3. The green and the red notes are positioned differently when swapping the voices in this two examples. However, in the printed music we don't have green, blue and red notes (which is utilised by the software), neither primary voice and the secondary voices, so the difference is very obvious.
So, difference between these two examples and not alignment of the half notes in printed music is very obvious when music is printed.
Thank you.
d.z.
In reply to I see, I understand now the by edizioneo
I don't like the idea of making whole notes funbction different from other note types just because they don't have stems. The same issue occurs when mixing half and quarter notes, or full sized notes and notes marked "small", or any other note type mixed with a longa. I think it better to have simple predictable defaults and then if you happen to prefer something different, you can adjust manually. It's not like this situation happens often.