BUG: Notation of multiple part dotted rhythms
I came across a strange bug involving incorrect placement of dots for dotted notes. Adjusting these positions manually takes up a large amount of time, so a fix would be much appreciated.
The Process (how to replicate):
- I'm writing an SATB condensed score on a single piano part.
- I've been using part 1 for Alto and part 2 for Soprano. In the case of S1/S2/A, I use part 1 for A and part 2 for S1/S2.
- I wrote a half note chord E4, G4, E5. E4 is in part 1 and G4/E5 are in part 2.
- By selecting the measure and pressing X, the stems change direction to point outward. All looks good!
- By selecting the notes and pressing [.] to create dotted half notes, the dots appear but in improper places. In particular, the E5 dot is a line too low.
Note:
- By using the "Swap voices 1&2" tool and swapping stem directions again, the positioning is all correct. However, for part exporting later I need the voices to be consistent across the entire piece.
- "Why don't you invert the parts for the rest of the piece to match?" doesn't apply. There doesn't appear to be a consistent 'correct ordering' of parts that I'm missing. The same issue appears in reverse when voicing E4/F4 in part 2 and A4 in part 1.
If you've taken the time to read this post, thank you! Hopefully you're able to develop a simple fix to this problem soon.
Comments
I've read your post.
To facilitate understanding, please attach the score.
If I'm understanding correctly - posting an actual score would help indeed - you've got your voices backwards. The upper part (eg, soprano) should be in voice 1, the lower (alto) in voice 2. Then stems will already be correct, and other things will work more logically as well.
In particular, the algorithm for placing dots works off this assumption. If you put the notes in the propert voices (E4 in vocie 2, G4 & E5 in voice 1) you'll see the dots sorted out as expected. So, that's your solution - swap voices for the entire piece (and reset stem directions to default). You say "the same issue appears in reverse when voicing E4/F4 in part 2 and A4 in part 1" but I don't see that at all - the dots lay out as they should.
That said, there can be particularly complex cases with clusters and/or multiple voices where the algoriithm doesn't do a perfect job and you might need to manually override a dot or two. That's done by simply pressing "X", but will be necessary probably no more than one in a hundred measures tops.