Automatic layout (not just system breaks) -
Hello,
For a conductor score or ensemble score, the layout standard should be that all measures in the same system are roughly the same width. Currently (and in the latest nightly 4 version) automatic system breaks don't automatically adjust measures width in the same system, so you can get to wide bars full of notes and a small bar with a whole note.
Currently my workaround is to enlarge the minimum measure width and use system breaks and manual adjusting, it works but it would be really great if there was an automatic layout option where the software calculated automatically to make more even measure width and optimal system breaks.
I'd imagine choosing in one place score size (maybe add indication of MOLA guidelines), and the software can calculate the layout.
It might sound like a silly request but I spent hours working on the layout of an orchestra score to make it look professional because there's no automatic feature... it creates problems in instrument parts as well.
I hope it's taken into consideration since it'll be very useful and save time.
Thanks!
Comments
> "For a conductor score or ensemble score, the layout standard should be that all measures in the same system are roughly the same width."
I might be missing the obvious here, but really, why?
There is no way that a measure full of 16th or 32nd followed by a measure with just a whole note chord should be of equal size at all.
Indeed, as mentioned above, the normal correct layout is that measure widths are determined by the content - a measure full of sixteenth wider than one contains only quarters and eighths, which is in turn wider than one containing just a while note, etc. This is absolutely correct; not sure where you got the idea it should be otherwise? Both MuseScore 3 and 4 handle this completely automatically, although MuseScore 3 can leave you in situations where an eighth note in one measure takes more space than an eighth in the next, which isn't correct. MuseScore 4 fixes that.
So if the goal is to look professional, you shouldn't be messing with this at all - equal-spaced measures will on the contrary look extremely amateurish.
On the other hand, there are some unusual special experimental types of notation where people do actually try to make measures similar widths. If you are working in one of those experimental genres, and thus want a measure containing only a whole note to be just as wide as one full of sixteenths, try setting the "minimum measure width" to a sufficiently large value in Format / Style / Measure. In MuseScore 4 there will also be other settings to control the spacing, A "spacing curve" of 2 will produce more directly-proportional spacing, for instance, so a whole note literally does take sixteen times as much space as a sixteenth. Again, though, music is rarely published that way, so don't do this to be "professional" - do this if you are trying to be "experimental".