A few requests...
So I have been copying some of my 1.3 lead sheets into 2.1, and have been rediscovering a few pet peeves. Here's a bug thread, but there were a few more that aren't bugs:
1. I'd like to be able to put a "section break" bar line (like ||) at the end of one system and at the beginning of a new one. Since I generally use the "Break every 4 measures" feature, and sections are usually 8 bars long, I frequently want to do this. I'm not the only one who uses this layout: the Jamey Aebersold books usually do this. (See the "Cantaloupe Island" sample here and the "Satin Doll" sample here for examples.)
2. For some reason, I liked the way alt chords looked in 1.3 better, with superscript:
The third symbol there really doesn't display right. It's not a problem for me since I write D7alt and not D7alt., but I know many people do.
3. I'd like a option to adjust the half-diminished symbol to something closer to the empty set symbol (∅), maybe with a rotate tool or just a checkbox.
Anyway, thanks for reading all this. It's always nice to be able to complain ;)
Comments
This stuff is highly personal, of course - it would be impossible to find one set of defaults that everyone approved of. Eventually, I hope to provide customization over the rendering directly within MuseScore. Werner had such a facility partially working at one time but it was incompatible with the new chord symbol parsing scheme - it relied on the old finite set of hard-coded id's. Still, I hope to leverage that work at some point.
Meanwhile, you can always try edit the XML files yourself, or creating your own customized version. You could certainly change the alignment of "alt" that way if you prefer. The half-diminished symbol you couldn't do anything about unless you know of an existing glyph that does that. Eventually, there may be support for more fonts, and maybe some other font would suit your liking better.
In reply to This stuff is highly by Marc Sabatella
All right. I think maybe a toggleable option for #1 would be doable, right? For #3, well, that doesn't really bother me anyway. A rotate tool would be useful for a lot of things, actually.
So, something I apparently can fix: where is the specific XML file for the chord symbols, and how do I edit it for #2?
In reply to All right. I think maybe a by JGitar
The problem with a toggle option just for the heigh of "alt" is that next, someone wants one for "maj", then for "sus", and then for the individual numbers, and so on and so on. The editor Werner had let you position the symbols independently by dragging them on a canvas, and choose whatever size you wanted on a character by character basis. But everything about how it worked depended on the fixed list of chord ids. Adapting this to work with the current more flexible parser will be a project to be sure, but should be doable with some effort.
Anyhow, to find the file you need to edit if you want to try your hand at customization, go to Style / General / Chord Symbols, check out the "custom" option. It should default to what you are using now, which is presumably chords_jazz.xml. It's not documented because I really don't recommend people try messing with this, but with a little ingenuity and perhaps asking some questions here, you should be able to figure it out.
In reply to The problem with a toggle by Marc Sabatella
About the toggleable option I meant the double bar actually.
I *think* I found the file, actually in styles / chords_jazz.xml. I think the relevant code is
<token class="modifier">
<name>alt</name>
<render>m:-1:0 alt</render>
</token>
Specifically the <render> tags. What change would move it higher?
In reply to About the toggleable option I by JGitar
Somehow, I totally missed the thing about the double bar. I actually pushed to get that in for 2.0. You can do it, just drag the double bar both to the last measure of the previous system and then again directly on top of the barline at the start of the next (or click it then double click in the palette). Of course, this assumes you are enabling barlines at the start of the system at all - that's in Style / General / Barlines.
For chords, the "m" tag controls the position of each token. The syntax is m:x:y. Positive x values move a symbol to the right, positive y values move a symbol down.
In reply to Somehow, I totally missed the by Marc Sabatella
Thanks for the barline tip, missed that. I have now enabled that in my leadsheet template.
I'll get back to you on the xml fiddling, no time now.
In reply to Thanks for the barline tip, by JGitar
So, after bypassing several administrator-permission things and a bit of experimentation, chords_jazz.xml now reads
<token class="modifier">
<name>alt</name>
<render>m:-1:-3 alt</render>
</token>
I'm actually considering doing m:-1:-4 instead. Anyway, thanks, I'll remember how to do this (hopefully) if I ever want to change something again.
In reply to So, after bypassing several by JGitar
Instead of modyfing MuseScore's private copy of that file in that protected folder, you should simply create you own copy, in your own Styles folder, and tell MuseScore to use that. Save that as part of your style setting and/or template. Otherwise, next time you update MuseScore those changes are lost.
In reply to Instead of modyfing by Marc Sabatella
Ohh...well next time I update it I'll do that. ;)