Staff/system spacing seems inscrutable ... is it just me?

• Oct 13, 2015 - 09:27

One more question for tonight: the dialogues for spacing staves/systems seems inscrutable to me ... I'll change the minimum distance between systems from 10.5sp to 9.5sp and then the systems (in this case, single staff systems for a lead sheet) are too close together and the first system from the second page also appears on bottom of first page. Then, if I increase it back toward 10.5sp, let's say, 10.2 or 10.3, nothing happens until I get to 10.5 and then there's too much space again.

I generally like MuseScore a lot, having used Overture for decades. But one thing I wish I could do in MuseScore that I was able to do in Overture is just grab the handle of a staff or a system and move it up or down to exactly where I want it. Or at least a spacing dialogue that is more intuitive.


Comments

And if you are having a problem you still can't figure out out after reading ther Handbook, just post the score you are having problem and describe the problem as precisely as you can, and someone will surely be able to explain how to do whatever it is you are trying to do.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks for the replies, guys. I did play with the maximum system distance, and that did make things look better on the screen. However, when I went to print, the systems stretched all the way to the bottom of the page ... still on the page but too far down. Strange, because on-screen it looks like there should be a good inch or so below the bottom of the last system and the edge of the page, but it doesn't print that way.

This raises another question: I noticed the the default paper size for printing was A4 (8.26 x 11.69) instead of standard US Letter (8.5 x 11) ... different dimensions. Seems odd. However, it made no difference in how the printed sheet looked, whether I chose A4 or US Letter both had the systems stretching too far down the page.

In reply to by frednow

A4 ain't an odd choice at all, for us in Europe and many other parts of the world, here US Letter would be quite an odd choice ;-)
MuseScore tries to guess the correct default paper format, depending on your locale, not sure why it gets it wrong for you?

But yes, the wrong paper format may explain the unexpected layout on print.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Yes, I assumed A4 was a European thing. Maybe it's the default of the application; I assume it doesn't know where I am ... at least, I haven't enabled any location services for MuseScore.

However, as I mentioned, the resulting print job is roughly the same no matter which paper size I choose. The only place it looks correct is on-screen.

In reply to by frednow

When creating a new score from scratch, the page size default comes form whatever your default printer has set as its default paper size. When creating a score from a template, the default page size may use the page size of the template or the default page size depending on the exact version of MuseScore and how the template was created. When opening an existing score, the page size is whatever the score was saved with.

As mentioned previously, when asking for help, it is always a good idea to include the specific score you are having problems with. Otherwise we are just guessing.

In reply to by frednow

I suspect you might have simply made a mistake and hit Cancel rather than OK when trying to change the page size. Or done so in a different score accidentally, perhaps. Be sure you have this particualr score loaded, go to Layout / Page Settings, change to Letter, hit OK, then save to be sure. Then try printing again.

Now, I do notice when I change to Letter, your copyright message is way too low on the page to be likely to print well, but that's only because you added it incorrectly. You added it as a subtitle and then tried to drag it down, but you dragged it too far because you had your page size set to A4 when you did it. Copyright text should be added by going to File / Info, and then it will automatically display correctly as the page resizes. As it is, it looks wrong on screen too.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks to all for the help and replies. Couldn't resolve issue; workaround is to print from pdf version of file instead of MuseScore file itself ... everything is smaller, but at least it isn't bleeding to the edge of the page.

Btw, how do I remove the file I attached to an earlier post to this thread?

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