printing not correct

• Jan 30, 2017 - 21:04

In my opera which is divided up into 14 MS files, I have printed 9 or so them so far on 8 1/2 X 11paper and it has come out very good. However, on the present file I worked on today, printing is not coming out right. I looked in the Handbook about page settings, page margins, etc. all of which I'm already familiar with anyway. No clue there. I've tried changing width of the score, and margin sizes, etc. Does not help(.I have not changed any settings on my Canon printer) The width on this file is 465.00mm Margins 9 something. The problem is that the printing is being cut off on the Right margin, wither a fraction of a measure, or almost a whole measure at times. Very puzzling. Or one page will print exactly right, and the next page will be cut off.
Please see attachment below to see this file.Act II. File @2 Thank You for any help.


Comments

In reply to by underquark

i already stated that I am using 8 1/2 by 11 paper.(The maximum for my printer.) I am using the fit to page function on the printer. It has worked perfectly so far on my files, so it is a mystery to me why this file is giving me a problem. (One file it worked on even a bit larger in page size than this one.)

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I did print the problem file from PDF, it works great! .Marc advised me that most conductors would probably prefer PDF files and maybe sound files to being sent a file direct from MS with playback, etc., so I did know I would have to have PDFs for that most likely. Thanks

In reply to by underquark

18x27 is not an exact mutliple of 8.5x11, so it is only logical that an attempt to scale the former down to the latter won't work. It's almost literally trying to put a square peg into a round hole - well, putting a skinny rectangle into an almost square hole. There's no way to do it without either cutting something off, leaving a larger margin in one dimension, or some other compromise.

Probably your printer gives you controls for this wherever it gives you the scaling option. But better to simply choose a more appropriate page size in the first place. If you want it to scale down to 8.5x11, why not choose something more reasonable like 17x22, which is an exact multiple?

But also consider, none of these are standard paper sizes - and they are far too large to work with even if they were. So you'll still be stuck with the problem of how to print the *actual* score when the time comes. Better to choose a page size correspond to actual paper sizes. In the US, a common size for large scores is 11x17. I'd consider simply using that, then scaling down to 8.5x11 if you need smaller prints for whatever reason (not sure what the purpose would be) and making sure you tell your printer to use whatever option it provides to avoid things getting cut off.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

OK, Thanks for this reply! For printing, I am going to simply export to PDF and print for my records. The 8/12 by 11 is certainly quite small, but I can read it OK and will do for my paper record of the score. Already did it,and it solved my printing problem, as suggested by Jojo Schmitz However, i guess you answered something I have been thinking about for the score of my" Ode to the Rockies" that I have to make for the Boulder Philharmonic: I have never played in an orchestra (I'm a pianist) and I have no idea what size the players' parts are supposed to be. For theConductor's Full Score, your info is invaluable, 11X 17 . (I would have thought it would be wider. Also, Isee some conductors are using electonic scores now. Would the 11 by 17 still apply on those, I wonder? And I had wondered about my hodge-podge of page sizes I have on my MS opera files,so your remarks about pages sizes are invaluable.

In reply to by delhud2

11x17 is a common size for scores printed by ordinary folks like you or I, because of the standard paper sizes you can buy at the store or have the local shop print on, that's the best fit both in terms of what affordable printers can deal with and what would fit on a conductor's standard (of course, the score will open up to being twice as wide, so it's really 17x22 as it sits on the stand). Major publishing companies are more likely to special order or custom cut paper to whatever size they desire.

Similar for the parts. Ordinary folks like us print them 8.x5x11 because that paper size is readily available and the printers we own can handle it fine. But major publishers usually go for a slightly different size that would be harder for you or I to deal with, eg, 10x13.

This is all for the US, BTW - standard sizes differ in the rest of the world.

See http://mola-inc.org/article/Music-Preparation-Guidelines-for-Orchestral… for more information.

In reply to by delhud2

Doesn't matter how big the paper is - what matters is how big the staves are. As long as your staff size is big enough, you could print on 3x5" index cards and it would be readable - you'd just need a *lot* of them. 8.5x11" basically fits maybe one fewer staves than 10x13" vertically, and maybe one measure less horizontally, so you might end up with say 6 pages instead of 5 for some given part, but it will be just as readable as long as you keep the same staff size.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

i checked on one of the opera files and find that the staff size is set at 1.753 mm. That must be a MS default or factory setting, as I have never touched staff size at all on any file. So i could assume that staff size is OK for standard USA scores and parts? ( It looks fine to me in the files.)

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Again, very informative. But I had a horrible thought. You pointed out that my page sizes, in metric, are way to large and would need unusual paper to print. I find it hard to visualize the metric system, (when I lived in Europe, I could never figure out how far the next town was since the signs were in Kilometers.) So I need to go back and cut my files' page sizes down in inches,to 11X17, as I do want to stick to standard stuff, no exotic measurements. But, after I change the page size on each file, could that create layout errors again? Lines, etc. messed up? The files all are or will be corrected in 2.0.3, and they are working great for printing as they are now--but what happens when the page size is changed? I don't want to try it yet, as I am not ready to deal with yet more problems on layout. My last file I did, Act II file @2, had hardly any errors after becoming 2.0.3 files from 1.3
Very Concerned, Delhud2

In reply to by delhud2

Changing page size will not *create* layout errors. No more than changing from 1.3 to 2.0.3 *&created* layout errors. However, if your score already *contains* layout problems due to ill-advised manual adjustments, then yes, changing page size - whether done in 1.3 or 2.0.3 - can indeed expose those problems that were already present in exactly the same way that going from 1.3 to 2.0.3 would. If you have made adjustments that depend on the exact layout of the score, then *anything* that changes the layout of the score might well expose those problems. So, adding notes to a violin part, changing lyrics, changing page size, changing fonts, etc - *any* of these might cause some measure that previous fit on a given system to longer fit, thus moving to the next system and changing the layout of everything from that point. If you've done everything well, this won't be problematic, but if you've done a lot of manual adjustments in ways that totally depend on the current layout, then indeed, you'll be looking at the same sorts of symptoms.

Again, the layout changes isn't *causing* any of these problems - it is merely exposing problems that were already there. So to whatever extent you've fixed those problems, already, you can reasonably expect things will be fine after a page size change as well. But any files that gave you problems moving from 1.3 to 2.0.3 will likely give you the same basic problems just changing page size even staying in 1.3, until you fix those problems.

In reply to by delhud2

Unless you have a very specific reason to insert line breaks in your score, you should pretty much never have any, and should instead let MuseScore space things. This has probably been the singe. Biggest source of problems in your scores, as the places you out breaks in on one day don't make sense the next if anything changes. You should only have breaks in places where there *need* to be breaks.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

For an opera score, that staff size would be rather larger than necessary, possibly preventing it from fitting even on 11x17 paper. But if it fits, great. For parts, that's about right. You can go slightly smaller if it helps you for an additional line if music on each page, but I wouldn't go under 1.6mm for staff space. I believe the document I linked to earlier has more advice, if not, a Google search should yield more info.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

OK. My opera files do vary in size some, a some contain such things as 2 0r3 choruses along with the soloists, etc., and the smallest file just has a guitar and strings and two soloists. Since any opera score I've ever seen is printed and bound not in assorted sizes of paper, etc. i assume in my opera some pages would have room left over, blank, and others might be quite filled up, maybe, as you say, with staff size lowered a bit. of course, there are those over-sized pages in some operas that fold out from the rest of the score (I saw this in the score of Parsifal and a few others) but I would hate to get into that kind of stuff. I haven't seen the score of Puccini's Turandot, but I would not be surprised if it had some fold-outs.) I have had NO experience with professional printers. I live in a small city in CO, about 125,000 population, I doubt any printers here have ever printed music much so don't know how they would do. Might have to find someone in Denver, which is 180 miles from here. i gather though that 11X 17 paper size is kpretty standard for any printer co.?

In reply to by delhud2

Again, most published scores intended for actual performance (as opposed to "study scores" for educational purposes) are full scores, not condensed. Meaning all staves are always shown, so all pages have the same number of staves. It's possible the opera world differs some from the symphonic world in this respect, which is why I have on more than one occasion suggested you contact the actual people you will be sending your scores to so you can learn ewhat they personally prefer.

11x17 is a very standard size, you can buy it at any Office Max, Staples, etc. And yes, any print shop, including in a small town, or the print division of one of those stores I mentioned - should be able to handle it.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I have no idea what all this tech info is about. (I did click on the link. Looked like MS development, etc. )All I know is, when I started the score, I had a title page in large letters and and a subtitle for the composer, myself. Somehow that title page got put onto the first page of the actual music score. i tried Shochi's fix also, and it simply put the score title higher up on the first score page. Could I somehow add a page to the beginning of the score, and use that page to be the title page? Thank you.

In reply to by delhud2

Assuming aren't literally talking about the same file and same version of MuseSvore as two years ago, we would need you to start a new thread and attach the file you are currently having problems with. In general, title frames appear on the same page as the music if there is room. If you want the title frame on a separate page, just add a page break to it.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

yes, Thanks. Somehow this 2-year old Forum thread got mixed up with my present question, and everyone tells me to add page break to the frame, so I will try that. There is no room for large fonts for the title and sub title to be on the 1st page of the actual music/score. And someday soon I will have to try getting into MS 3!

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