Sharp in chord symbol causes Tahoma font to be embedded in PDF
I have created a style that uses the Google fonts Crimson Text and Open Sans. Chord Symbols use Crimson Text. I have noticed that if a chord symbol includes a sharp (for instance F#), the font Tahoma gets embedded in the PDF. If the chord is a natural (for instance F), the Tahoma font doesn't get embedded.
The very simple file attached to this email illustrates the problem.
Why is this happening? I assume that for some reason the # character isn't found in the CrimsonText font and Tahoma is pulled as a replacement.
Thanks!
Comments
When I open that score, all fonts are being set to MS Shell Dlg 2, when exporting to PDF indeed as Tahoma.
Seems to be that fallback fonts.
That # isn't even stored in the score, just a "harmony", with "root" being 20 (which is F#) and 16 (which is D), and from that the chord symbol gets generated on the fly.
In reply to When I open that score, all… by Jojo-Schmitz
I assumed it was a fallback. The question is why? Obviously the # character is part of the Crimson Text font.
https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Crimson+Text
In reply to I assumed it was a fallback… by pattste
I don't think it has got anything to do with the # itself
In reply to I assumed it was a fallback… by pattste
I don't see anywhere on that page where it suggests the sharp character - as opposed to the pound sign character) is included with that font. They are two very different glyphs, drawn differently and stored at different Unicode code points.
Some musical glyphs stored on different locations (blocks) in fonts.
The font you are using doesn't have the required symbols in these locations:
in this case we need these unicode symbols:
0x0266D: ♭
0x0266F: ♯
not used, but defined:
0x0266E: ♮
0x1d12a: 𝄪 (x)
0x1d12b:𝄫 (bb)
Thank you. It is indeed a font problem, the sharp and flat characters not being part of the character set. I have decided to use Linux Libertine for chord symbols, which includes those. It works fine now.
I'd be curious to know what font everyone is using for chord symbols.
In reply to Thank you. It is indeed a… by pattste
As a jazz musician, it is pretty much universally expected to use a large "handwritten" font, and the built-in MuseJazz style (very reminiscent of the chord symbols used in the well-regarded "New Real Book" series and other publications) nails this very well.
For the few non-jazz charts I create that nonetheless need chord symbols, I generally just uses FreeSerif or Times New Roman, again, in keeping with the expectations of that particular market.