hiding staves until needed

• Dec 5, 2018 - 10:46

Is it possible to "hide" instrument lines until they are needed? Eg I have 100+ bars of 2 violins, voice and cello and then a trumpet and viola joins them - in the same piece. Of course, I realise I could have the 100+ empty trumpet and viola bars... (see image of where the change occurs)
Thanks

CA

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Comments

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you Marc. I have yet to download 3.0. I fear that even that might not solve the problem because the first few bars (trumpet and viola) of the "new" section are also empty but at the point where the time signature changes, the empty staves need to be there. In other words, what I need to be able to do is add two new staves at that point - in the same piece. I certainly can't work out how!

I much appreciate all the help.

CA

In reply to by cadams

I don't see how that's a problem with either 2.3.2 or 3.0. Maybe I'm missing something. Add as many new staves as you want, same process applies either way. If the first bars are empty and they are on the same system as the first non-empty bars, all works fine (except for a bug in hide empty staves in 3.0 currently). If you're saying they are on a system alone but you still want them to show, just add an invisible & silent note.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

It's almost certainly me who's missing something. Put simply, I have 4 staves (Violin, Violin 2, Voice, cello) all being used up to bar 117. At bar 118, the trumpet and viola join them. I doubt if I am able to suddenly add two additional staves at that point (certainly don't know how to). Hiding empty bars (can I be selective?) is a blunt instrument and too much disappears. I don't seem to be able to be selective with Do not hide. The invisible notes is a good idea, though too many legitimate empty bars throughout (which are currently being hidden) to do that.

In truth, there is no real problem with having all those empty staff lines. It just seems untidy.

Forgive me if I'm being obtuse...... but many thanks.

CA

In reply to by cadams

I'm not understanding what part of the procedure you are missing, but it should be quite simple:

1) Add the two staves normally (edit / instruments. They will appear everywhere, and that's fine for now.
2) Start adding your notes in bar 117 or wherever you need them
3) Go to Style / General and enable "Hide empty staves". Also perhaps disable "Don't hide empty staves in first system" if you don't want to see them there either (but most would recommend you do show all instruments in the first system)

At that point, you will see the two new staves doing exactly what they are supposed to - not being visible until bar 117. However, if the viola is not empty somewhere, it will also be hidden on those places, So, you need to use "Never hide" (not "Do not hide if system is empty", that's something completely different) on the violin, viola, and cello staves.

Once you do that, it will be exactly as I think you are described.

If you are finding otherwise, attach your score and we can help you see what you might be missng.

In reply to by cadams

It's a pain indeed, which is why the new "Hide when empty" feature in 3.0 is such an improvement - you only need to set it for the staff you want to have appear/disappear. Today a new update was released to the beta, and it's actually quite usable now - and the hide empty staves bug is fixed. So do give it a try!

In reply to by cadams

:-)

A system is one "line" of music, left to right across the page, including all the staves. So, music for string quartet, a system is one line of music encompassing those four staves. Or, music for piano, it's one line of music encompassing those two staves. As simple as that.

In reply to by MerryMandarin

  1. Use the menu option Format > Style... > Score
  2. Disable the option Don't hide empty staves in first system

If you enable View > Show invisible for this score, you will see a section break at the end of each section. Each new section has a "first system" which is affected by the formatting option described above.

In reply to by MerryMandarin

The reason all staves show in the first system is, it is the standard in published ensemble scores to show all instruments in the first system, so the conductor or other reader knows what is being used without needing to peruse the entire score looking for new instruments entrances. But there are cases where this isn't needed, and that's why there is the option to prevent that.

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