Time signature change problem

• Feb 8, 2017 - 18:22

Hi team,

When I set my system lengths to 6 bars (for example) and insert a time signature change, Musescore resets the number of bars per system to 14 or 16 bars. Is there a way to insert time signature changes and not have the number of bars per system affected? It's very annoying. Thanks.


Comments

In reply to by Shoichi

Here you go, Shoichi.

I also provided screen shots. The Before shot is a simple chord progression in C. (I know the chords and markings are unconventional but the program is SO great, it allows me to customize my charts to my reading style :)).

The After shot is what it looks like when a 2/4 bar is inserted (Select bar>double click 2/4). Notice how the rests are all visible again and the line breaks are eliminated.

Many thanks!

Attachment Size
Before.PNG 106.61 KB
After.PNG 92.66 KB
Test Score With Multiple Time Signatures.mscz 6.55 KB

In reply to by Lee Batchelor

Normally you don't add breaks at all - MuseScore automatically spaces things optimally. But *after* you enter all notes, time signature changes, and everything else, if you feel like tweaking the location of line breaks further, you can at that time insert manual ones, and/or use the "stretch" settings. No sense messing with any of that until you are completely done entering the music though, because the spacing will change as you add music of course.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Great thoughts, Marc.

I tend to do a wee bit of bar spacing adjustments on the fly because I enter chords inside the bars - very much against real music theory, I know. When a bar contains several complex chords, Musescore appears to bleed them into the next bar, which I know doesn't really happen. With 16 bars per system, it's very difficult to review what I have already laid out. If there's only one chord per bar, it's not too bad.

I came up with an easy solution. I assigned a hotkey (F16) that brings up the System Breaks dialog box. From there I can set breaks every 4, 6, or whatever bars I want. Final tweaking is done when everything is entered and the score is complete.

For me, any program that allows users to customize its functions according to user needs, is a winner. Musescore shines brightly in that department. As a future thought, I think the interface needs a major update. As it is, we need to drill down through a lot of menus that aren't in alphabetical order. It would be nice to have a customizable toolbar so we can add just the things we need. I'd pay money for that! Thanks.....

In reply to by Lee Batchelor

I had forgotten you were doing chord-only charts, sorry. So yes, I can see why you might be tempted to add line breaks earlier than you otherwise might. But don't. At least wait until you have time signature changes in.

BTW, if a measure has several chords per bar, there are settings that can help prevent MuseScore from overlapping the next bar. See Style / General / Chord Symbols.

Not sure what specifically you want in alphabetic order. That's not normally considered a good ergonomic decision for most things - functional ordering is usually better (which is why "open" is normally toward the top of the File menu, Exit toward the bottom - also why File comes before Edit, etc). But note that palettes *are* customizable, as are keyboard shortcuts.

In reply to by Lee Batchelor

Well, though not alphabetized, the menus in MuseScore 3 should be easier to navigate (if you like, download a nightly build and check out the Add, Format, and Tools menus). And there's already been some work towards the goal of making toolbars customizable (see View > Toolbars > Customize Toolbars... in said nightly build). So thank you for your pledged donation! ;-)

In reply to by Isaac Weiss

Thanks guys. I may have misled you about the alphabetical ordering of menus. Agree - the traditional listing by function is certainly better. The Style-->General and Style-->Text dialog boxes would benefit from an alphabetical order. I learned how to make a customized Palette. It's nice to delete things I never use, such as the bagpipe and guitar fret board stuff.

I shall look at the nightly build improvements. Many thanks....

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