Bugs: Sustain Pedal Alignment

• Sep 20, 2023 - 00:35

I've observed a couple of bugs with the sustain pedal notation:

  1. Sometimes, but not always, when two pedal bar hooks meet on a beat with notes from two different voices, the "natural alignment" of the two hooks align to different note heads, causing their peaks to separate.

    • "natural alignment" meaning the alignment used when initially placed, or reset via "Format -> Reset shapes and positions"
    • This can happen in either direction - with a gap or an overlap.
      Workaround: Manually move sustain hooks.
  2. Sometimes, when "a layout change" happens, one or more pedal lines will move to different vertical heights. In some cases, the lines' "natural alignment" is actually lower, sometimes it's higher.

    • "a layout change" can be:
      • one or more measures with a pedal line is moved from one system to another
      • a system is moved from one page to another
      • a pedal line is reset via "Format -> Reset shapes and positions", affecting another pedal line with at least one end on the same system
    • Using "Format -> Reset shapes and positions" on all pedal lines does get them to align. However, if the measure(s) were moved between systems due to a previous manual adjustment of the hooks to address #1, those measures will predictably but frustratingly return to their old position.
      Workaround: Manually move sustain bar heights.
  3. Sometimes, when moving a pedal hook horizontally, its pedal line will jump upwards as in #2.

    • Similarly, it can be fixed with "Format -> Reset shapes and positions", but this defeats the purpose of moving the pedal hook horizontally to fix #1.
    • This seems to happen only on hooks and lines already experiencing bug #1.
    • This seems to happen only when there is space for this individual pedal line to move upwards.
    • This seems to not happen the first time you move a hook horizontally, but on the second time you move it.
      Workaround: Manually move sustain bar heights.
  4. When a sustain bar is specifically attached to two notes of the same non-primary voice, and that voice doesn't have any more notes or rests for the rest of the piece, that sustain bar lasts until the end of the piece.

    • This doesn't happen if the sustain bar has one or both ends attached to a different voice.
      Workaround: Select different notes when creating the sustain. Or add an extra measure of (invisible) rests for that voice after the desired sustain.

With all four of these bugs consistently occurring, it has become a near nightmare to try and get sustain pedal notation looking good. This afternoon, I broke down into something between hysterical laughter and desperate sobbing. TWICE. It's possible to work around all of these issues, but oh my Titan is it frustrating.

See the videos in this Google Drive folder for demonstration of these bugs on the attached score:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A4SlxA7bxfTVjytDanY5XqLFMdxZxPI…

or a PDF here for a demonstration of at least #1, on pages 5 and 6:
Healing Spell - PDF.pdf

Attachment Size
Demo of sustain pedal bugs.mscz 45.44 KB
Healing Spell - PDF.pdf 173.23 KB

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