Can't add tablature in Ms4 OR Ms3

• Oct 31, 2023 - 18:41

When the "Type of Staff" selector turned out to be deactivated in Ms4, I saved the score as MusicXML and retreated to Ms3.

When I read in the XML, I lost some text, but no matter. That was easily put back.
The important staff notation was all there.

So I went about following instructions to add a tablature staff.
Under Edit > Instruments, I could select the existing staff and then add a new Staff or a Linked Staff.

For each of them, there is an option to switch type from "Standard" to "Custom Tablature".

However:
a. No options appear at that point to specify anything about the tablature
b. When I close the dialog, the staves show the same notation they had before.
c. When I right click in a staff and choose Staff/Part properties, I see many options related to
instrument choice and standard notation, but none relating to tablature.
d. When I revisit the instruments dialog, I see that the type selector has gone back to "Standard"
(The "Custom Tablature" option did not persist, for some reason.)

Am I missing something, or is the ability to add a link tab staff missing in Ms3, as well as Ms4?

(I hope I'm missing something! Is there another option or program I should be using?
The displayed score is SO nice, and SO readable, and it prints BEAUTIFULLY.
I'd love the tablature option to be working. (My only alternative at the moment is
Tabledit, which displays & prints in flyspec I can't read, even WITH my glasses. :__)


Comments

In reply to by underquark

The OP was bouncing around different forum threads with no success, and likely experiencing increasing levels of frustration. ;-)
Anyway, all along he expressed a simple need:
I do simple Trad tunes, once in a while.
I am still looking for ANY way to create a fiddle/mando tab staff.

Since fiddle and mandolin are popular instruments for traditional tunes, and since violin is not really TAB friendly (being fretless), I opted to provide a simple mandolin scenario for a start.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.