Misplaced Ledger Line in Cross Staff Small Notes

• Jan 26, 2016 - 17:55

I was just trying out MuseScore for the first time and immediately ran into the attached problem with a ledger line note in cross-staffed small notes:

Small Cross Staff Note.jpg


Comments

Interestingly, it looks like you've stumbled across a small bug that has been fixed since the release of MuseScore 2.0.2. I just tried to reproduce that in a recent development version and there was no error:
John.png
But then I tried it in 2.0.2, and there it was.

So, all I can say is sorry you're having this problem, but MuseScore 2.0.3 is coming soon, and then that won't happen any more.

In reply to by Isaac Weiss

Thank you so much ZackTheCardshark and Shoichi. That was a very quick and helpful response!

I tried it without a sextuplet by making the meter 11/16 and entering real 32nds, but the result was the same, so I guess I will have to wait for 2.0.3. Just my beginners's luck, I guess.

I have found the program to be well thought-out, and I am glad that it is available and continuing to be developed.

A couple of things that struck me right off as a new user (I am an experienced user of Finale, so that probably has a strong influence on my impressions):

1. It was counterintuitive to me to have the hand grabber instead of the selection arrow as the default in depressing the mouse.

2. I would love to modify those piano braces! Too fat and unlike anything one sees from the major publishers.

In reply to by John Ruggero

You're quite welcome! As to waiting until 2.0.3, you could do that—or you could keep working in 2.0.2, and if you need to print your score or export a PDF before 2.0.3 is released, then grab a preview from https://musescore.org/en/download#Nightly-versions.

I'm glad you're liking MuseScore. Two things you can do that you might not have discovered yet:

1. Add the [Shift] key the mouse forms a selection rectangle.
2. Go up to the Style menu, choose General…, and click "System" on the left, and there you'll find the controls for the thickness of the brace. ;-)

In reply to by Isaac Weiss

1. Sorry I wasn't clear, Zack. What I meant was that I would have expected that it would be the hand grabber that required the Shift key, not the selection arrow (box), since I, at least, would use the selection box a lot more than the grabber.

2. I should have simply looked at the documentation for the brace, but thanks for patiently directing me. Something that might be developed in the future are control points for the brace so that that the user has complete control over its shape. But changing the thickness at least helps a lot, that is for certain.

I am very impressed by the dedication that I immediately sense in the responses to my post. I will keep exploring MuseScore and may chime in occasionally with other experiences and impressions that I form as I go.

Thanks again to all.

In reply to by John Ruggero

Regaridng selection versus moving the score, actually, the latter normally ends up being a lot more common in regular usage, given that there are usually much better ways of doing selection. Shift+drag is kind of a last resort; the much easier ways are the standard shortcuts like click / shift+click or click then shift+cursor keys.

As for the brace, the standard shape and size should match those from major publishers very well, wondering if maybe you are looking at different editions than I? Feel free to show examples of what you think it should like versus what it looks like in MuseScore. Also, see Style / General and the option to switch to a different music font; there are several available.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks, Marc. Not to belabor this, but all the selection alternatives that you mention also seem to involve the keyboard. My natural inclination is to encircle areas of the score that I want to select with the mouse WITHOUT having to use the keyboard. But I do see that I can select an entire measure with one click of the mouse, or a single note head.

I now understand why I, as a newbie, uncovered this small glitch. I just didn't understand MuseScore's unique distinction between "note" and "chord". Now that i understand it, there is no problem at all, and I was able to correct my firstMuseScore engraving.

There is a good overview of piano braces at http://notat.io/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36.
One of the most beautiful braces I have seen was created by forum member Wess shown later in the thread, where he gives the finale settings for this brace. I use it now for my Finale engraving. Wess is an amazing engraver and font designer whose work should be known to all who are interested in such things:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f0udkrvb8xvh2zj/AAD_8mVlRzzr5mjZKI7BR7Kza?dl…

In reply to by John Ruggero

Interesting. Here's the same image with MuseScore added into that convenient space on the bottom left (#14):
Brace Comparison.jpg
It looks to me like MuseScore's default is thicker than the average among those examples, though not the thickest (check out that #1!) But, of course, that's only the default, which can be changed depending on personal preferences. Crammed in on the top right is another MuseScore example with the relevant Style setting at 1.2, and the brace blends in quite well. Crammed in on the top left is the exact same image as the top right, just because context might make a difference to how it looks. ;-)

In reply to by Isaac Weiss

Zack, the MuseScore brace works quite well at 1.1-1.3 settings and looks not at all out of place in that assemblage. I could use it as it stands in my work. However, I would like more control over the shape so the "nose" is not pushed in. Here is my favorite brace designed by Wess:
Wess's Brace.png

In reply to by John Ruggero

FWIW, mouse selection only works if the area you want to select all fits on screen at once, so it is by definition much more limited. I'd definitely recommend getting mroe familair with the standard keyboard-based selection methods, which can much easily select larger areas, also more precisely select areas hard to isolated using the mouse (threee specific notes within a run of thirty-seconds), etc.

In reply to by John Ruggero

Regarding the bug involving ledger lines, see my previous response in which I point out the bug only exists if you set the *note* to small instead of the "chord*. Setting the *chord* to small works just fine and is the correct solution anyhow - that way the stems etc are also scaled. Both controls are located right there in the Inspector.

This is probably a result of #71901: Seconds misplaced on beamed cross-staff notes which was indeed fixed after 2.0.2. I would say this is definitely the case, but oddly, if I load the attached score into my copy of 2.0.2 on my Linux system, it does not show the bug. Was the file updated at some point? The copy I have seems different than the one I see shown in the pictures - there is no hidden eighth rest at the beginning of the bar.

In reply to by Isaac Weiss

Thanks. I was indeed looking at Shoichi's attachment. I can see the issue now in 2.0.2. It doesn't require sextuplets, BTW - same thing with ordinary sixteenths. Part of the trick to reproduce is you have to make the *note* small instead of the *chord* - making the *chord* small (which is the normal way of doing this) works fine.

I want to look at this at some point to be sure I understand what got fixed, in case there are corner cases not handled correctly, but I do suspect the fix for the issue I mentioned above might be what fixed this case as well.

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