Clef changes at repeats

This is a bug, not an annoying new feature. Technically speaking, there is a very simple explanation for why this happens, and the fix is equally simple. When there are multiple Segments in the same measure at the same tick, they are ordered according to their SegmentType. SegmentType::Clef comes before SegmentType::StartRepeatBarLine, so that is the order in which they appear in the score. While this sort of makes sense in terms of standard notation, there is no reason for it to be this way, and as it turns out this is most likely incorrect. In the usual case, the clef would be applied to the measure, and thus would be added at the end of the previous measure. Even though the clef would be at the same tick as the start repeat barline, it would belong to the previous measure, and therefore it would appear before the start repeat barline anyway. If the clef is applied to the first chord in the measure, it would be expected that the clef should appear right before the chord, and not before the start repeat barline. The way it is now, it looks like the clef has been moved to the end of the previous measure, but that is only because the end barline of the previous measure is hidden due to the presence of the start repeat barline.

https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/pull/5108 fixes this issue by reversing the order of SegmentType::Clef and SegmentType::StartRepeatBarLine.

A little while after the status of this is changed to fixed, a development build (called a nightly by most) will be created and can be found at https://musescore.org/en/download#Development-builds. Give it a little while after the status change then choose the first file after the one in bold.

One thing I'd like to clarify, based on my understanding: it's not quite so simple as to say the current behavior was just a bug. When the ordering of clef followed by start repeat was introduced, this was necessary in order to make the default layout correct in these cases, where the previous measure ends in an end repeat or this is the first measure of a system. Indeed, without that ordering, it would have been just as hard to get the current clef-then-repeat result as it is now to get the repeat-then-clef result you desire here.

However, a change made just before 3.1 - to force the clef to display after the end repeat even when actually present in that previous measure - does indeed make it possible to revisit the ordering of the clef and start repeat when the clef is in the next measure. The only thing that will now become hard is having a clef change after the header but before a start repeat at the start of a system. In other words, this:

It's unfortunate, but it is mainly an issue at the start of a piece - otherwise I'd be happy to place the clef change in the previous bar so it appears as a courtesy at the end of the previous system and in the header of this one. And since it's the start of the piece, the repeat barline isn't needed anyhow. And if you really wanted, you could still get this with leading space and offset adjustments.

So I can live with this, and thus I support this change and am happy the simple/obvious solution will actually work!

You should still be able to do that with enough fiddling - you may need to adjust leading space of both the repeat and the first note, and apply an offset to the clef, etc. But to be clear - with the change Matt has submitted, putting the clef to the right will be as simple as adding to the first note of the measure, exactly as if there were no start repeat there. The workaround will only be needed to create the type of notation shown above.

Thanks to Matt, mostly :-)

Fixed in branch master, commit 7e0daf31a1

fix #290326: Clef changes at repeats

Fixed in branch master, commit 9235be095a

_Merge pull request #5108 from mattmcclinch/290326-clef-after-start-repeat

fix #290326: Clef changes at repeats_

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.