special endings adjustments

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special endings adjustments

17 years ago

I think this request has been covered in the forum before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it. It would be useful if we could adjust the attributes of the brackets for special endings (ending 1, ending 2, etc.). Currently, all we can change is the number. I'd like to be able to lengthen or shorten the horizontal line of the bracket, and I'd especially like to be able to adjust its vertical position.

Example: I'm preparing parts for a string quartet. I have a repeat sign at the end of a section, with first and second endings, and I want to put a rehearsal letter over it, using Boxmarks at the recommended setting (same point size as the staff metrics). If I put the letter above the brackets, where it belongs, it runs into the bottom of the staff above. If I squeeze it in under the first-ending bracket, it looks cramped and crowded, and it has to be aligned before the bar instead of over it, in order to keep from running into the second-ending bracket. There are few other alternatives. (If I increase the spacing between staves, the part runs over onto an extra page.) The whole problem could be avoided if I could simply lower the special-ending brackets. But I can't.

Cheers,

Bill

Re: special endings adjustments

Reply #1 – 17 years ago

Agreed. Vertical positioning can be varied with layers, but that should not be required.

Special Endings are among the most featureless aspects of NWC2. They misalgn and 'preserve width' in the Editor making them much less WYSIWYG than necessary.

Some facility is needed to make the bracket visible and the text invisible. I always get asked: What is this 'D.' in the ending?

Add to this the awful defaults for 'Flow' objects.

The MIDI implementation of flow and endings is very powerful, exceeding many other notation programs. It is a shame that the visual aspects are so clunky.

Re: special endings adjustments

Reply #2 – 17 years ago

Quote from: Rick G. – 17 years ago

Some facility is needed to make the bracket visible and the text invisible. I always get asked: What is this 'D.' in the ending?

When necessary I work around this by making SE's Print|Never and then using characters from my *Dings suites to create my own lines with embedded ending numbers. This will give the control William is looking for too as they are simple text entries that can be positioned accordingly.

Still, to have this built in to NWC would be much better.

Re: special endings adjustments

Reply #3 – 17 years ago

Amen to all the comments re the printing of special endings.

Quote

The whole problem could be avoided if I could simply lower the special-ending brackets. But I can't.

You can. While Rick touched on it, he didn't explain.

The special ending is at the top boundary of the staff height. You can move it up or down by changing the upper vertical size of each staff.

If that will have an adverse effect on other things, then I suggest entering the special ending on a new top staff that contains nothing else except invisible signatures, rests and bar lines, then layer it with the desired top line of your score. Then you can adjust the visible special ending height without affecting anything else on your notation staff.

IIRC, when you print the score, the default visibility for special endings is "top staff only." You would just keep the adjusted height special ending staff open when you print either the score or individual parts.