On Tuesday, June 10, 2003, at 01:40 AM, Mark D. Lew wrote:
At 12:07 AM 06/10/03, Darcy James Argue wrote:
[answering me]I move staves within a system using the "Staff Usage" box.
Why that instead of TGTools Staff LIst Manager.
1. I'm used to the Staff Usage way and I never had any complaints with it.
I don't even know what TG would do that I would like any better. Maybe I
have a pleasant surprise waiting for me?
Oh yes. The TGTools Staff List Manager lets you see (and adjust) all the staves at once, use relative values (so you can edit the topline-to-topline distances directly without having to do any math in your head), easily optimize staves in or out, and much more besides. You'll love it. It's a way of life.
(On a side note, my budgetary situation has changed, so I'm finally
anticipating tossing out this old piece of junk and getting a new Mac. I'm
not even going to install Finale on the new one until 2k4 comes out, so
that I can skip the whole OS 9 Classic rigamarole.)
Make sure you wait at least a couple of weeks. The web is ablaze with rumors of the long-awaited 64-bit PowerPC 970 (AKA the G5) being introduced at the WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) in two weeks' time. You'll definitely want one of those babies.
On a related note, what's the best way to get consistent placement for apreggio marks in piano or harp parts?
Some time last year I had a piece with a lot of them so I finally sat down
and worked out a good procedure -- and then once I had it I wondered why I
didn't do it years ago! I've now got two separate metatools, and between
the two of them I can cover everything.
[snip]
If anyone is interested I can call up a file and specify all the numbers.
I would love that.
[me][...] I like to have the bottom system in the same position on every page
[Darcy]I wish Finale made this easier. I don't do this mainly because while
do I think it would be theoretically desirable to have the bottom
system in the same position on every page, it's such a monumental,
time-consuming pain in the ass to do (especially for orchestral scores)
that I generally just go for "ah, that looks close enough."
Well, in my templates I don't find it such a hassle.
Yes, but (as you write later) you were talking about scores with multiple systems on every page. You're right, that *isn't* a hassle, -- in fact it's a no-brainer with Jari's Space Systems plugin, which I highly recommend you try -- I'm sure you'll find it much faster than entering all of the values manually.
But I was talking about orchestral scores.
For an
orchestra score with one system per page it would be an entirely different
procedure, which I have no direct experience with. (Though it seems that
wouldn't be so hard either....)
Well, it kind of is. At least, I should say, I haven't yet figured out a way of doing this -- making sure the bottom staff line appears in *exactly* the same vertical position on every page of the score -- that isn't a colossal pain in the ass. I know in theory it could be done with the page margins, which I *do* use as a rough guide -- but while it's easy to get it right within a few points (which I always do), it's much harder to nail it to the very EVPU. And I guess to be honest, it's not *that* important to me anyway. What's a few EVPUs between friends? If any of this stuff were ever destined for publication, I might get more anal about it, but it's not.
Anyway, what I would *love* would be a plugin that does for single orchestral systems what JW Space Systems does for multiple systems. Although actually, come to think of it, it would have to do a lot more: calculate what system reduction would be required to place the bottom-most staff line in the position you specify (say, 3/4 of an inch from the bottom of the page), and apply that system reduction, up to a user-specified maximum -- in my case that might be 75%. *But* if the bottom staff is still too high up on the page at the maximum reduction (sounds like an oxymoron but you know what I mean -- the largest percentage you will allow for that score), then the plugin would have expand the existing space between staves proportionally until the bottom staff is where it needs to be.
Right now this is largely a matter of trial and error, although Andrew's tip does make things *much* easier.
I would still need to do a lot of moving the staves around in TGTools -- and, like others, I *really* wish there were a shortcut for dragging down *all* staves below the selected staff, short of drag-enclosing the bottom handles -- but this would expedite the "easy" orchestral pages tremendously. The hard ones would still be a frustrating, time-consuming PITA -- at least until Finale gains the ability to resolve collisions by automatically adjusting the vertical space between staves.
- Darcy
----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Boston MA
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