Musical Symbols in Text Tool

[John Ruggero]

Is there a way to preserve correct line spacing when placing musical symbols into text blocks? Finale does this with single and double sharps, flats and naturals but all other symbols push the lines of text apart.

I usually bring Finale files into InDesign when there are extensive footnotes, but it would be convenient to be able to mock up my text blocks more accurately while still in Finale.

[elbsound]

But does that work in other programs ?
If I combine text and a Maestro sharp in OpenOffice, the line spacing is also messed up.
It's because of the different ascent/descent values in the fonts.

If you apply "Text->Line Spacing" to the text block and/or "Text->Baseline Shift" to selected parts that need a baseline shift, it works fine in Finale.

It would be possible to automatically correct this with a plugin.
For the Music Font Comparison I used the same mechanism in the House Style plugin when automatically changing the fonts in text blocks: they all required a baseline shift, line (re-)spacing and/or shift of the text block to match the original positon, but in a new font style with different ascent/descent values.

[zuill]

There are fonts designed for text with music symbols combined. The Maestro Times is one. The Bach font is another. I know that is not necessarly the answer to the posted issue, but it should at least be mentioned as one option.

Zuill

[John Ruggero]

But does that work in other programs ?

It works automatically in InDesign with all the music fonts I tried. No need to reset the line spacing. But it doesn't work in Word.

If you apply "Text->Line Spacing" to the text block...

That was the answer I sought. Thanks so much! One sets an absolute value for the line setting and all is well. Of course, the baseline settings need to be changed for some of the symbols. It would nice if that were handled automatically as well..

It would be possible to automatically correct this with a plugin.

Such a plugin would be great. And there must such a mechanism already built in to Finale because the accidentals work without resetting the line spacing. One would think that it could easily be expanded to all the glyphs.

There are fonts designed for text with music symbols combined. The Maestro Times is one. The Bach font is another.

Maestro Times doesn't contain all the symbols needed, unfortunately. And it also requires redoing the line spacing. The Bach font may work better, but I don't care for the look of it. I am using Maestro, Bravura, and Opus.

[elbsound]

You could also try the unicode fonts that include both text and (many) musical symbols.
Here is a list of text fonts with musical symbols, look for "unicode".
But they don't include Maestro, Opus and Bravura.

[Ere Lievonen]

And there must [be] such a mechanism already built in to Finale because the accidentals work without resetting the line spacing. One would think that it could easily be expanded to all the glyphs.

Take a look at Document Options > Text > Text Insert Symbols.
There are detailed, individual settings for every accidental symbol provided by Finale as text inserts. This is the "mechanism already built in to Finale". It doesn't look like a system that could easily be expanded to include all and any glyphs.

[John Ruggero]

Thanks, Ere. That's very informative and could be very useful for baseline adjustment. But I didn't see a setting that concerns line spacing. This seems to be handled automatically and the "mechanism built in". The question is why is it limited to accidentals and not the entire music font. I may pose this as a feature request at MM.

At present, one can substitute any symbol for the five accidentals listed in Document Options>Text>Text Insert Symbols and be able to insert it into the text without it altering the line spacing. But that is unnecessary if one resets the line spacing generally as was suggested.

[John Ruggero]

You could also try the unicode fonts that include both text and (many) musical symbols.
Here is a list of text fonts with musical symbols, look for "unicode".
But they don't include Maestro, Opus and Bravura.

Thank you. I will explore the list.