Finale Forum

I know that some composers, including both Stravinsky and Ives, wrote scores with different time signatures on different staves simultaneously. And now, in Tales of Hoffmann, I've come to a spot where some staves are in 12/8 and others are in 4/4 and the bar lines are aligned. Any clue as to how I do this? When I click on the time signature tool, I can see the option for composite time signatures but not an option for what I need. Please help. I'm using v27, by the way.

In the Staff Attributes of some staves, check the box "Independents Element > Time signature". Barlines will be aligned.

In cases like like it is recommended that the “real” time signature is the bigger time signature.
Hence, set the “real” time signature to 12/8.
For the staves in 4/4 Finale will “spread out” the horizontal spacing to align with the “real” time signature of 12/8.