Finale Forum

I use Finale version 25 for Windows

After all the spacing is done when notating into the score I have to turn the automatic spacing on and off all the time not for things to jump into a mess . As I have positioned measures and grace note innovations for extended techniques by hand in many cases

Everything also jumps out into a mess if I forget to turn of automatic spacing before switching back and forth between Display in Concert pitch
What a time thief !! Is there any way to lock measures or lock a score page from being affected by automatic spacing when moving on to the next page in a score or the next measure ? Or do I have to remember all positionings and do all the adjustments when I am finnished with the complete score ?
What a drag if this is so !

I tried now to mark the measures on a page and lock sysyems but when I switch to display in concert pitch it becomes a mess again

All the best
Niko

no one has the same problem ?

You are not alone.

Personally I tend to keep Automatic Music Spacing off, and instead apply music spacing myself, so that Finale only applies music spacing when I need it, and only in the selected region.

Also, beware that Automatic Music Spacing is a program specific setting, not a document specific setting.
If you have Automatic Music Spacing toggled on, then AMS can create a disaster when you open a document, where a lot of time has been spent on fine-tuning the layout.

Thank you !
That is a good tip .
So keep it of and then only turn it on when you want to adjust certain measures right. I do it with the eraser ?
or do you use the select tool and select a measure and then apply note spacing . I fin dit good when plotting in the basic notes but when adding stuff in all other partameteres of a note things get a mess .

Thank you for taking the time !

all the best
Niko

I'd suggest you take a look at your workflow when creating a Finale file from beginning to end. Many Finale users do it this way:

√ Turn Automatic Spacing ON.
√ Enter the music from start to finish – notes, text, symbols, smart shapes, everything. Do not try to fix spacing problems as you go along. Just let Finale space things as it wants to. You'll fix things later.
√ When you're done entering the music, do the layout work–make sure each system has the right amount of music, not too crowded and not too loose.
√ Turn Automatic Spacing Off
√ Now, go through the score and make any adjustments you need to. As long as Automatic Spacing is off, the changes will stick.

N.

Peter Thomsen wrote:If you have Automatic Music Spacing toggled on, then AMS can create a disaster when you open a document...

Does it really respace just by opening the document? I've always been unclear on just what triggers it.

To N's fine list, I'll add: do your work in scroll view, until all entries are made.

Yes

It was the points in the workflow chronology that I was thinking was important . Very good .
'
One thing though . As I go along I am adding extended techniques and Ideas to the score . I dont always sketch down the complete picture beforehand .
But like it was mentioned I think working in scrollwiev will solve a lot of problems.
Great . This helps !

Thank you all
Niko

And just write in some loose tekst notes here and there to remember what I wanted to achieve if I was to forgett it before coming back to fix it later.

Niko

Another aspect that makes it problematic :

If one wants to show to others how it is coming along or if one wants to print things out for visual analysis along the composition prosess .
to do everythng as a last makes for a terrible representation of what one is doing no ?

there should be some kind of fix object in relation to where it is put in the contekst menu I think . something like that .


N

Another very important point: make sure Automatic Update Layout is always ON. If you turn this off and forget to update the layout manually, you'll get unexpected results when Finale updates the layout anyway, like upon printing or loading the document.

If you're using non-standard notation and want your first version to look almost like it should in the final draft, I'd still suggest you shut off Automatic Spacing after you have made the basic entries and before manually setting any tweaks. Later, when you come back to it to make further changes/revisions, keep Auto Spacing off and use spacing manually - select only the measure(s) to be respaced with the Selection Tool and press "4" on the computer keyboard.

You mention using "grace note innovations for extended techniques". That has me worried. Some people use grace notes when normal notation that is reduced in size is better. Normal notation is more stable when interacting with Finale's spacing routines. If you could post a screenshot of a bit of this kind of notation, maybe you'd get some good suggestions from the forum.

N.

N Grossingink wrote:If you're using non-standard notation and want your first version to look almost like it should in the final draft, I'd still suggest you shut off Automatic Spacing after you have made the basic entries and before manually setting any tweaks. Later, when you come back to it to make further changes/revisions, keep Auto Spacing off and use spacing manually - select only the measure(s) to be respaced with the Selection Tool and press "4" on the computer keyboard.

You mention using "grace note innovations for extended techniques". That has me worried. Some people use grace notes when normal notation that is reduced in size is better. Normal notation is more stable when interacting with Finale's spacing routines. If you could post a screenshot of a bit of this kind of notation, maybe you'd get some good suggestions from the forum.

N.

Hey I really appreciate you answering this thoroughly and I have never thought about the dangers of using grace notes like that . Yhat is a good point !!!
this bar is a tutti fermata bar and I will make a slash through the corner of these grace notes at a later point so that does not move around also hehe

All the best
Niko

BTW, Jari has a plugin for slashing groups of grace notes.

Vaughan wrote:BTW, Jari has a plugin for slashing groups of grace notes.

Oh thank you!!! .
He has a lot of nice plugs I can see ! Great !!!

Niko