Finale Forum

Has anyone adjusted the settings for the arpeggio articulation so that it does something useful when applied with the metatool? The out-of-the-box setting is worthless--what can they have been thinking? I would like to click on the top note with the metatool and at least have the top of the arpeggio positioned correctly and at a reasonable distance to the left. And why is the handle in the middle of the arpeggio rather than at the top?

Perhaps I can pay $150 to get something reasonable with v.26 but meanwhile, has anyone solved this?

motet wrote:Perhaps I can pay $150 to get something reasonable with v.26…

Not a chance, as I see it.

Dorico does it up right. It has what might be termed an "Arpeggio Tool". You can set the horizontal offset to whatever you like (automatic collision avoidance for accidentals and barlines). The vertical endpoints are fully adjustable and account for whether a starting or ending note is in a space or on a line. Set it and forget it, the way it should be.

So far as Finale, it makes sense to me that arpeggios could be engineered as part of the Smart Shape tool. Just as slurs snap from starting to ending notes, the arpeggio could snap vertically from lowest to highest note.

N.

Since they are making such a big deal about the collision avoidance and new articulations, maybe that’s in there as well.

We’ll see.

Well, I got something that sort of works. It seems to base the length of the arpeggio according to the notes on the stem, but it's always too long. The bottom handle is the one that adjusts the length, so you want the metatool click to get the top right so you only have to adjust the bottom. It turns out that with the proper handle offsets if you click on the bottom note the top will be placed correctly, then you can adjust the length with the bottom handle. The horizontal offset combined with "center horizontally" gives a consistent displacement to the left.

You also want Document options/Music spacing/Avoid collision of articulations, of course. I may play with the horizontal handle offset a bit to make it closer to the note - -48 is just there as a placeholder. -48 for the vertical offset is correct, though.

motet wrote:… The bottom handle is the one that adjusts the length, so you want the metatool click to get the top right so you only have to adjust the bottom. It turns out that with the proper handle offsets if you click on the bottom note the top will be placed correctly, then you can adjust the length with the bottom handle …

To me it seems that {holding down the metatool key, and click} will position the articulation, not at the articulation’s “default positioning”, but rather at the “click positioning”.

On The Other Hand, {holding down the metatool key, and drag} will position the articulation at its “default positioning”.

Whenever you use an articulation with the option to copy the symbol to create a longer version, you don't get as much control as with normal articulations.

Zuill

I wasn't aware of that distinction, Peter. I'll have to explore.

At any rate, I'm satisfied. Final horizontal handle offset was -36. I was able to make short work of these by clicking them in and only had to adjust the bottoms; tops were all correct upon clicking. I had to adjust horizontally those with accidentals and seconds; the rest were correct horizontally upon clicking.

A one-click arpeggio is possible by using a single-length arpeggio symbol instead of the standard double-length arpeggio in Maestro.
See the description here: https://elbsound.studio/elbsound-music- ... p#arpeggio
and demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFmh2ud_Uc

Thanks for that. It sounds like Finale bases the length on a single segment, but it has two segments, so is too long.I'm pretty much done entering arpeggios, though, so will stick with what I have for now.