Align/Move Dynamics Doesn't Work With Multiple Layers

[Xigwon]

When I have multiple layers, the Align/Move Dynamics plug-in is completely useless.

Here's before I hit "go":

Screen Shot 2019-09-21 at 7.24.30 PM.png

Here's after I hit "go":

Screen Shot 2019-09-21 at 7.24.37 PM.png

If I hide the 2nd layer, it works fine. But obviously I need both layers, and I also need the dynamics to be aligned.

Is there ANY way around this?

Thanks

Finale 26.1.0.484

[miker]

Were all of those shapes and expressions assigned to the same layer notes?

[Xigwon]

Were all of those shapes and expressions assigned to the same layer notes?

How do you even assign text expressions to specific layers? And how do I check what layers they're assigned to?

I thought expressions are only assigned to the staff, not specific layers.

[motet]

As far as I know, expressions are attached to beats, not notes.

I can reproduce your problem. Very strange.

[zuill]

Right-click on the expression handle to see what layer it is attached to. Also, there is a menu option to attach an expression to the active layer.

Zuill

[Xigwon]

Right-click on the expression handle to see what layer it is attached to. Also, there is a menu option to attach an expression to the active layer.

Zuill

That's it! THANK YOU ZUILL, YOU'RE A LIFESAVER

[motet]

I'm confused by this. Do you mean Edit Expression Assignment / Show On Layer ___?

[zuill]

Look at the attached file. In Document options, choose to show only the active layer. Now, toggle between Layer 1 and Layer 2. You'll see in the first measure, the expressions show in both views, because they are attached to all layers (and, as reported by the OP, the expressions are aligned when only Layer 1 is showing). However, when looking at Layer 2, the expressions in the second measure disappear, because they are attached to Layer 1. And, because they are attached to Layer 1, when Layer 2 is present, the expressions remain unaffected.

Zuill

[motet]

Thanks, Zuill. I understand the difference now.

I think this is buggy behavior, though. What's at play here is the category's vertical positioning, "Below staff baseline or entry." If you click in the expressions with a metatool with "favor attachment to , they're placed so as to avoid the down-stems, and are both at the same vertical level. But if you select both expressions and press Backspace to clear the manual positioning, you'll see as in the picture below that the mp was given "manual" positioning. Apparently since there's a note in layer 1 on beat 1, it's interpreting ""below staff baseline or entry" based on layer 1's note, but then has to add the offset to clear the flags. Since there's a layer 2 note on beat 4.5, the pp's vertical offset is based on the the layer 2 note that's there.

What's odd is that Align/Move apparently thinks it has to move the pp down to match mp's vertical offset. I don't really understand this.

In the file below I set "Favor attachment to active layer" and tried clicking them in first with with layer 1 active and then layer 2. "Favor attachment to active layer" only seems to "favor" if there's a note there. I had to edit the assignment of the pp in the second set. As you can see, all have problems. Layer one aligns best, at the expense of maybe having wrong placement when clicked in.

Looks like when you copy a measure, all expressions are changed in the copy to "All layers." The copy filter doesn't seem to be of any help here.

So, align/move seems to be the culprit, but Finale's whole concept of default placement is not optimal.