To Power-Users: Patterson Beam Plugin

General notation questions, including advanced notation, formatting, etc., go here.

Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker

User avatar
apkyburz
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:50 am
Finale Version: 26 (+TG, Pattsn, JW)
Operating System: Mac

Post by apkyburz » Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:10 pm

Hi Forum,

I've just purchased Jan's "Perfect Layout" plugin and it's amazing!

There's one thing I need a little clarification: In one step, PL recommends me to use Patterson's Beam Plugin. Now, my question is, which of the two beam plugins PL refers to (I reckon it's probably the beam selection plugin, right?) and what's the effect I should get when using it?

Thanks,
Best


User avatar
N Grossingink
Posts: 1786
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:50 pm
Finale Version: 27.3
Operating System: Mac

Post by N Grossingink » Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:52 pm

Patterson Beams is in Plugins > Note, Beam and Rest Editing > Patterson Plugins Lite.

Robert Patterson has a user guide on his website:
http://robertgpatterson.com/-fininfo/-p ... beams.html

If you scroll down the page in the user guide, Robert gives settings to produce "Ted Ross Beams" (author of The Art of Music Engraving) and "Henle Beams" (German publisher known for great engraving). That might be a good place to start rather than trying to figure out your own settings. Otherwise, you're pretty much on your own. I like the Henle Beams - very elegant and have a "quiet" look (gentler slopes).

By the way, I doubt that PL means that you must use the plugin. If you like Finale's beams as they are, you might be saving yourself a bit of trouble learning the plugin. It's a bit complicated.
N. Grossingink
Educational Band, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble a specialty
Sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFF5OeJDeLFGHMRyXrubFqZWXBubErw4/view?usp=share_link


Mac Mini 2014 2.6 Ghz, 8Gb RAM
OSX 10.15.7
Finale 2012c, 25.5, 26.3, 27.3

User avatar
elbsound
Posts: 196
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:06 am
Finale Version: Finale 2014.5
Operating System: Windows

Post by elbsound » Tue Oct 08, 2019 1:47 pm

N Grossingink is right. You don't need to use the Patterson Beams plug-in for PL. It is just a reminder that the beams might look better if you run Patterson Beams before running PL.
The message is something like "Running Patterson Beams is highly recommended, but not mandatory."

In the manual it says:
As the beam positions are taken into account for collisions and improved staff distances, running Patterson Beams or JW Yada Yada is something that should be done BEFORE running PL. Otherwise it might lead to collisions or unbalanced spacing later.

I'll update the message in Perfect Layout, so that it is more clear that this is just an optional step.

Jan
Elbsound.studio

oldmkvi
Posts: 384
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:13 pm
Finale Version: 25
Operating System: Mac

Post by oldmkvi » Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:24 pm

I recall a setting to "Beautify" the Beams.
I should try it again. but didn't really see the point.
There's " This Way " and " That Way ",
it just didn't matter to me.

User avatar
apkyburz
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:50 am
Finale Version: 26 (+TG, Pattsn, JW)
Operating System: Mac

Post by apkyburz » Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:35 pm

N Grossingink wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:52 pm
By the way, I doubt that PL means that you must use the plugin.
Yes, exactly what you're saying. PL's box 'highly recommends' the plugin.

Awesome, thanks all for the replies!

(And thanks elbsound for PL!)

Post Reply