Finale Forum

I've been writing a piece which uses simultaneous time signatures in some places, using simple time and their respective compound time signatures together (for example, 3/4 and 9/8). However Finale now won't register that a bar has anything other than 3 beats when I try to change the time signatures now, causing some bars to be compressed in playback and others stretched. I tried recreating the document but the same issue occured.

Does anyone have any idea how to make Finale recognise the correct number of beats in a bar? I have attached the file in question.

Thanks

Which bar in particular (bar number) and what specifically are you trying to do that doesn't work?

Bars 72 and 74 are playing back wrong. The same issue occurs from that point onwards for any bar which doesn't have three beats in (although there are none written in the document )

I think the problem is that you've given every staff an independent time signature. Finale tries to keep the eighth note constant but no one's the boss! I added a staff with no independent time signature, made bar 71 3/4 and bar 72 2/4 and the eighth note is then steady. The red vertical line gets a bit confused but soon rights itself.

So either make one of your instruments the boss, which will probably require some clean-up, or add a "non-independent" blank staff and assign non-compound key signatures to it. Or use triplets!

sanatos,

In your attached Finale document there are 5 staves.
In the Staff Attributes all 5 staves have Time Signature selected as an Independent Element.

My guess is that at least one staff should have Time Signature de-selected as an Independent Element.
You can do so with a custom staff style that de-selects Time Signature as an Independent Element.
In that way Finale can rely on that staff as the “real” time signature, and Finale can “adjust” the playback and the layout after that staff.
You do not have to, always use the custom staff style in the same staff.
Generally you get the best spacing if the “largest” time signature is the “real” time signature.

Example:
In m. 44–73 the Contrabass staff has the “largest” time signatures.
But in m. 74 (and onwards?) it seems that the Violin I has the “largest” time signatures.

Amazing - thank you for your help everyone!