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Score Editor Inconsistencies


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I must be missing something...

 

I'm working on an orchestral piece that's ~300 measures long with 18 instruments. Here are my beefs:

 

- Articulations: Above the note? Below the note? Staccato markings are placed correctly, accents are not. The solution of 'manually' adding them by dragging the articulation using the command key is a total joke. I might as well hand-write my score.

 

- More Articulations: Set a note to staccato in the piano roll and it MIGHT show up in the score. Seems to be instrument dependent.

 

- Slurs: Manually draw them? Seriously?

 

- Dynamic marks: Manually have to position them? Really?

 

- Score-wide markings: Rehearsal letters that propagate to each part - how?!?

 

- Score formatting: Change something, like add an articulation, and the rest of the score shifts pages. Reminds me of adding an image to Microsoft Word and all of your text shifting to the left and getting 4 pages added.

 

Those are my main beefs at the moment. I haven't even really begun to work on the individual parts, this is all in the conductor's score.

 

What am I missing? All of this manual entry is driving me insane! Is this just how it has to be done?

 

END RANT

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Hi volovicg! Thanks for replying.

 

Let's start with my biggest beef: articulations.

 

Staccato and legato marks work exactly as they should. Stem down -> articulation above the note head. Stem up -> articulation below the note head.

 

Accent marks always appear above the note head. This is a deal-breaker for me.

 

Thanks for your time!

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Scoring is probably the oldest, most complex, and hard to implement aspect of Logic. I found a book written years ago, by the German guy who coded the score.. One trick suggested by hime, and I use a lot is to create a dummy track for Score display only.. It does not go to a midi track, dis-advantage you can't directly edit from score page. Advantage, you can manipulate things to look better on score page.
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I'd like to address a few of these...

 

- Articulations: Above the note? Below the note? Staccato markings are placed correctly, accents are not. The solution of 'manually' adding them by dragging the articulation using the command key is a total joke. I might as well hand-write my score.

 

There are conventions for how they should be placed, but no fixed rules. I recently discussed the topic of "correct symbol placement" with a prominent conductor. He then pulled some reference books on notation, and scores from various composers from different time periods, from his extensive library to show me some examples of variations. Save to say that there isn't 100% agreement, especially with regard to whether accents should be placed above or below slurs.

 

I agree that in Logic, sometimes accents are not placed correctly. And for as much as I work in the score editor, sometimes I feel the same way -- that I'd be better off writing out certain things by hand. It's all very much yin and yang...

 

- More Articulations: Set a note to staccato in the piano roll and it MIGHT show up in the score. Seems to be instrument dependent.

When you say "set a note to staccato", are you talking about using the Articulation Sets feature of attaching symbols to notes based on their ID?

 

- Score-wide markings: Rehearsal letters that propagate to each part - how?!?

Unfortunately, copy and paste. I get them right in one part, and then in the Score Editor, with the full score showing, I select them (sometimes one by one), select the remaining staves, and use the function to paste-at-original-position (multiple). This makes quick work of it.

 

- Score formatting: Change something, like add an articulation, and the rest of the score shifts pages. Reminds me of adding an image to Microsoft Word and all of your text shifting to the left and getting 4 pages added.

 

Happens all the time to me. And yes, it's aggravating. About the only way to prevent this from occurring is to lock your line breaks. But that's putting the cart before the horse...

 

• Start by creating a Score Set for your conductor's score. This is absolutely essential, because the Score Set memorizes your line breaks and locks. IOW, don't attempt this with the "All Instruments" Score Set (which isn't a Score Set at all).

 

• Turn off Link in the score window, click the hierarchy arrow several times until you've reached the "top level". Then select your conductor's score Score Set.

 

• Use the Layout Tool (hollow arrow) to set your line breaks. You have to work from the top down (this is crucial).

 

• When you're done, select the ¶ symbol from the part box and use the pencil tool to insert it at the end of the line on each system. You can make pretty quick work of that.

 

From that point on, when you add symbols and articulations, the # of bars per line shouldn't change on you.

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  • 2 months later...
Between Volovicg and Ski, there’s pretty much no LPX Score Editor question that can’t be remedied (or a decent work-around found). Logic isn’t a score and parts editor, but with tips from these guys, you can do most bread&butter tasks. Check out Ski’s excellent MacProVideo on the Score Editor! Also Music XML export is getting better.
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I hate to admit it, but I've switched to Sibelius for score editing. I've done about a dozen projects ranging from piano to full orchestral score and it was, *gasp*, enjoyable to do. There is an art to printing scores and Sibelius makes it easy. (You know, mostly.)

 

I do all my composing in Logic Pro then do a MIDI export. Crude? Yeah, but I love everything else about Logic Pro and I've really found a good editing flow. I still have the Score Editor open, but now it's just a quick reference to the music.

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