Overlapping regions in score editor far, far messier than I expect

[JMComposer]

Members of the Logic Pro Help guild,

I know that when two regions overlap, and you look at the score, the score for those regions should overalp, and that's somewhat messy.  But that's okay, because I'm only using the score editor this as a visual representation for me as I'm composing, and not for engraving.  

So when region 1 by itself looks like this:

and region 2 by itself looks like this (and it overalps one bar with region 1): 

I expect to see a clash of notes of rests, because the two pictures above will overlap.  Okay, that's fine.  

But what I see is this awful mess:

See how the last bar of region 1 is divided into 16th note units?  See the quarter note has been changed to four 16th notes tied together? This is despite quantizing regions to the 8th note in the Main window. 

This is a lot messier than I want it to be.  Is there a way to "simplify" it so that it overlaps picture 1 and picture 2, and not produce something like picture 3?  

A solution I don't want: I know I can join regions and it'll clean it up.  But when I'm composing, I'm often not ready to commit to one or more of the regions. 9 out of 10 times, I don't like what I just played and will end up deleting a region. 

I'd like the score to display a semi-messy version of overlapped regions, rather than an intolerably messy version.  

Is this possible?  

[Plowman]

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Is there a way to "simplify" it so that it overlaps picture 1 and picture 2, and not produce something like picture 3?  

Not really. 

The essence of your question refers to Logic's inability to interpret Main > Track region overlap. For all its mind-blowing power, our beloved program does not excel here.

Below, a user could reduce the regions (not joining them), and Logic fares better.

Alternatively, a Score Style with hidden rests in the first region renders an acceptable printout... but then you'd have to manually enter a second beat quarter note rest for Region 1 in bar 9 (not added here to demonstrate).  

These two unappealing methods are A. mostly unique to this example, and B. illustrate that -- short of joining regions -- there's no simple way to avoid these default displays. 

I can't really explain why Logic parses overhanging quarter notes into consecutive sixteenths. The Score display quantize setting is involved, though. If in your example you set the first region's Score quantize to 4, you'll get a slightly less heinous series of quarter rests. 

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This is despite quantizing regions to the 8th note in the Main window. 

This further illustrates that quantizing notes in Main > Track > Regions is different than quantizing in Score, which affects only the display, 

[oscwilde]

Does Interpretation help in the overlapping region scenario (used on one or both regions)?

 

[JMComposer]

@Plowman Thanks alot for this.  I always enjoy these deep dives that provide insight on how things works under the surface. 

Here's another imperfect workaround I've found: 

Project Settings --> Score --> Global --> uncheck the "Fill gaps" box.  And now you have something a bit more tolerable, like this:

Yes, it takes some getting used to see "cutaway score" type scores where breaks in the music are no longer bars of rests, but tiny breaks.  But when in an imperfect system, it's a matter of "choosing your poison" as another forum member once said. 

@oscwilde I just tried it, and interestingly, I think "Interpretation" may be on by default as a general matter (even with it off), because when I clicked it on, it did nothing, but then I clicked it off, and the score became a terrible mess (because it's showing precise durations that I held the note, instead of "interpreting" a series of quarter note rhythms as quarter notes).  So now I have to turn it on again.