User manual

635
Working with symbols
• You can select a font and size for time signatures in the
“Text Settings” subpage of the Score Settings dialog
(Project page).
The default font for this is the included “Steinberg Notation” font.
The Dynamics tab
There are dynamic symbols ranging from ffff to pppp, plus
“special” dynamic symbols such as sforzando, fortepiano,
etc.
• By selecting a dynamic symbol and clicking the “+” and
“-” buttons on the extended toolbar, you can quickly edit
dynamics in the score.
Use this feature to step between pppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff, and ffff.
• You can also right-click on a symbol and select “One
up” or “One down” on the context menu.
As above, these commands can be used to step between pppp, pp, p,
mp, mf, f, ff, fff, and ffff.
• To change the size of a dynamic symbol, right-click on it
and in the context menu, select an option from the Size
submenu.
• In the Line/Trill tab you can find a line symbol which al-
lows you to create the following type of change in dynam-
ics:
Crescendo and diminuendo (decrescendo)
In the Dynamics tab, there are three kinds of crescendo
symbols: regular crescendo, regular diminuendo and a
“double” crescendo (diminuendo–crescendo).
• To insert a crescendo (<) or diminuendo (>), select the
corresponding symbol from the tab and drag from left to
right.
• If you draw a crescendo symbol from right to left, the re-
sult is a diminuendo symbol, and vice versa.
• To insert a crescendo-diminuendo (<>) symbol, select
the double crescendo symbol from the tab and drag from
left to right.
• To insert a diminuendo-crescendo (><) symbol, select
the double crescendo symbol from the tab and drag from
right to left.
• When you have inserted a crescendo or diminuendo
symbol, you can move it and resize it by dragging its
handles.
• The “dynamic crescendo/diminuendo” symbol (p < f) is
special in that it actually affects the velocity of the notes as
they are played back.
This is described in the section “Working with mapped dynamics” on
page 685.
• If the “Keep Crescendo Symbols ‘Horizontal’” option is
activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page),
crescendo/diminuendo symbols are never slanted when
you draw them, but stay horizontal.
Also, this option prevents you from accidentally dragging an endpoint up
or down when moving the symbol.
• It is also possible to “flip” crescendo symbols, by se-
lecting the option in the context menu or by clicking the
Flip button on the extended toolbar.
Aligning dynamics
There is a special command for aligning dynamic symbols
(including crescendos) horizontally. Unlike the regular align
function (see
“Alignment” on page 633), aligning dynamics
takes the “baseline” of the dynamic letters into account,
aligning them as text rather than as graphic symbols.
1. Select the dynamic symbols that you want to align,
e.
g. pp and a crescendo.
2. Right-click on a selected symbol and select the “Align”
function on the context menu.
This aligns all selected dynamics (except slurs and beziers) horizontally.
You can also align the dynamic objects by pulling down
the Scores menu and selecting “Dynamics” from the Align
Elements submenu.