IWBNI it were possible to define custom stem connections for rests. As it is now, stem connections may be defined for noteheads only.

As it is now, all stemlets have the same length, and the horizontal position of rests is determined automatically so that rests are placed to the left of up stems and to the right of down stems as in the following figure:

With the feature proposed here, it would be possible to have rests placed further to the right for up stems and further to the left for down stems, and to have the tips of stemlets be vertically aligned
as shown in the following figure:

This could be implemented by changing the name of the Notehead section of the Stem Connection Editor dialog box to Notehead or Rest. Stem connections that have been specified in the Stem Connection Editor dialog box for a given rest character (e.g. 1/8th rest, 1/16th rest, 1/32nd rest, 1/64th rest or 1/128th rest) would be used to control the placement of all stemlets that appear above or below the rest character in the score.

Note: As it is now, the results in the second figure may be obtained by using a font editor such as Fontographer to create two additional font characters for each rest duration where one is to be used as an alternate notehead for up-stemmed notes while the other is to be used as an alternate notehead for down-stemmed notes. The Stem Connection Editor dialog box may be used to specify a stem connection for each of these rest characters. Adjustments may be made to the horizontal position of the appropriate stem in the Stem Connection Editor and to the width of these rest font characters. When changing the font character width, the character is also moved to keep the distance between the right edge of the glyph (as defined by the closed shape) and the right edge of the character (as defined by the width) unchanged. This is necessary to ensure that trailing augmentation dots are spaced properly. To enter a rest for which there will be a stemlet, a note of the appropriate duration is entered. Then, the note shape tool is used to change the notehead to the appropriate rest font character that has been created specifically for a given duration and stem direction.

Created: March 19, 2000
Last Updated: March 19, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b