To hide the unhidable staff
 

Hi, guys:

The soprano staff in the accompanying file just won't hide. Actually, this is one of several new pieces where I'm having the same trouble.

In Page View, the soprano staff should be hidden for the first two systems of the first page, but it won't go away. I've tried most everything.

This is the opening number for a new show based on Charles Dickens's The Chimes. It'll be played on a "virtual pipe organ", using my 3-manual Wurlitzer console and the MidiTzer freeware program, with a chorus of about 10.

It will also be the first production in our new theatre -- that is, if we can get it built in time. The paperwork on the purchase has been dragging on and on and the weather is closing in. However, there's still enough time to get it done in time for Christmas.

David

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

Bump...

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

Howdy David,

I just tried this file, and no matter what staff I put in top position, that staff would not hide. So it's not just a soprano thing ;)

Since this seems to be a problem with all your recent files, and since you've apparently not had this problem before, I'd be very interested in knowing what the process is that you're using for creating these files. Has anything changed since the last time you created new files? Eg. new device(s), new method that you're using, new....?

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

Hi, Sherry:

It's not a problem with every file, rather just some -- which, of course, makes it far harder to figure out.

The only thing I can think of as a culprit is that originally the 4 vocal staves (SATB) were on channels 1, 2, 3 and 4, while the 3 organ staves were on 1, 2 and 3 but on a different midi port.

When I saw that the soprano staff was not hiding, I changed the SATB channels to the higher numbers.

But I did that with several files and on some the staves hid properly and on some they didn't.

They're all originated from the same template file, attached.

What Alice said, I guess.

David

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

If that's the case, then it's something that somehow embedded itself at setup. I tried assigning all the staves to the same playback device, and that top staff still would not hide.

The work around that I found for hiding them all properly is to put the instruments at the top rather than the vocal staves (eg. Organ(Solo/Accomp) and Pedal at the top). When I did that, the staves that should have been hidden did hide properly. Different, but hopefully workable for you.

I'm at a loss for the cause of the problem, so if you find anything that consistently shows the problem, please do let me know.

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

Hi, Sherry:

Here's another file with the same problem.

The Vocal staff does indeed hide properly when moved to the bottom of the system, however, that really won't work as I'll be distributing this among actual classically-trained musicians who want their score in the proper format.

The attached file shows that the Vocal staff (top staff) hides properly as long as the Solo (organ Solo manual) staff is not hidden, but that it unhides itself when the Solo staff hides. See bars 39 and 45 and again at 107.

I've checked hide for the Solo staff as Vocal staff refuses to hide at all as long as the Solo staff "hide" is unchecked. I don't actually want the Solo staff hidden at all.

It must have to do with the Vocal staff's position at the top of the system. And, indeed, when the Vocal staff is moved to the bottom and the Solo staff becomes the top, the Solo staff doesn't hide when empty, even though "hide" is selected (Bars 39 and 45 again).

So I think that the "top of the staff" position has something to do with it.

David

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

And this time, I'll actually send the file. :o

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

Howdy David,

Thanks for your further explorations. This is indeed a stumper. I'll have to do some deeper digging to see if it's some quirk of the notation or if it's something to do with the template file having the Staff Setup that it does. Either case would be a bug, but at this point I'm not sure which it is.

Have you tried what happens if you use a template file that starts off with all staves using the same device, and you make the device changes after entering some notation?

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: To hide the unhidable staff
 

I started to rebuild one of the numbers yesterday from the standard SATB+organ but the power went out and I sat grumpily in the dark for about an hour, then played Red Baron to get some aggression out.

I'll try again today.

David