musescore / musescore/MuseScore

"Share Staff" Option

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feature request
Dominant language
C++
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Your idea

When creating a score in the score wizard, there should be an option for two similar instruments to share a staff (e.g. 1st and 2nd trombone). When the score is created, that staff would automatically be in two voices (measures can still be changed back to a single voice in the usual manner). Rough visualization:
image

Problem to be solved

The inability to notate like this is an inhibiting factor in the creation of many scores.

Prior art

No response

Additional context

Yes, usually one might create both parts separately and then combine them, but as there is no "combine" feature yet available, this will do. Even when the combine feature is made, this might still be another useful option.
This feature would of course have to have instrument numbering like this:
20240620_230936
but that is more of an engraving question, so it is in a separate post.

Checklist
  • This request follows the guidelines for reporting issues
  • I have verified that this feature request has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar requests

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the score wizard's instrument and staff creation flow, then inspect how voices are initialized when a score is created. Define how two selected instruments share one staff while retaining separate instrument identities and allowing measures to return to a single voice. Done should include the wizard option and correctly created two-voice staves.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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