Unison ranges

Unison ranges are passages of tutti music that are replicated automatically onto all staves when divisi passages start/end partway through systems; that is, when you change from unison to divisi, or vice versa. This ensures there is no ambiguity about what players are expected to play at any point.

To replicate music, Dorico Pro uses the top staff in the section as a source staff, and replicates all notes and notations on that staff onto all staves in the section.

You cannot edit notes in unison ranges independently on each staff. When you select a note or item on a unison range staff, that note or item is selected on all staves in the section. Therefore, editing notes or items in unison ranges simultaneously edits those notes or items on all staves in the section. Similarly, when you input notes onto a staff in a unison range, Dorico Pro also inputs them on all staves in the section.

Figure 1. A note and slur selected simultaneously on all staves in the unison range, with unison range colors shown
Note

Replicating music from the source staff to other staves in the section is complex, and there are limitations to what Dorico Pro can calculate, particularly notations that start before divisi changes or end after divisi changes. For example, slurs that start before a divisi change and continue into the divisi change are not replicated in unison ranges. In such cases, we recommend that you move the divisi change to before/after the slur and manually copy unison material if required.

If staves in divisions use different clefs to the main staff at the position of the tutti restoration, Dorico Pro automatically inputs the appropriate clefs.

Note

The default spacing of clef changes at the end of divisions can be small, positioning the clef tightly beside the previous notes. In such cases, we recommend that you adjust note spacing at that position.