Gradual dynamic spacing

Dorico Pro ensures that hairpins can always be clearly distinguished by giving hairpins a minimum default length. However, this can affect note spacing.

The default minimum hairpin length is three spaces. When hairpins are shorter than this, they can sometimes be confused with the accent articulation mark. Therefore, if you add a hairpin to a note which would make the hairpin less than three spaces long, the spacing of the note is changed to ensure the hairpin meets the minimum length.

You can change the minimum length of hairpins by changing the value for Minimum length for hairpins, which you can find by clicking Advanced Options in the Hairpins subsection of the Gradual Dynamics section of the Dynamics page in Engrave > Engraving Options.