musescore
“Chord Symbol": the ‘Top Index and Bottom Index’ function does not work and there are no valid functions related to it.
Issue type
Other type of issue
Description with steps to reproduce
“Chord Symbol": the ‘Top Index and Bottom Index’ function does not work.
The Index function is not in view (when entering the Chord Symbol).
There are no font size settings for the Top and Bottom Index.
There are no settings for what should be under and what should be over (when typing a Chord Symbol with a Top and Bottom Index together).
As in the attached image.
This is very important, this was in earlier versions of MuseScore 2x and 3x. It should be.
MuseScore4.4 (Windows 10 64-bit)
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Supporting files, videos and screenshots
What is the latest version of MuseScore Studio where this issue is present?
MuseScore4.4
Regression
Yes, this used to work in MuseScore 3.x and now is broken
Operating system
Windows 10 (64-bit)
Additional context
“Chord Symbol": the ‘Top Index and Bottom Index’ function does not work. This is very important, this was in earlier versions of MuseScore 2x and 3x. It should be.
Checklist
- [X] This report follows the guidelines for reporting bugs and issues
- [X] I have verified that this issue has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar issues
- [X] I have attached all requested files and information to this report
- [X] I have attempted to identify the root problem as concisely as possible, and have used minimal reproducible examples where possible
Can you explain what you mean by "top index" and "bottom index"? Is that perhaps a translation from some other language? I'm not aware of any places where any version of MuseScore used these terms in English.
Having more control over the formatting of chord symbols would of course be nice, but there are no controls over this in MU3 either. other than manually editing a chord description XML file, and this method continues to work in MU4.
Obviously, the user meant the superscript and subscript. Such things are called an index rather in some mathematical or chemical formulas.
This is exactly what I once wrote about on the forum (see the comment). The alphanumeric designation of the chord is not standardized at the moment. The same chord can be written in different ways (while clarifying details can be located in both superscript and subscript).
But in the meantime, @muzyk72g, let me express my opinion on one thing. As an example, you gave the dominant seventh sharp ninth sus chord. Is there a significant need to write superscript and subscript at the same time? In this case, it seems to me, it would be inconvenient to read both superscript and subscript text at the same time (instead of the eyes being able to grasp everything in one line, they are forced to run away and read two lines instead of one). Wouldn't it be better to put everything in one line? For example, like this:
@MarcSabatella, I don't remember how in MuseScore 3.x, but in MuseScore 4.x. superscripts and subscripts for chord symbols are really available in Properties, although the behavior is incorrect. Take a look at how it works:
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/57a434ae-fceb-4dbd-a26e-05e2176a455a
Perhaps this is what the user meant. Although it's strange, in MuseScore 3.x, I don't remember superscripts and subscripts for chord symbols being available.
Supersciprt and subscript were never available for chord symbols in any previous release, so if that is indeed what was meant (seems plausible), then definitely there is a misunderstanding here.
It's a bug, I think, that these properties appear to have been made available for chord symbols in 4.x, because indeed, they don't work and couldn't be made to work without significant redesign of chord symbol layout.
Perhaps this forum post by the OP can shed a bit more light. There are pictures, even. https://musescore.org/en/node/367821
Oczywiście użytkownik miał na myśli indeks górny i dolny. Takie rzeczy nazywa się indeksem raczej w niektórych wzorach matematycznych lub chemicznych.
To jest dokładnie to, o czym kiedyś pisałem na forum (patrz komentarz). Alfanumeryczne oznaczenie cięciwy nie jest obecnie ustandaryzowane. Ten sam akord może być zapisany na różne sposoby (podczas gdy szczegóły wyjaśniające mogą znajdować się zarówno w indeksie górnym, jak i dolnym). A tymczasem, pozwólcie, że wyrażę swoją opinię na temat jednej rzeczy. Jako przykład podałeś dominujący akord septymowy ostry i dziewiąty. Czy istnieje znacząca potrzeba jednoczesnego pisania indeksu górnego i dolnego? Wydaje mi się, że w tym przypadku niewygodne byłoby jednoczesne czytanie tekstu w indeksie górnym i dolnym (zamiast oczu być w stanie uchwycić wszystko w jednej linii, są zmuszone do ucieczki i czytania dwóch wierszy zamiast jednej). Czy nie lepiej byłoby umieścić wszystko w jednym wierszu? Na przykład w ten sposób:
, nie pamiętam jak w MuseScore 3.x, ale w MuseScore 4.x. indeksy górne i dolne dla symboli akordów są naprawdę dostępne we właściwościach, chociaż zachowanie jest niepoprawne. Zobacz, jak to działa:
Video_240903192627.mp4 Być może to właśnie miał na myśli użytkownik. Chociaż to dziwne, w MuseScore 3.x nie przypominam sobie, aby indeksy górne i dolne dla symboli akordów były dostępne.
This is exactly how it works, as in the attached video by Dima-S-Jr
It seems that I didn't explain exactly what I mean with the Top and Bottom Index function for “Chord Symbol”. I am already explaining: The name Top Index and Bottom Index, is a translation from the Polish translation. This was the name in MuseScore3.6.2, which is why I use this nomenclature. As for the appearance of the chord symbols, that is: Please see exactly how the Chord Symbols images, made in MuseScore Studio4.4, which I have now posted, look like: The first jpg image, named: “Chords NO”, shows the original notation of Chord Symbols in MuseScore4.4. Those underlines in red, in my opinion, are errors that shouldn't be there, and the chord symbols look too long in this sequence, and there are times when the characters overlap the second note with another chord symbol. This is very bad. The second jpg image, labeled “Chords YES,” shows what I wrote about in my request for the new revised “Chord Symbol” feature. And more to the point, I am referring to the additional functions (for the “Chord Symbol” function), related to the Index. Of course, the image with Chords YES, is with the use of the Top and Bottom Index, and with the use of the font size, and the manual setting of what characters should be above and below. But the Top and Bottom Index, and the font size, only work in the “Text” function (Ctrl + L), and there is no function playing “Chord Symbol”, only Text, and that's something completely different. However, for the Chord Symbol (in MuseScore Studio 4.4), the Index function, does not work at all! In my opinion, this is how you should enter chord symbols for notes and pauses, according to the order:
- Ctrl + K (“Chord Symbol” for a given note or pause).
- “Top Index (above)”, for input, e.g. 7+9 (septimeter and nona).
- “Bottom Index (below),” for input, e.g. sus4 (thirds converted to fourths).
- “Font Size for Top Index” (character size for this index).
- “Font Size for Bottom Index” (character size for this index). These functions should be in view all the time, while entering the Chord Symbol. These would be functions, only of willing MuseScore users, and the rest of us could still use the existing style of entering Chord Symbols (that is, without using the Index). I think this will greatly improve the aesthetic and readability, and a more professional look, with the use of “Chord Symbol” in MuseScore. I would like to add that, if I remember correctly, a few years ago in MuseScore (perhaps it was not version 3x, but even earlier), there was an option to change the Chord Symbol modification, through the Top and Bottom Index function, because I used this very often (if it was not from the Text function, because I might have forgotten). In addition, I am attaching images (jpg files), regarding where the Top and Bottom Index function is located in MuseScore Studio 4.4 and MuseScore 3.6.2
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I would also add that it is very important (exactly as in the attached image “Chords”) that the characters for the Index, both top and bottom, be set evenly “one below the other” (and not one next to the other, just higher and lower). Alignment is automatic or shifted manually, for both the Top Index and the Bottom Index. I haven't written about this before, but you can clearly see it in the image I posted, as a jpg “Chords”. It should be noted that it is also very important that this option (setting the top and bottom) to work well in the Chord Symbol, and the note player that is in MuseScore to correctly read the Chord Symbols written in this way. This is very important. I'm writing about this in “GitHub”, hoping that it will reach the MuseScore developers, because wanting to use the Index (for the Chord Symbol) at the moment, I have to use the “Text” function (instead of the Chord Symbol) and then the Index works, but still: manually I have to align / move the records for the Top and Bottom to be evenly “one under the other”, as in the attached image. It is important that these options work properly in the “Chord Symbol” function, which can play chords in the score notation. This is the priority for the “Chord Symbol” function in MuseScore.
Closing since, as of 4.6, the subscript/superscript buttons are removed from the Properties panel for chord symbols, and also stacking of modifiers has been implemented as a proper feature.
