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Multi-voice staves
(Merged staves)
Multi-voice staves enable you to merge graphically several staves.

Staves (voices) included in a single multi-voice staff do not display one below the other anymore, but one on top of the other.
Inserting or deleting a note in one voice does not affect notes in other voices.

This kind of display is especially useful when writing, for example, both a bass and a melody on a single staff.

Here is an example of a multi-voice staff display. To be more comprehensible, notes from the first voice have their stems turned upwards and are colored  blue, those from the second voices are red and their stems are drawn downwards.
 
 





This example shows a multi-voice staff made of two voices, but you can define as many voices as you want.

To merge several staves on which independent voices are written, select these staves and use "Edit>Mult-voice staff>Merge"

The reverse operation can be performed with "Edit>Mult-voice staff>Unmerge" and splits a multi-voice staff into several staves.

In the multi-voice staff margin, you can see a new icon :

It permits selection of the active voice in a multi-voice staff. This icon only appears on multi-voice staves.

When inserting a note or applying an operation on the selection range, you must define which voice you are working on.
The selected voice becomes the active voice. Its notes are displayed as usual, while notes from other voices are drawn gray.
In a multi-voice staff, either one voice can be active or all voices.

When all voices are active, operations on the selection range apply to all voices, but notes are inserted into the first voice only.
 

Note : 
In a multi-voice staff, staff background is defined by the first staff. 
The name of a multi-voice staff is the name of the staff corresponding to its first voice.
 

If you intend to merge staves with tablatures, you must define a tablature for each of the merged staves.

 
Hint : 
Generally, voices in a multi-voice staff are identified by their stem direction. When inserting notes, select the stem direction matching the required voice in the "Note display" tool palette.
 
Be careful, merging staves with very different appearances can give strange results when displayed.

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