Here's the problem:
If layer 2 is a chord instead of a single note, the spacing is completely wrong -- the layer 1 note is spaced by itself and the layer 2 chord is spaced way out to the right, as though the two didn't occur in the same metric position. [...]
Can anyone confirm this?
Yes. That matches experience in Fin Mac 2k2. I don't remember this ever working perfectly. In the old days, Finale didn't try to fix spacing for seconds in separate layers at all, so that the noteheads were just on top of each other. Later, spacing for seconds was added, whereupon it gets it right some of the time but often gets confused by more complicated situations.
In the given example, I assume the problem is that Finale has an algorithm associated with spacing a second, and it's only smart enough to spot a second when it's one note in each layer.
I'm working on piano music and this kind of thing is quite common, and it's causing me to do far more manual editing than I ever had to do in the past, and I'm having to move the notes, the accidentals *and* the dots.
Do you have automatic music spacing turned on? If not, it seems to me you shouldn't ever have to move the dot. In the procedure you spelled out, the dot got moved only because you spaced it once and Finale figured it right, then you added and spaced again and Finale got it wrong.
Revisiting the measure and applying spacing an additional time gives Finale a chance to compound it's error. (If you have dotted notes in separate layers a second apart, and you repeatedly swap layers, respacing after each swap, the notes and dots will continue to move farther and farther to the right.)
Better is to enter all the music first and then apply spacing just once. That way either it will get it right or it won't. If it doesn't all you have to move is the note.
Accidentals are a separate matter. I've found that they frequently don't place where I want them even on a one-layer chord. (Even flats on a sixth are too far apart for my taste.)
I concur with everyone here that the spacing algorithm for multi-layer chords with dots has room for improvement. I guess I'm just used to it. I tend to take it for granted that in dense piano music with multiple layers I'm going to have to move some notes around horizontally. If there's three layers and/or unisons it gets even more hairy, and I never expect Finale to space it right.
By the way, in case you don't already know, Finale will always push the note in the higher-numbered layer to the right, regardless of which note is higher on the staff or which way the stems are going. It's helpful to know that sometimes. There are times when I choose my layers assignments specifically so that Finale will space it correctly without me having to go back and revisit.
mdl
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