No Overlap

The No Overlap setting simplifies the display of overlapping notes. No Overlap prevents the display of overlapping notes in melodies played with an exaggerated legato by shortening the displayed note length to the beginning of the next note. Notes beginning simultaneously (intervals or chords) are displayed with the length of the shortest note in the chord.

When No Overlap is turned off, the score display shows the lengths of overlapping notes precisely (at the current Quantize value). This can be more useful to accurately notate chords, but may be harder to read, particularly for melodic passages.

No Overlap works for monophonic, but not polyphonic, staff styles—see Staff styles overview for details.

The first example shows a region with No Overlap turned off:

The second example shows the same region with No Overlap turned on:

No Overlap should only be turned off when the precise display of overlapping notes is more important than producing a smooth melodic line:

Although you can’t see that all notes continue to sound here, the result looks like this if No Overlap is turned off:

The solution typically involves turning on No Overlap and using sustain pedal markings. Pedal markings are automatically displayed if notes are recorded in real time with a MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal.