Logic Pro 9 Alternate music fonts trouble

[joegold]

Hi

I do lots of stuff with the Score Editor and used to have no trouble using Sonata font as my alternate music font until recently, and I'm wondering what gives.

I just noticed it the other day for the first time.
Logic 9 (latest version running on an Intel iMac using OS 10.6.8) runs very sluggishly (not just in the Score Editor) when I use Sonata and runs fine when I use the built-in fonts.
It used to be fine while using Sonata.

There are two things I've done on my iMac recently that may have initiated this behaviour:
1. I installed the latest version of Logic Pro back in December.
(But I'm pretty sure I've worked on some projects that use Sonata font since then without any problems.)
2. I just installed the Finale 2012 demo and then purchased it.
This is probably what did it, but I can't see why - because Finale's installers, which do involve several other music fonts, don't involve Sonata.

I also have Jazz font installed (it gets installed by Finale's installers) but it's never worked properly with Logic (the wrong note heads are used by Logic, etc.).
I thought I used to have Swing font installed too, but it seems to have gotten lost somehow, but I seem to remember that it used to work OK with Logic.
I just never liked the way it looked.

Anybody have any idea how I can fix it so that I can use Sonata font again?

 

[Pete Thomas]

This drives me mad, and I've not yet found any answers. Mostly I've been using jazz and swing font, I just tested sonata. It works, but it looks exactly the same as the inbuilt logic font. What should it look lie?

Things went wrong a while back with jazz font and swing font. I don't know if it was the change to intel or an OS upgrade or what.

However things got worse with Logic in 64 bit.

This is what I find:


32 bit:

Swing font as system font has some symbol errors (e.g. D.S and CODA sign)

Jazz font system font is OK

64 bit:

Swing font and jazz font as system font are no good at all

Text fonts: (32 and 64)

For text fonts , swing text and jazz text don't work, I use swing text extended and jazz text extended instead.

Inkpen text is no good, but inkpen script is OK

Marker felt is a nice handwritten text font that works.

 

[joegold]

To clarify *my* problem(s)...

In 32 bit mode:
Sonata works when I choose it as my "external symbol font", but Logic Pro then behaves *very* sluggishly in *all* windows not just the Score Editor.
Jazz Font works without sluggishness, but the note-heads are all the wrong type.
[I've always liked the way Jazz Font looks and would use it in Logic if doing so was viable, but it never has been.]
I don't seem to have Swing Font installed on my system anymore so when I select it as the "external symbol font" what I see instead is Logic's own notation font.

In 64 bit mode:
Neither Sonata or Jazz Font will load at all.
I.e. On the screen all I see are stems w/o any note-heads.

I'm not concerned about being able to use any of these fonts or other notation fonts I own as the font choice for a Text Style within the Score Editor's text input features.

Update:
I tried trashing the Logic Preferences file and relaunching Logic but it did nothing to help.

 

[Pete Thomas]

To clarify *my* problem(s)...

In 32 bit mode:
Sonata works when I choose it as my "external symbol font", but Logic Pro then behaves *very* sluggishly in *all* windows not just the Score Editor.

joe, as I've never used sonata font, can you confirm of me that it is supposed to look different to the Logic inbuilt font. I assume it should do. If so maybe I need to reinstall it and I will do some further testing to see if I get the slowness you are getting.

 

[joegold]

To clarify *my* problem(s)...

In 32 bit mode:
Sonata works when I choose it as my "external symbol font", but Logic Pro then behaves *very* sluggishly in *all* windows not just the Score Editor.

joe, as I've never used sonata font, can you confirm of me that it is supposed to look different to the Logic inbuilt font. I assume it should do. If so maybe I need to reinstall it and I will do some further testing to see if I get the slowness you are getting.

Yes, Sonata looks somewhat different than Logic's built-in notation font.
Note heads are a bit smaller, more defined/refined and do not overlap staff lines or ledger lines like Logic's own note-heads often do at least on screen they do. Accidentals are a bit thicker, which can sometimes be a problem with cluttered measures. Stems with flags looks a little bit fancier with Sonata too.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Ok, well I just discovered that there is no longer a Sonata font in my Font library or Font book, yet Logic lets me choose it as an external font, which explains why nothing changes from the Logic system font. I'll download it and do some testing.

 

[joegold]

To clarify *my* problem(s)...

In 32 bit mode:
Sonata works when I choose it as my "external symbol font", but Logic Pro then behaves *very* sluggishly in *all* windows not just the Score Editor.
Jazz Font works without sluggishness, but the note-heads are all the wrong type.
[I've always liked the way Jazz Font looks and would use it in Logic if doing so was viable, but it never has been.]
I don't seem to have Swing Font installed on my system anymore so when I select it as the "external symbol font" what I see instead is Logic's own notation font.

In 64 bit mode:
Neither Sonata or Jazz Font will load at all.
I.e. On the screen all I see are stems w/o any note-heads.

I'm not concerned about being able to use any of these fonts or other notation fonts I own as the font choice for a Text Style within the Score Editor's text input features.

Update:
I tried trashing the Logic Preferences file and relaunching Logic but it did nothing to help.

The plot sickens...

I've just discovered that not all of my Logic files are affected by this behaviour.
I.e. Some of them work just fine with Sonata.
I have no idea what the common denominator is between the troublesome files.

 

[joegold]

Ok, well I just discovered that there is no longer a Sonata font in my Font library or Font book, yet Logic lets me choose it as an external font, which explains why nothing changes from the Logic system font. I'll download it and do some testing.

Right.
If the selected external font is not actually installed on your system, Logic just displays its own font when you select that external font.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Ok, well I just discovered that there is no longer a Sonata font in my Font library or Font book, yet Logic lets me choose it as an external font, which explains why nothing changes from the Logic system font. I'll download it and do some testing.

Right.
If the selected external font is not actually installed on your system, Logic just displays its own font when you select that external font.

Hmm, I would assume if the font isn't there it wouldn't be settable, confusing.

 

[Pete Thomas]

OK, I have laid out £25 on Sonata font and installed it, and I get the same thing: no change from the Logic system font.

Joe, can you (or anyone) please post some screenshot of Sonata font in Logic so I know what I should be seeing?

 

[joegold]

OK, I have laid out £25 on Sonata font and installed it, and I get the same thing: no change from the Logic system font.

Joe, can you (or anyone) please post some screenshot of Sonata font in Logic so I know what I should be seeing?

Which version of Sonata did you buy/install?
I saw 3 versions on Adobe's web site although I can't seem to find the link now.
I believe that there was an Open Type Font (.otf) and a PS font and a True Type Font (.ttf). I think they said that the TTF was only suitable for Windows, but I've got several other TT fonts on my system and they work fine.
I have the PS font which consists of 2 files that go into the MacintoshHD>Library>Fonts Folder.
The first file is a font suitcase called "Sonata".
The other file is the PS Font and it's called "Sonat".
When I was troubleshooting my problem I uninstalled Sonata and then tried to re-install it using Font Book But Font Book did not recognize the "Sonat"-named file and it would only install the Sonata"-named file.
With just the one file in the Fonts folder the font was not available in Logic.
After I manually placed Sonat into the Fonts folder Logic could see it again.
But I still have the problems discussed earlier when trying to use it.

I don't have time to do any screen captures for you, sorry.
The difference in appearance is minimal anyway and probably wouldn't be visible in a screen capture unless it was a hi-res pdf and was magnified substantially.
But if you toggle back and forth in Logic's Score Prefs between Sonata on and off you should be able to see it.
My guess is that you bought the OTF or TT version of Sonata.
My advice is to not bother with it because it appears that Sonata is no longer supported properly in Logic anyway.
Neither is Jazz Font as far as I can see. When I try to use Jazz Font in Logic it doesn't use the correct note-head glyph (as well as other incorrect glyph problems) and the program also becomes sluggish but not as sluggish as when using Sonata.
This must have originated in the most recent update of Logic because Sonata at least was fine for years.

Also, none of the external symbol fonts will work when Logic is in 64bit mode, so if you're in 64 bit mode, relaunch Logic in 32 bit mode.

Good luck.