display.spacingRatio

since 1.9.0

display.spacingRatioJavaScriptspacingRatioJavaScriptdisplay.spacingRatioJSONspacingRatioJSONDisplay.SpacingRatio.netdisplay.spacingRatioAndroid

The proportional spacing ratio between successive note durations. Controls the shape of the horizontal spacing curve - how much wider a note of duration 2d is rendered relative to a note of duration d. AlphaTab uses a power-law spacing model (the same approach used by Dorico, MuseScore and Finale): doubling the note duration multiplies its allocated horizontal space by spacingRatio.

Reference values for cross-application comparison:

Application / Style	Ratio	Character
Dorico default	√2 ≈ 1.414	Tight, efficient, orchestral
MuseScore default	1.5	Balanced, general-purpose
Finale default (Fibonacci)	φ ≈ 1.618	Loose, traditional engraving

AlphaTab defaults to √2 (Dorico's value). This produces tighter spacing at long durations than the alternatives, which matters for guitar tablature where rest bars and whole notes are common - looser ratios make those bars dominate system width.

This setting is orthogonal to stretchForce : spacingRatio controls the shape of the spacing (proportions between durations), stretchForce controls the overall density (how tightly or loosely the music is packed). Both can be adjusted independently.

Values are clamped to the range [1.2, 2.0]. A value of 1.0 would produce equal spacing for all durations and is rejected.

JavaScript

spacingRatio: number = `Math.SQRT2` (≈ 1.414, matches Dorico's default);

C#

double SpacingRatio { get; set; } = `Math.SQRT2` (≈ 1.414, matches Dorico's default)

Kotlin

var spacingRatio: Double = `Math.SQRT2` (≈ 1.414, matches Dorico's default)