\textasteriskcentered invisible with [garamond]{mathdesign}

Question

Please try this MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[garamond]{mathdesign}
\usepackage{roboto} % or another sans serif font, e.g. the cabin package
\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
Centred asterisk \textasteriskcentered, which is different from this one: *.
\end{document}

Different LaTeX installations I use compile this without the \textasteriskcentered, i.e. invisible. What is causing this and how could this be fixed? Note that you need to add the .pfb files from URW-Garamond to your path. If you disable the sans serif package, you get a \textasteriskcentered in a different (the default?) font than Garamond. Does this mean the .pfb files from URW-Garamond aren't the ones I need? Also, I wonder what other glyphs aren't showing up correctly. How do I use Garamond with mathdesign correctly?

Answer 1

It is quite simple: the font the glyph corresponding to \textasteriskcentered should be taken from lacks the character; this is witnessed by the line

Missing character: There is no * in font mdugmr8c!

You need to supply it in some other way, for example by lowering the standard asterisk:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[garamond]{mathdesign}
\usepackage{roboto} % or another sans serif font, e.g. the cabin package
\usepackage{blindtext}

% remove the definition of \textasteriskcentered for TS1 encoding
\UndeclareTextCommand{\textasteriskcentered}{TS1}
% reinstate a default encoding
\DeclareTextSymbolDefault{\textasteriskcentered}{OT1}
% suitably define the command
\DeclareTextCommand{\textasteriskcentered}{OT1}{\raisebox{-.7ex}[1ex][0pt]{*}}

\begin{document}

Centred asterisk \textasteriskcentered, which is different from this one: *.

\end{document}