Dorico - An Ongoing Journey

[mikehalloran]

Yes, but the bottom line question, as always, is whether you now will have room for more Doritos in your life?

My doctor suggests, No, but my bathroom scale says, Maybe.

[mhschmieder]

Dorico SE: Free Music Notation Software

Steinberg adds a new member to the Dorico family of music notation software products: Dorico SE allows beginning composers and arrangers to create beautiful sheet music for one or two players, and is completely free to download and use.

HAMBURG, Germany — Steinberg today announced the availability of Dorico SE, an introductory version of its advanced music notation software, that is completely free to download and use. It is the ideal starting point for beginning composers and arrangers, and is fully compatible with the other products in the Dorico family.

Dorico is widely acknowledged as the innovative leader in music notation software, and Dorico SE allows every musician, whatever their budget, access to the same powerful tools used by professionals worldwide in the fields of music for film and TV, concert music, musical theatre, and music publishing.

Dorico SE brings a number of unique capabilities to free music notation software for the first time, particularly in the area of sound and playback, including:
• Sequencer-style Play mode, complete with piano roll editor, velocity editor, automation lanes for MIDI controllers, and a unique new dynamics lane that allows tweaking of the playback effect of dynamic markings written in the score.
• Support for all VST 3 instrument and effect plug-ins, in addition to the included HALion Sonic SE 3 sampler with more than 1,000 production-ready sounds, and a suite of 30 effects plug-ins.
• A full audio Mixer, with sends and inserts for effects, and a global effects channel.
• The same award-winning, high-precision audio engine found in Steinberg’s leading digital audio workstation, Cubase.
• Easy export of audio files in MP3 and WAV format.

The same powerful workflows for inputting, editing and arranging music that make Dorico Elements and Dorico Pro so fast and easy to use are also included in Dorico SE, together with its celebrated single-window user interface, which puts everything you need within easy reach and one or two clicks of the mouse. Dorico SE also sports a comprehensive set of key commands that make it possible to fly through input and editing.

Dorico SE can open projects created in Dorico Elements and Dorico Pro, and projects created in other products in the family can be edited in Dorico SE provided they included only one or two players. Projects with a greater number of players can still be opened, played back and printed.

To help young composers and arrangers make a flying start with learning Dorico SE, a dedicated series of short tutorial videos is available on YouTube to lead new users step-by-step through the process of creating their first project and mastering Dorico SE’s basic workflows.

Product Marketing Manager for Dorico, Daniel Spreadbury, said: “Supporting the next generation of composers, arrangers and educators is a vital part of our mission at Steinberg. Dorico SE demonstrates our commitment to making our powerful, industry-leading tools available to all musicians, whatever their budget and level of experience. We’re looking forward to seeing and hearing all of the incredible music that Dorico SE will help young musicians to create.”

With the introduction of Dorico SE, there is now a version of Dorico suitable for every musician and every budget in the product family:
• Dorico SE is free to download and use, allows projects with up to two players, and is ideal for beginning composers and arrangers.
• Dorico Elements provides all of the essential power of Dorico Pro, allows projects with up to 12 players, and is ideal for those needing to write for larger ensembles.
• Dorico Pro is the next-generation music notation software used by professionals in concert and media music, music publishing, and education, allowing projects with an unlimited number of players, and includes the unique Engrave mode, with full DTP-style page layout and graphical editing features.

Availability and pricing

Dorico SE is available to download from the Steinberg website completely free of charge. Dorico SE users who later wish to trade up to Dorico Elements or Dorico Pro will benefit from preferential pricing and can find the latest offers exclusively in the Steinberg Online Shop.

Key features

• The same beautiful automatic engraving as Dorico Pro
• Easy note input using mouse, computer keyboard or MIDI keyboard
• Intelligently adjusts notation as you write
• Any number of movements or pieces in a single project
• Automatic layout of instrumental parts
• Stunning playback — HALion Sonic SE 3 and hundreds of sounds included
• Supports VST 3 virtual instruments and effects processors (30 included)
• Sequencer-style piano roll MIDI editor
• Sophisticated chord symbols, unpitched percussion and drum set notation
• Unbarred music, tuplets across barlines, microtonality, etc. all handled correctly — no workarounds
• Transfer to and from other programs via MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, etc.

[mhschmieder]

I did a copy/paste above, as the web link in the announcement is broken (so I didn't include it, or the snapshot images which also wouldn't load).

[cuttime]

Here you go:
https://new.steinberg.net/dorico/se/

[mhschmieder]

That's the link I deleted from my post, as it got a 404 at the time of posting, even when clicked directly from the original article or typed in by hand in the URL field of the browser.

They probably jumped the gun on the announcement, before the web team was done at their end!

[mikehalloran]

Steinberg also announced Dorico 3.1 and a 30% off sale for the opening day of NAMM — it’s a wonder the web site worked at all.

Kicking myself for not waiting 12 days to upgrade to Dorico 3. Hey, $30 off for the upgrade would have been nice.

[mhschmieder]

Version 3.5 has arrived, and has Figured Bass amongst other new features:

https://new.steinberg.net/dorico/new-features/

$59.99 upgrade from Dorico 3. All other options (even EDU discounts) are pretty steep.

I haven't really looked this over in depth yet, as I'm about to eat dinner.

It may be hard to justify while unemployed, but also might pay itself back for some poorly-paid but not-pro-bono work I'll be doing this next week, if it has anything to offer beyond Finale for Figured Bass.

They must have been reading my mind, as my current scoring projects are for some Baroque arrangements.

For comparison, here is how Finale handles Figured Bass:

https://usermanuals.finalemusic.com/Fin ... d_bass.htm

It will be interesting to see if this presents a competitive advantage for Doritos.

[mhschmieder]

I allowed myself to be pulled into the Figured Bass world, and it is already clear that Dorico has an advantage here, over what Finale offers. It is more deeply implemented, and more clearly notated in terms of legibility and placement relative to the notes.

[Phil O]

I allowed myself to be pulled into the Figured Bass world...

What on earth would you do that for? Dude, get help. There's still time. Figured bass is EVIL. Straight out of the bowels of hell.

REPENT!!!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm loath to change notation programs after 25 years with Finale. Adding fingering is also easy in Finale. Where we get into the weeds is: how to get to the feature you're looking for and then, how intuitive is the implementation in the GUI. Of course, that's true of any program. I really feel at home and creatively free when I'm in Finale. Sibelius was a disaster in that regard. I've kind of followed Doritos but only as a possible alternative if/when F. is no longer viable. Not that F. is perfect.

The movie window removal from Finale was a big deal for me. My workaround has proven to be a huge time saver over over both the new paradigm for scoring to picture, as well as better than using the old movie window in F2041.5 or earlier. A fringe benefit is I can do quick sketches in DP for a scene and then go back and notate it in F, essentially as dictation. I find that much faster than importing MIDI.

But I digress... How is Dorico doing in the scoring to picture department?

[mhschmieder]

I don't see scoring features in 3.5. Lots of talk about guitar notation for tapping, hammer-on and pull-off. And a lot of emphasis on VST3 expression maps.

There is a section that discussed "Hollywood-style parts", which includes film, TV and games. But it's more about leaving empty staves at the end of each cue, for handwritten insertions, that for syncing music to film. Some talk as well about consolidating divisi parts for the conductor's score.

[bayswater]

I allowed myself to be pulled into the Figured Bass world...

What on earth would you do that for? Dude, get help. There's still time. Figured bass is EVIL. Straight out of the bowels of hell.

REPENT!!!

Don't worry. It's just a kludge using the lyrics tool.

[FMiguelez]

I allowed myself to be pulled into the Figured Bass world, and it is already clear that Dorico has an advantage here, over what Finale offers. It is more deeply implemented, and more clearly notated in terms of legibility and placement relative to the notes.

Nice, Mark! I LOVE Figured Bass

May I ask exactly how is it more deeply implemented than in Finale? I'm just curious.

For instance, how does it handle alterations above the bass? Does it use a slash (or little flat) over the little Arabic numbers? How about canceling such alterations? Does it use a little natural sign?
Does it stack the Arabic numbers next to the Roman number in seventh chord inversions? I have yet to try this in Finale.

How does Dorico handle modulations? Does it separate the old key and new keys in different vertical spaces with the little bracket-like thingy?

Also, just curious, what got you "pulled into" Figured Bass, as you wrote? IIRC, you play in a jazz band and latin stuff is one of your fortes, correct?

I allowed myself to be pulled into the Figured Bass world...

What on earth would you do that for? Dude, get help. There's still time. Figured bass is EVIL. Straight out of the bowels of hell.

REPENT!!!

Sometimes I think a combination of modern chord symbol notation and Figured Bass works well. Or else, how does one distinguish for instance, a sub V7/V from any of the Augmented Sixth chords?

I know what you mean, BTW. Just imagine the sort of skill the Baroque guys must've had in order to improvise from such symbols on the spot... And with such complex music!

[bayswater]

Does Dorico autodetect chords (well)? Logic did and would add standard guitar chord symbols, sort of, but now doesn't.

[mhschmieder]

The cross-grade to Doritos from The Finale Countdown or The Swan of Tuonela is half price at the moment.