Dorico - An Ongoing Journey

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Regarding Michael's dilemma about Doritos vs. Silly Bailius, I think the attached photo answers that question quite well, as Doritos are quite unpalatable when they get soggy.

I don’t see no stinkin’ pitcher.

[mikehalloran]

Yep, I only included cross-grades for products I don't already own. Also, I think Notion is part of StudioOne now, if you buy the Professional version, but it's not always easy to tell what someone else's experience and pricing will be when you already have something yourself...

Oh yea, they push Studio One pretty hard—i figured that was why the crossgrade was so cheap. Notion 6 is still available stand-alone.

The only person I know of who uses Sibelius in the classical world is Michael Tilson Thomas. It was what got me to look at that one first, many years ago, along with the admittedly emotional connection to my favourite composer of all time -- though being English, I'm surprised they didn't name it Delius.

When my daughter did her 4th year as a composition major at University College, Dublin, she said it was a bit weird being the only Finale user. Most English and Irish schools are Sibelius shops. I offered to pay for the crossgrade if she wanted but, having tried the demo, she told me to keep my money.

OT: I’m in Austin at the moment where she premiered a new work over the weekend. Pretty nice to see all that work pay off. Now, to convince her to get her publishing together (or let someone else handle it)... A number of choral directors have asked to buy it for their choirs after I posted a sample on Facebook. She has’t quite grasped that there’s life in a composition after the commission is spent. We really gotta fix this!

[mhschmieder]

As to the pitcher, I can only obtusely answer, "Nevermind".

[Elektroakoustika]

Sorry for the late update everyone. Don't have time to post as much as I'd like to.

I am now using Dorico Pro 2. Still really liking it. I do find that I spend a little more time inserting music than in Finale, but when I'm getting music ready to print, its 100x faster to get parts ready. And I never have to deal with the ridiculous amount of Finale bugs. This is especially important as I'm oftentimes writing for large ensembles and I used to dread editing parts in Finale.

One feature I really love in Dorico 2 is the ability to easily make divisi lines split into two separate parts. But I'm still waiting for the option to have two parts on one line in the score and then have them divide out in the parts. This is possible in Finale, but ALWAYS has errors that are absolutely obnoxious.

I think Dorico keeps getting better with every update, and I have no reservation paying for the upgrades that are offered (this one was only $100). I consider it an investment to a company that I really believe in and have proven that they are dedicated to updating their program to offer the best features in a true modern day interface. Finale and Sibelius abandoned that ideal years ago.

[leigh]

I'm with you! I just did a set of ensemble parts yesterday and it was so pleasant and easy to get exactly what I want. In a pinch, I would even just use the parts exactly as they are created by Dorico and not be ashamed to give them to the musicians. I used to loathe doing parts in Finale and Sibelius.

**Leigh

[mhschmieder]

Excellent feedback, and easy splits of divisi matters a lot to me.

I may pick up a copy a bit later this summer -- I had to do my clarinet parts the hard way by analyzing the music theory and practicing things to play from memory vs. depending on being able to get the best parts extraction -- something I still find quite difficult in DP's QuickScribe and in Finale.

[Prime Mover]

- Note-Entry: While not bad, its more Sibelius-y than Finale-y. I use a MIDI keyboard and use simple entry in Finale but in Dorico I have to select things like dots before I enter a note. Just a bit different. Editing notes after entry, however, it a lot easier in Dorico than Finale.

This hurts me. It's basically the ONE thing I hate about Sibelius and love about Finale (which I kind of hate for other reasons), but for some strange reason, every other notation program seems to follow the Sibelius route. I really hate how in Sibelius, notes are attached to beats and can't be moved or inserted easily. I work with a lot of dynamic, time-changing music, and like to go back in and drop/insert beats while I'm composing, and this is absolute hell with Sibelius. Otherwise, I vastly prefer Sibby's expression and overall engraving options, even if it does get a bit unwieldily.

[mhschmieder]

I agree -- it's the main reason I chose Finale over Sibelius.

Maybe they'll provide alternate note entry approaches later on?

[Elektroakoustika]

- Note-Entry: While not bad, its more Sibelius-y than Finale-y. I use a MIDI keyboard and use simple entry in Finale but in Dorico I have to select things like dots before I enter a note. Just a bit different. Editing notes after entry, however, it a lot easier in Dorico than Finale.

This hurts me. It's basically the ONE thing I hate about Sibelius and love about Finale (which I kind of hate for other reasons), but for some strange reason, every other notation program seems to follow the Sibelius route. I really hate how in Sibelius, notes are attached to beats and can't be moved or inserted easily. I work with a lot of dynamic, time-changing music, and like to go back in and drop/insert beats while I'm composing, and this is absolute hell with Sibelius. Otherwise, I vastly prefer Sibby's expression and overall engraving options, even if it does get a bit unwieldily.

I'd say Dorico is like "Sibelius on Steroids" when it comes to note entry. I, too, am a former user of Finale for years and years. While note entry in Dorico took awhile to learn, it actually is quite quick. And what you're talking about is actually pretty easy in Dorico. You can move entire lines by copying and pasting, or just moving them left or right my eighth notes by holding down "opt+arrow key." You can even lengthen a note to be longer and short by eighth notes by clicking "opt+shift+arrow key." Wanna add a note to the & of 3 in measure 26? Just click on the measure, arrow the carrat over the & of 3 and entire your note. Dorico even changes the previous and following notes to make your note fit correctly.

Even better, Dorico allows you to remap all of the keyboard shortcuts and add some for additional things. So if you don't like the key Dorico has mapped for you, just remap it in the settings and you're good to go (kind of like the Commands window in DP).

[Prime Mover]

That sounds cool. Does it have an "insert" and "delete" functions that slide all of the notes in the measure back and forth? That was the thing I dearly missed from Finale. Sometimes I don't want to just make a rest, I want that beat to disappear completely.

[leigh]

That sounds cool. Does it have an "insert" and "delete" functions that slide all of the notes in the measure back and forth? That was the thing I dearly missed from Finale. Sometimes I don't want to just make a rest, I want that beat to disappear completely.

Yes, it has an Insert mode that moves (and possibly rebars) the music on insert or delete.

It's also great for unmetered music.

**Leigh

[leigh]

Here's a link to a review of Dorico 2:
https://www.scoringnotes.com/reviews/do ... -2-review/

**Leigh

[artfarm1]

Question for Dorico users:

- a feature I like in Sibelius is that (when using a MIDI keyboard and the computer keypad for note entry) I can change the Keypad Input Preferences to be 'like Finale'....where I can play the note first, and then choose the length/values of the note.

(I love this feature, because if you actually try to compose in Sibelius or Finale, you can first noodle away on the keyboard until you find what you like, and then you can start to input when you've made some decisions about what to input.

I don't like having to choose the rhythm's/note values first. I find that if I haven't switched off 'note input' mode, then I can accidentally add multiple measures of experimental noodling around before realizing that I've been in 'note input' mode. Things get real messy real fast and takes away time spent actually creating)

question: how does Dorico handle this? can you choose rythms' first before committing to the note? can you spend time noodling on the keyboard before committing to actual note input? is it easy to get out of 'note input' mode? do you accidentally get stuck in 'note input' mode when you least suspect it?

Thanks...I don't really see any information from Steinberg on this aspect of composing into the software.

[foorere]

I am now using Dorico Pro 2. Still really liking it. I do find that I spend a little more time inserting music than in Finale, but when I'm getting music ready to print, its 100x faster to get parts ready. And I never have to deal with the ridiculous amount of Finale bugs. This is especially important as I'm oftentimes writing for large ensembles and I used to dread editing parts in Finale.

Is there any reference score/part we can see? Just the most complex you do in Dorico, a page or two.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I am now using Dorico Pro 2. Still really liking it. I do find that I spend a little more time inserting music than in Finale, but when I'm getting music ready to print, its 100x faster to get parts ready. And I never have to deal with the ridiculous amount of Finale bugs. This is especially important as I'm oftentimes writing for large ensembles and I used to dread editing parts in Finale.

Is there any reference score/part we can see? Just the most complex you do in Dorico, a page or two.

Doritos [SIC] won't be anywhere near as well implemented as Finale. There are probably samples on their website. If F25 still had a movie window I'd use it. I'm on F2014.5 forever or bust.