A few negative observations about Dorico for iPad after a week of using it

Dorico
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I used some vacation beach time to play a bit more with Dorico for iPad (with subscription) and here are few negative things I noticed:

  • It’s not really stable. It freezes and/or crashes way too often. Last time it happened after starting a new project with modern orchestra template

  • Sound library is very weak with the obvious exception of Iconica Sketch and Yamaha S90ES piano

  • Virtual keyboard is unusable for real-time input. Keys get stuck when trying to record simple melodies

  • No virtual MIDI ports input/output

  • No full screen support yet with Stage Manager (I know this is a known Qt-related issue). Although this is not relevant for beach use, it can still be useful inside the hotel :slight_smile:

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The only idea I have for the first issue is upgrade your iPad, I or provide a specific scenario where it crashed. I’ve experienced the instability with engrave mode on iPad 7th Gen.
Second issue: well, welcome to Dorico :wink:. Honestly, the HSSE and microsonic libraries are pretty crappy, to say the least. Maybe buy an AU plugin on the App Store.
Third issue: Do random keys stay pressed and not let you use them randomly? I’ve experienced this.
Fourth: Perhaps a system like GarageBand has—inter-app audio?

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M2 iPad Pro with 8GB of RAM and empty project? I don’t think so…

HSSE is not in available in Dorico for iPad. Dorico only comes with the GM portion from it. Also, I don’t think HSSE is crappy. If you ever used Yamaha, Korg or Roland workstation, it’s on those lines. Huge modern sample libraries are better and more realistic, but not necessarily more playable.

Inter-app audio was depricated long time ago and I don’t think Dorico supports it.

1 Like
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Ok. Ig it is just really unstable. But is microsonic not a condensed form of HSSE?

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There still aren’t many “pro” level sample libraries available on the iPad. Mostly, because they take up huge amounts of space, and require CPU power that’s only now been reached with the M-series.
Theoretically, any AU library should work with Dorico on the iPad.

I’d agree that it’s largely a companion to the desktop version; though I’ve not had crashes in my usage.

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I know, I just replied to the statement that HSSE on iOS/iPadOS is crappy. It’s the same library that ships with Cubase and Dorico for desktop, so I compared it to pro-level desktop sample libraries.