A Hybrid Real/Step Entry

Dorico
1

Hello everyone,

I’m new to the forums.

I want to reiterate a suggestion I made years ago (2013) to Daniel before Dorico was first released as I believe it sits well with the established design choices for Dorico.

I think that Dorico would benefit from a hybrid real/step entry.

Because Dorico brilliantly enters all rests for the user it opens the possibility of Dorico pausing real time recording whenever the user enters no notes for a full beat (according to the time signature). Whenever the user did pause for a full beat Dorico would return to the end of the beat they last entered notes and wait for further entry. If the user wanted to proceed to a later beat or bar/beat they could use the grid and the usual commands the program provides to do that and then recommence entry. The position of the grid just before entry would be a reliable indicator to Dorico as to the start point of the first entered note.

With this system of entry entered notes have the advantage over step time of having more appropriate velocities and the user has the benefit of not having to choose rhythm values. If I reach a beat where Dorico fails to interpret the length of the notes I enter I should be able to use commands to alter the length of the last entered note by the grid value (or to any note other than the last entered note having first selected it).

The following metronome options would perhaps help?

  • the user could have the option of hearing the metronome only while recording, or all the time, or with a toggle (such as a key switch).
  • key switches for speeding up and slowing down the metronome
  • a keyswitch with which to set the metronome speed using tap tempo
  • an option where the metronome is turned off or not immediately following the user’s not playing for a beat
  • a toggle to change the metronome when counting compound time signatures between its beats or its divisions (for example toggling between 2 beats per bar in 6/8 or 6).

If the user reaches an unplayable sequence they would then only need to make sure the metronome is off in order to enter a series of notes in step entry.

I can’t see any reason with this system why it wouldn’t be possible to allow a user to add other markings as they went along - for example slurs with S and ending slurs with Shift S etc. Although of course there would be no obligation.

If my idea isn’t perfect consider it input. The main weakness I see in this is that the user isn’t going to see until after they have long passed notes whether they were notated correctly. But this is true of real time entry so is there any reason to disqualify this system for that reason?

Philip Benjamin

2

Philip hello,
Pretty interesting and nice suggestion! :slight_smile: As one of those who prefer to use the real-time recording, I really appreciate it!
Many other improvements could be made to the recording…

  1. Dorico should be able to detect automatically both hands, despite the split point.
  2. You have to be very good at playing piano in order to get good looking scores after real-time recordings, especially
    if you have short note lengths in the Quantization Options. I doubt that most of us are piano virtuosos.
  3. Not only the velocity of the notes should be taken into account, but also the the humanization of the note starting and ending points.
    This one is even more important than the velocity. Dorico should adopt the Humanization from Cubase Pro, which works pretty well. I also
    like the one which exist in Overture 5.6. The one in Dorico is still very primitive.

I hope they will improve all those features! :slight_smile:

Best wishes,
Thurisaz

3

Really? I would never have guessed that in a million years :unamused:

4

Rob, I’m sure you wouldn’t even in a billion millenniums! :wink: