Adding an instrument

Massive frustration here - it seems like every different thing I need to do is impossible to find in the software, or in the help. I’m using Dorico Elements 3.5, and I just want to add another instrument to the piece I’m working on. I thought it would be easy to add one in Setup, but - no, the icon at the bottom left is disabled, for no reason that I can imagine or find anywhere in help. The only one of those icons that’s enabled is the Add Group one.

Can anyone please enlighten me?

How many players do you already have in your project? In Dorico Elements, the maximum number of players you can have is 12 (as mentioned here).

If you want to add another instrument to a solo player, select the player and press Shift-I. Section players can only hold a single instrument.

OK thanks - I didn’t realise there was that limitation. I’ve never really understood the point of the distinction between players and instruments. It’s maybe because of the way I use a notation program - I’m not interested in producing performances, I just need to produce good score copy, and ensemble audio guide tracks for instrumentalists to record their parts.

It’s probably fair to say that unless you’re handling instrument changes (e.g. for a flautist doubling piccolo and alto flute) you don’t need to think about the distinction too much.

Dorico has “players” who hold “instruments” to allow for doublings, and to allow you to divide section players. However, the divisi feature is also not available in Elements.

A solo player can hold any number of instruments, which can have simultaneous notes and therefore show multiple staves in the score. However, all music belonging to the player appears in its part layout - if you’re not needing to print individual parts for each instrument, you could even have one player hold everything if you wanted!

I have more trouble with this. My score has 11 players, some of whom have more than one instrument. I’m trying to add a second French horn to a player who already has one, but although the instrument appears in the Setup page, when I add it, no music staff is added for it.

It’s OK - I’ve managed to get this to work now. I think it may be something to do with this obscure concept of solo and section players. Every time I get my head round some of this stuff, and have a break from it for a few weeks, I’ve forgotten it all by the time I start again!

Section players can only hold one instrument each.

Solo players can hold as many instruments as you like, but by default they’ll only show one instrument at a time in page view. If you add multiple instruments to one player, you’ll see staves for each instrument in Galley View, and as you add notes Dorico will automatically handle instrument changes. If you disallow instrument changes and hiding of empty staves for the relevant layout in Layout Options, you’ll see staves for all of the instruments in Page View too.