Adding markers

Dorico
1

Adding markers in play mode is straightforward. Click on the timeline and then alt-shift-M. But in write mode it is not straightforward. Markers are placed where the playhead is. But to get the playhead to a specific beat you need to select a note, then press play and then quickly press pause (before play actually starts) to advance the playhead before adding the marker. Otherwise it puts the marker at the previous playhead point.

So, unless I am missing something, it would be more useful to add the marker in write mode at the current selection rather than the playhead point. Or provide a way to move the playhead easily.

Also, markers only show up in play mode when a video is attached. But they show up in write mode without a video attached. This is inconsistent. I would possibly find it useful to have markers in write mode without a video, but I think this is not the current intent.

2

You can use Alt+P to move the playhead to the current selection point, then hit Shift+Alt+M.

3

Ah. Very good. Thanks.

So is it the intent to be able to have markers without a video attached only in write mode?

4

In due course we’ll make it possible to show the markers track in Play mode independently of having a video attached, but at the moment it will only appear if a video is attached, as you’ve found.

5

OK. I just wanted to make sure that if I started using them without a video attached, that they wouldn’t disappear at a later date because that wasn’t the intent.

6

No, they certainly won’t disappear. We expressly made it such that attaching/detaching a video won’t change the initial timecode for the flow or the marker positions.

7

Slightly OT:
Does anyone have a link where one could find a short (c. 2 min.) video in the public domain to use for practice? I am embarrassed to say I don’t shoot videos of my own.

8

Try here. A lot of junk, but maybe some fun stuff in there too.

9

Is there any way to sync/transfer markers between Dorico and a video editing program (e.g., Final Cut Pro X)?

10

No, there isn’t. Do you know whether there’s a standard format that FCPX uses for this kind of thing?

11

That’s a good question. I am not all that familiar with standards for video. But I suspect there is. The format looks the same.

12

FWIW, here is the XML code that FCPX creates for markers in an XML export. This is for a 60fps file.

13

What kind of file is that, Dave, and what other kinds of things does it contain? Does FCPX also import that kind of file?

14

It’s an fcpxml file. Here’s the whole file for a very simple movie. Yes, it can read it. It’s used between FCPX and Logic Pro X at least. Probably more.
Var11.fcpxml.zip (2.09 KB)

15

Apple developer documentation for FCPX XML files.

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FinalCutProX/Reference/FinalCutProXXMLFormat/Introduction/Introduction.html

16

OK. We’ll certainly think about this, and see what kind of demand there is for this kind of feature.

17

Hello, scoring to film here. Timing layouts and programming are done in Cubase Pro 9.5, markers are used to highlight visual cues, cuts, etc. We export a Midi file and import into Finale, then a TG Tool is used to import the markers from the same file to display on the score. So far it seems Dorico still doesn’t have this capability (via either Midi Or MusicXML) to display marker information and I’m reading that Cubase does not integrate with Dorico at all. Is there a workaround, or plans to add this feature to Dorico?

thank you

18

Please search a little harder in future; this was addressed less than 24 hours ago.

19

Hello asmi, which TG Tool do you use to import the markers into Finale? Thanks for any and all info!

SOLVED: Found it in TGTools Pro - the full download.

20

Miscellaneous > Import. Though Finale doesn’t have any Markers, as such : they are just text items or expressions.

As far as Dorico is concerned, the program now does import Markers and Tempo tracks from Midi files.