Hi, so, it appears that when a midi file is imported in, it is coverted to the Bravura (engraved) by default with no way to choose Petaluma (“handwritten”). Also, the only chance to use petaluma is when one goes to create a new document. This is a bit frustrating as, being a new convert from finale and with all of my music files use my own handwritten font, BluNotz, when I go to import the files to ipad version of Dorico, I’m stuck with engraved version of music font. In a perfect music world, I would be able to use my on font with the ipad version and be able covert imports and exisitng files to it. (adding third party music font capability might be another feature to add as well) Not sure if this would be considered a “hot” topic for developers but there you go. thanks for your consideration
If you set the music font as Petaluma via the option in the Library menu, will your XML import appear immediately in Petaluma?
Even if it doesn’t, it’s easy enough to change after the fact.
Hi Derek, thanks for your response. So, just to clarify, my post is about Dorico for IpadI have no font issues with Dorico Pro MOS and have my own font as the default and can go back and forth between various music fonts. with Ipad version, there is no functionality to change music font with importing or once you set the music font starting from scratch.
Hi Romano, thanks for your response. So, just to clarify, my post is about Dorico for IpadI have no font issues with Dorico Pro MOS and have my own font as the default and can go back and forth between various music fonts. with Ipad version, there is no functionality to change music font with importing or once you set the music font starting from scratch.
My mistake. Thank you for being so gracious about it. I hope the upcoming iPad upgrade will be helpful for you in this area.
Hey, no problem at all. I just appreciate that you took the time to respond with good suggestions. the ipad version is a bit undercooked and underpowered for pro use but already miles ahead of what’s out there from the competition. the possiblities are umilimited and I think Steinberg is very commited to make the effort
The developers are well aware of the current limitations for third-party fonts on the iPad. It’s largely a problem with the Qt framework that does the cross-platform interface for Dorico.
You are Thomas Williams, and I claim my £5.!! 
Have you made a SMuFL version of BlueNotz?
Hey Hey, WOW! how in the world did you figure out who I am and had you heard of BlueNotz before? If we had connected back when I was asking around, I apologize for not remembering.
If I had £5 to my name, you could have it.
As far as having a SMuFL version, sorta! I was able to put together a basic functional version with most of the standard “modern” characters ( definately slanted towards a Jazz/popular look ) and it seems to fit my needs with Dorico MOS. its been a while since I have tinkered with it. Anyway, thanks for asking. Are you connected with Steinberg/Dorico development? again, sorry to flake out if we met earlier
No, we’ve not met, and I’m not Steinberg. I’ve just been round the block a bit. I used to use Nightingale, which had BlueNotz bundled. I’m also a bit of a font hoarder.
I’ve just made a SMuFL version of Golden Age, (with Don Rice’s permission); as well as a SMuFL version of an engraved font called Sebastian.
If you wanted help converting BlueNotz to SMuFL, I’d be happy to lend a hand.
Unfortunately it’s not going to be possible in the near future to use third party music fonts in Dorico for iPad, but it’s definitely something we would like to be able to allow in future, provided we get the necessary support built into the Qt framework.
Hi, again, Daniel, thanks for your quick responses to my queries. While having the ability to use third party SMufl fonts (mine included) would be ideal, i find that being able to choose or switch to Petaluma instead of Bravura would be essential when midi or XML files are imported or if I might want to change the music font on the fly in existing files. Would this functionality also be limited by the Qt framework (which, by the way, I’m not familiar with but willing to learn)
Thanks, in advance, for your time and expertise,
Thomas
You don’t need to learn the Qt framework – that’s just a big part of our software stack and responsible for providing a lot of the cross-platform foundations that Dorico is built upon.
You should be able to change music font immediately after importing your MIDI or MusicXML file by going to the application menu at the very right-hand end of the main toolbar and choosing Music Fonts.
Hi Daniel, thanks for your help. I copied your response to my email below
You should be able to change music font immediately after importing your MIDI or MusicXML file by going to the application menu at the very right-hand end of the main toolbar and choosing Music Fonts.
So, In regards to your response, I just need to double check that you are describing functionality that is part of Dorico for Ipad and not Dorico MOS. I just did a test midi import
into Dorico for Ipad and when I went to application menu, I do not find any selection option related to music fonts. Here is a screen shot of my open application menu and the options thatnare available.
thanks
Apologies, I sometimes lose track of which options are in the current App Store version and which are in our development builds. (It’s awkward to switch between them on the same iPad.)
This option is evidently not included in the current version you can download on the App Store today, but it will definitely be included in the forthcoming update, which is currently making its way through the App Review process, so will be released soon, all being well.
Hey Daniel, no need to apologize. lots of balls in the air imagine. Especially as it seems the various operating systems have very little crossover. Probably not a large profit margin with ipad versions which may be why coda/ makemusic never got into ipad market. I did see where coda/finale had gone to SMufl format.
what exactly are your duties with Steinberg and how long have you been with them?
I’ve been with Steinberg for nearly 10 years. I joined in 2012 after Avid disbanded the original Sibelius development team. We were incredibly fortunate that Steinberg wanted to hire as many of that original team as it was able to, and a dozen of us established a new London office to start work on what would become Dorico in November 2012. If you want to read more about our story, there are plenty of places online where you can find out more about what happened to us!
I’m Dorico’s product manager, so I’m the primary conduit between our customers and our development team, and I have responsibility not only for prioritising and scoping/designing features, but also for business planning, strategic development of the product line, coordinating with other product teams in Steinberg, and more besides. I also have a marketing component to my role, though these days I am very fortunate to have a colleague dedicated to marketing working alongside me. And I also, of course, am the originator and specificiation editor of the SMuFL standard for music fonts, and am one of three co-chairs of the W3C Music Notation Community Group, which has responsibility for SMuFL, MusicXML, and the in-development MNX music notation format.
On top of that, I also turn my hand to the odd bit of programming here and there, and have worked on a number of features in Dorico (some of the things I worked on in Dorico 4 include the jump bar, automatic score ordering, user project templates, the ensemble picker, the features in Engrave mode to move bars between systems, etc.). I should point out that I’m certainly not a trained software developer (I’m a musician by education and a product manager by my two decades-plus of professional experience) but I am fortunate to have patient and dedicated colleagues who are willing to share their own experience with me in order to allow me to help out a bit with the development of some smaller features in the software.
Hey Daniel,
Wow! that’s quite the story. Interesting that you were involved in Sibelius guess for a number of years. I remeber when Sibelius hit the market. It was different enough for me to actually change over from Finale and convert a number of Big Band charts into Sibelius. I used it for a while but always felt it was PC first. im a mac guy through and through.
Sibelius was the best thing that ever happen to Finale as alot of features it introduced wound up in the subsequent versions of Finale. I switched back when this happened. Guess I was used to dealing with menus with menus with menus. After a while, the developers of Finale sort of gave up and allowed it to succomb to atrophy. I accidently bumped into Dorico when I was playong in a big band rehearsal and the chart we were playing had a a little text note saying it was created by Dorico. I hadn’t heard of it yet so I did a search and low and behold, I found it. I really was impressed with how comprehensive it was and being the font nerd that I am how much flexibility it had on the font side. So, in my “jump the ship” fashion, I decided to make Dorico my go to. However, I been trying ever since to grab hold of some of the concepts that are totally different from finale especially with layouts and staff/stave editing. Slowly but surely getting some feel for Dorico but especially during covid, there was no writing work to be had to force me to get better experienced with it. I also kept running into things I could do with finale that I couldn’t with Dorico (or I just didn’t know where to find it or even begin to know where to start (and I consider myself a detailed and logical individual). i.e. there appears to be no way to start a stave or staff with double barlines.
I even created a filemaker database that kept track of things I discovered, a bunch of “how tos” and how can I finds. But, I think if I use the forums to my advantage (especially with “heavy hitters” such as yourself monitoring it) I’ll be able to get on top of Dorico eventually. One last point I promise. For me, it’s a bit challenging to learn the MOs and Ipos versions at the same time. obviously, it would be ideal if both programs had the exact same features and functionality allowing for the inherent differences in operating systems. Part of me feels strongly that the ipad is the way of the future, for ease of usage and portability, but probably dosesnt match the power of computers at least at this point in time. Thoughts? Okay enough of me. sorry to drone on.
Anyway, very impressive and envious CV you have there. Its very cool you you sit at the helm of product development. A very critical position in many ways to the success of the Doricos. Good thinking of Steinberg to recognize the value of having motivated and talented people in the process.
So, thanks for your patience in “listening” to me here. Look forward to future interactions with you.
Cheers,
Thomas
Dorico is certainly different than Finale and indeed Sibelius – but I’m sure you will grok it before too long. And anything that you find you’re not getting hold of as quickly as you would like, just post here. I and others on the forum will be very happy to help.
By the way, I guess you have already seen that Dorico for iPad was updated a couple of days ago, and now includes the Music Fonts menu item in the application menu (on the toolbar).
I learned a new word today.