I’ve looked into this today, and the current behaviour is deliberate. When pitch before duration input is active:
– If Play changes of shadow note pitch in pitch before duration input is deactivated (on the Note Input and Editing page of Preferences), Dorico won’t audition when you type a key for either a pitch or a duration.
– If, however, Play changes of shadow note pitch in pitch before duration input is activated:
If Specify accidental, rhythm dot and articulations is set to After inputting note Dorico will audition only when you type a key for a pitch (including an accidental, or transposing by step or an octave)
If Specify accidental, rhythm dot and articulations is set to Before inputting note, by contrast, Dorico will audition only when you type a key for a duration
When you’re using a MIDI keyboard, of course, you will hear the pitch whenever you play a note, and that’s as expected.
But when you’re using the computer keyboard, users complained about hearing the note both when they specified the pitch and then when they specified the duration.
Perhaps what we should do in future is add two separate options, allowing you to choose whether, when pitch before duration note input is active, Dorico should audition when you specify a pitch and when you specify a duration?
I’d be curious to hear what other pitch before duration users think about this.
Thank you for your answer.
The problem is that in the “Before Duration” and “Specify accidental … - After inputting note” modes and when the “Play changes of shadow note…” option is turned off, the sound is played when the rhythmic value is pressed on the computer keyboard. With these settings, it currently plays only when we add accidents. This is where the option to choose would be very useful. The sound should play when the key, e.g. “5”, is pressed. I think that many former Finale users would appreciate such an option. Is there a chance to add such an option in the future?
Good morning,
I’d like to revisit the topic of playing the last note after entering a note, which I raised in this thread a few months ago. The discussion at the time (with Daniel Spreadbury) indicated that the current limitation on note hearing in Pitch Before Duration mode was intentional – to prevent double-playing when using a computer keyboard. It was suggested at the time that a future option could be added that would allow the user to choose whether they’d like to hear the note when entering the pitch, confirming the rhythm, or both.
Some time has passed since then (we currently have Dorico version 6.x), and the problem persists. With my settings – i.e., pitch before the rhythm, and the notes added after they’re inserted – I still don’t hear the note when entering a note with the keyboard, which makes it very difficult to work with. The note only plays when I add an accidental sign (sharp/flat), which doesn’t solve the problem. As a long-time Finale user, I instinctively expect to hear every note when I enter it (both Before and After), and Dorico doesn’t offer that.
I’d like to ask if there are any plans or progress regarding implementing the aforementioned preview feature. I understand the Dorico team has many priorities, but for me—and I think for other users accustomed to this workflow—it would be a huge help. I teach classes with students who also miss this functionality when learning Dorico (many of them have used Finale before and instinctively expect this preview).
I’d appreciate any feedback. If I need to re-describe the use case or provide additional data, I’d be happy to do so. I hope this feature can be considered in a future update—it will certainly make life easier for a large group of users without impacting those who enjoy the current experience. Thanks in advance!
It has been over a year, and the problem still hasn’t been resolved. This is very disappointing, as it is a key issue for a large number of users who switched to Dorico from Finale. Unfortunately, there is still no sound when entering notes while using the “Pitch Before Duration” and “Specify Accidental… After Inputting Note” settings simultaneously, which means that this setup fails to serve as a functional replacement for the “Speedy Entry” workflow known from Finale.
Exactly. Many of my friends have this problem. I write requests and inquiries periodically, but for some time now, my questions have been ignored. It’s a shame that Finale users have been treated this way.
Would you rather like that Daniel gives you the same answer periodically too?
When I read this thread, it looks like he knows what your problem is, and he responded too, the last response was Juli 2025
The team isn’t known to announce new features in advance of releases, so I’m afraid all you can do know is to wait and hope your wishes will make it in the future.
Or try to adjust to something you were not used to with Finale. You can’t expect both programs to work exactly the same
Dorico has an obvious bug in this area that should be fixed. It is not a good idea to mock people who have paid for the software and simply expect it to work as intended.
I don’t mock you (had to look that up, since I’m no native speaker).
But you think current behaviour is bugged and does not work as intended, I just pointed to a quote of the lead of the development team who says current behaviour is deliberate.
It’s unfortunate you found some parts of the program does not work as you expected, and I’m sincerely hope for you options are added in the future in this area which help former Finale users who used Finale in this way.
Until then I just hope you get more comfortable with a different workflow.
Dorico is a very good program; many things are great and unique. As a user, I notice bugs and want to see it developed, simply to make it better. In my opinion, and that of many of my music school teachers, this is simply a “bug.” As users who have purchased this program, we express our suggestions. This is natural. I urge everyone reading this post to test it on their computers. We don’t understand why the sound only appears after adding an incident in this mode. What is the reason? Why only after adding an incident and not when entering a note value?
A bug is something that is unintended. That is not that same as something an individual user or group of users wishes were different. We get that you do not like the way this feature operates, and you are welcome to call attention to it; but the current behavior is intended by design. Griping does not make it a bug.
Gentlemen, with all due respect, let’s be serious. If in the program settings the option “Play notes during note input” is enabled, and yet—despite this—there is no sound when entering notes, then this is a bug. Explaining it as “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” is, to put it mildly, not very convincing.
In the rest of that linked post, Daniel explains the reasoning that went into the decision to code it this way, and the user complaints that factored into the decision. He also indicates that the team is open to revisiting this decision and asks for further user input.
It seems clear that some users would like to see this behavior changed. I’m sure the dev team has seen this thread and noted the discussion.