Firstly many thanks for all the consistent updates and improvements over the years.
One thing that I’m really missing is audio tracks. Currently it’s only possible to import audio as a blank video attached to the flow and then there is no control over the audio and only a stereo file is possible. A lot of electro-acoustic composers would appreciate the following:
import multiple tracks of audio
present multiple options for waveform-notation, so the audio can also be visible in the score. in a recent collaboration I realized that a singer can interpret waveforms for cues.
import audio and then drag bar starting points to adjust notation to the tempo of the recording, Staffpad does this quite well, I wish Dorico had this option as well.
aleatoric boxes are only possible via tricks, it would be great to have the option to box certain bars and then have them repeated by dragging a thick line. it would be a great plus if you could add a randomizer for repeats.
Overall there is room for improvement in electro-acoustic notation / playback notation. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need more details.
Audio tracks have been requested several times by multiple users in the past, myself among them. I very much support your take on this, but we will have to wait and see if the team can include it in a future update.
After all, it’s a small development team that is known for doing those things they decide to do in an extremely meticulous and sophisticated manner, which is something I don’t want them to change. And their backlog of possible feature sets for Dorico is inconceivably huge, and I suppose that virtually all the items on that list are perfectly valid.
As others have also noted, there are also huge copyright and licensing issues with this. If one could take any audio file and create a score, lead sheet, or other from it, what keeps one from having the software make charts that one could upload and sell through ArrangeMe or another service. Software like that is an invitation to piracy of the worst kind — making a profit off of other’s work. (Yes, ArrangeMe pays out royalties but one could sell through less legal means.) My point is that, at some level, the makers of the software could be implicated in a lawsuit — as it’s more likely that the software would be used to avoid purchasing sheet music than to be a composer’s aid. (As a side note, BTW, the US Copyright office accepts audio copies for copyright registration — having a transcribed copy is not required.)
If your point is to simply add the waveform as a visual (and not create a transcription), it is an interesting idea! (And my apologies if I misunderstood!)
I do not sense the request here is for audio files to create notation, only to allow an audio file to be added to play simultaneously with the notated music, perhaps with the ability to alter the tempo of the notation to the tempo of the audio file.
I do not recall the Dorico Team ever suggesting more than one audio track would be possible per flow, but who knows. We’ll have to wait and see.