Beam Grouping on Piano staff

Dorico
1

I want to set a custom beam grouping rule for a particular bar in the treble clef only of a piano score using [2+1+2+2+1]/8. Dorico for iPad also applies this rule to the corresponding base clef although I have only selected the treble clef notes. Is it possible to apply a custom beam group to a single bar and leave all other bars unaffected?

2

It is, provided you have an external keyboard to hand: you can then hold Alt when you press Return to apply the time signature you are creating only to the current staff.

3

Thank you Daniel
Could I request that this be made available for iPad as a touchscreen setting?
Kind regards
Mark

4

Daniel

More generally … to what extent does the absence of a keyboard limit the iPad user within Dorico? Are these keyboard actions all documented somewhere …? Thank you!

5

To be honest, I find Dorico for iPad way easier to use now that I bought the iPad magic keyboard (trackpad +keyboard)

1 Like
6

Thanks Marc
I accept that a keyboard might well make things easier using Dorica for iPad but what I’d really like to know is how much function is actually lost without one (as in this example) …

7

I’m afraid I don’t think I can provide a comprehensive reply, Mark, at least not without spending a lot of time thinking about it, time which I don’t have right at the moment. In general the intention is that it should be possible to use Dorico for iPad effectively with only the device itself and not requiring either a QWERTY keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, but like Dorico on the desktop, certain operations are only possible with the use of keyboard shortcuts.

8

No problem Daniel. If the intention is to give the iPad only version full function then a pop-up virtual keyboard with all the Apple keyboard buttons is all that would be required.

9

Daniel

I bought an external keyboard and did as you suggested using Alt-Return to constrain the beam grouping to a selected bar. I have confirmed that this does work for Dorica Pro on a Macbook but it does not work with Dorica for iPad (other bars are affected regardless of the Alt button being used). Keyboard going back for a refund …

10

Thanks for letting me know about this, Mark. I’m surprised to find that I can’t do this on my Magic Keyboard either. I will take a look into this to find out why.

11

Thanks Daniel

I appreciate your help and support. It seems to me that, for the time being at least, I will need to use Dorico for iPad in conjunction with Dorico Pro to achieve the level of detail that I require in my piano scores. It would be great if a future version of Dorico for iPad were to offer the full function of Dorico Pro. I see no technical reason why not given the hardware architecture of the latest Apple devices and I would be happy to pay more for the convenience of an iPad only experience.