Disclaimer: beginner over here. If I’m using the software not in the spirit in which it was intended, don’t hesitate to tell me please.
I find it relatively hard to get the drums notation to do what I expect. Following this guide line (Sorry, I can’t include links in my post, even though it is to the Steinberg website(?) steinberg (dot) help/r/dorico/doricofirststeps/4.3/en/dorico_first_steps/topics/first_steps_further_notations/first_steps_notes_drum_set_inputting_t.html) doesn’t seem to work at all.
For example, if I press F after putting in the HiHat, I don’t get a KICK note, I get a RIDE note (which of course is the upper F if you will).
But, even after moving the cursor down to the KICK line and using Y, then C (for Snare) and then again F for KICK, I get another RIDE note.
What am I doing wrong here? How can I efficiently note down drum/percussion kits?
Is it possible to hard code the KICK to a specific letter on my keyboard?
Welcome to the forum, @Christoph_Buskies.
Check what settings you have on the Note Input and Editing page of Preferences. If you want F to produce a kick drum and C to produce a snare drum, you need to ensure Input onto kit or grid is set to Use staff position, and Interpret as is set to Treble G clef.
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Thank you for the quick response!
This is both set up correctly.
And for reference, here is the drum kit setup.
Dorico 5.1.70.2200
Using F for KICK does work (basically for everything lower than SNARE) similar to how the note input of a pitched instrument would select the nearest pitch.
If you type Control+F, to tell Dorico to explicitly choose F in the octave below, does that give you the expected kick drum?
Welcome to the forum @Christoph_Buskies !
For your information, a more recent version of First Steps is available, which corresponds to Dorico 5.1 (rather than 4.3).
Start here 
As to why the note input instructions aren’t working for you - did you definitely add the “Drum set (basic)”? Rather than the “full” version with additional instruments?
