Bug while changing note values?

Dorico
1

So I’ll start by saying that I am fairly new to Dorico, having switched over from Finale.
This sure looks like a bug to me, but not being as familiar with the software, I’m just asking for help/clarification first.

I’m using Dorico-Pro 5. Version 5.1.81.2225 (Jan 16 2025) (on windows 11)
So today I am simply trying to write out a scale and bowing exercise for a string student of mine. But I ran into a weird occurrence right away.
I initially wrote it as 16th notes (only 4 measures worth) and decided I wanted to use 8th notes instead. The document length is 16 bars, so there are plenty of empty measures after those initial 4.
So I clicked the select arrow, and clicked the first notehead and then shift-clicked the last notehead to select all of them - and then clicked the 8th note entry thing in the toolbar. It did in fact change them all to eighth notes… But where they were previously step-wise: ABCD BCDE, etc… When it changed them to 8ths, instead of using up the empty measures that followed, it kept it to the same 4 measures and instead changed them to 8th notes in intervals of 3rds?!?
So it was now: ACBD CEDF etc! The ONLY thing that should have changed was the duration of the notes. Instead it changed the actual order of the notes and… removed half of them! Actually… Looking at it again… I suspect it just removed the 2nd 16th in every pair. But again, imo, it shouldn’t have removed anything. Half the time I can’t even get it to delete notes when I want it to. So it definitely shouldn’t have when I didn’t click or press anything related to deleting…

I’ve run into a few things - basically every project - where things that were intuitive in Finale don’t work at all the same in Dorico. (That said, there are things in Dorico that are smoother too, so this isn’t a complaint yet, just growing pains maybe.) - The point though, is that with all the weirdness of having to get used to a new … UI I guess… I can’t really tell if this is a bug or a feature that I just don’t understand. Hah

I am sure there is an easy way to make the change I want and that I could find it via the tutorials. This just isn’t the way in Dorico apparently, and I wanted to make sure what happened isn’t a bug, - or - that if it is, that it gets reported.

Something that would really help me here, IFF it is working as intended… is the logic behind what it did. (From the program’s perspective - but I’m not asking for code. hah) For instance - if it was actually trying to maintain the the 4 bars even though I selected the note heads specifically, and not the bars.

  • I tried to follow the forum directions, and give you the two screenshots that make it really obvious (in case I didn’t do a good job describing it) and then the project file… and it complained that “new (forum) users may only attach one file”… So I guess you’re just getting the project?

Thanks in advance!

A Minor Scale with bowings for Vivaldi Concerto Violin Bk 5.dorico (754.0 KB)

2

Hi @athenafritz. welcome to the Dorico forum

Select the notes
Press I (that’s the letter I, not number 1) - this turns on Insert mode
Press the number key corresponding to the note value you want - “5” in your example
Turn off Insert mode (press I again)

3

@athenafritz, while @StevenJones01 gave you the “how you need to”, the “why” is that you had 16ths selected and switched to 8ths. This, in the normal mode, acts like a word processor (somewhat) by overwriting every other 16th so that only the first is changed to an 8th while the second is overwritten by the full (remaining) rhythmic value of the new 8th. By turning on the insert mode, it “pushes along” the notes as it changes them, which is what you wanted – and expected. It is important to remember to turn insert mode off again as it can make a mess of things when trying to make corrections. Unlike a word processor, you don’t usually want to “push” your music along when correcting pitches or rhythms! :wink:

— Jim

4

On the contrary, if I go to the trouble of selecting all of the notes like that… I absolutely do. :sweat_smile: But that is neither here nor there. hah
As long as it is working as intended there is no need for me to make a further fuss.

Thank you both very much for your helpful answers!
-Athena

5

Actually… I just tried this… and it just added 5ths above what I already had… So this is not it. But… I will go look in the tutorials.

6

Insert Mode is just I not SHIFT-I

Yes, sometimes it’s confusing that keys are named uppercase (because the keys on the keyboard are uppercase) but without explicit SHIFT always lowercase is meant.

7

I figured as much, after I went back to it. Clearly the shift-I was bringing up the interval popover. But I ended up just using the menu drop downs to do it instead.

Thank you for the clarification though. <3