Combine single *.xml files

Quick question for the pros: I should work on an orchestral score and got individual instrument’s xml files. How can I combine them in Dorico to a score? So far when I import them, they end up as individual flows…

Yes, each xml will import to a new flow.
You would need to move the material from each into one flow.

i.e. Copy/Paste.

:wink: that’s exactly what I am looking for - copy paste doesn’t seem to be the solution. What should I copy/paste and where to? Notes, the player? I’ve imported Flute 1 and Flute 2 into separate flows. But when copying the events from flow 2 to flow 1 paused bar repeats appear as single bar…

I’m pretty sure there must be a solution to merge several flows into a single score, or am I the only one struggling with this?

You should not struggle with copy and paste. Select all the flow from one player (cmd-A, cmd-C), go to the first flow, put the caret at the start of that same instrument, cmd-V, rinse and repeat with all instruments. A hassle, but clearly a finite one, it shouldn’t take 10 minutes for a whole orchestra.
Please report with details if you have specific problems.

Thanks for your fast reply, Marc. So first of all I have to create an empty flow with all the instruments of the orchestra I want to import, and then I import the single instrument xmls into flows, that are copied the way you just explained, correct?

When you import each xml, it will ask you to merge or create a new instrument… Maybe save you some time and choose create?

I’ve tried both options, no luck. The imported xml flows look absolutely good, but when I try to copy/paste them into the full score flow, it ends up in a mess. Can’t imagine why this should be such a problem… Anyone willing to try to combine two of the xml files? Maybe something with my basic settings is wrong, but I tried all day long to make this work…

Can you post a couple of the xml files so we could try?

They don’t even have to be the entire files, perhaps just 8 measures of each.

(Do any of the files contain tuplets? They sometimes cause problems importing.)

Sure! I attach the xml files for flute 1 and 2 and clarinet, since it’s easy to see whether they align because they mostly play unisono.

I guess the problem could occur because of silent bar repeats the are not inserted correctly after a copy/paste action…

Flute 2.xml (88.1 KB)
Clarinet b.xml (66.4 KB)
Flute 1.xml (99.8 KB)

Things start to go wild on bar 25 for Flute 1. I suspect it’s the messier part of those three.
This technique will work if you have good files. Can we know which app exported those?
I’ve been “cleaning up” flute 1 with insert mode and delete. Here’s the result. Far from what it should be! Beware all those meter signposts. This is not normal :wink:
XLM import test.dorico (904,4 Ko)

1 Like

So you are importing one part at a time. I guess I had envisioned you were trying to combine full score pieces one after the other. Still, as you can see from Marc’s comment, what you have given us is useful to suggesting answers for your situation.

Thanks for your help and effort, Marc, I really appreciate it! Yes, you’re right, the xmls definitely seem to be “not normal”. I had to ask and now know, that the xml exports have been done with PlayScore 2. Are you aware of other applications that do better exports from PDFs and does this even exist? The PDF files by the way are absolutely fine, not handwritten.

Here’s a recent review of music scanning software.