Combined instruments, alignment, and iPad Pro

Dorico
1

Hi,
I have a couple topics I would like to discuss. If you want me to repeat the topics each in a separate post, let me know.

  1. Combined instruments in score and corresponding parts.
    Many composers and orchestrators, including myself, desire some instruments to be combined, such as horns, trumpets, flutes, clarinets, etc. (I’m sure this is well known in the community). It’s been a real pain on Sibelius and Finale trying to work with them as one instrument, then transfer that to two parts. It would be great to have a system that would find the layers and/or top or bottom notes and have them split already when you get to the parts. Sibelius mostly solved this, but I would love to see it go all the way.

  2. Precise vertical/horizontal alignment
    Key signatures, text styles (tempo, rehearsal marks, etc.), and other items that are common throughout scores/parts have been hard to precisely position in the style settings. Having alignment options by millimeter for both horizontal and vertical positions would be fantastic, as well as more clarity when working with the part options separate from the score. That way there would be less time spent using trial and error.

  3. Will there be an iPad Pro app coming out that can work along side our computer? This would be FANTASTIC. PLEASE, work to beat out the team from StaffPad. I work much quicker on paper, and being able to draw directly into something working either along side Dorico or Dorico itself would do wonders for workflow.

I’m very excited for the release!!
Thanks

2
  1. This has been discussed in a couple of other threads. Please see my elliptical responses in e.g. this thread:

  1. Dorico has a comprehensive set of options you can tweak for the gaps between barlines, clefs, key signatures, time signatures, and so on, both in the fixed material that appears at the start of each system and when they occur at a barline in the middle of a system. The measurements are all in spaces, rather than in millimetres or other fixed values, because they are all scaled proportionally with the staff size. All of these particular options are defined as engraving options, which mean they are global to all layouts within the project. Layout options, on the other hand, are specific to each layout, while notation options are specific to each flow. Hopefully you will find the way we have divided up the options to make logical sense; they were not decided arbitrarily but rather with a focus on what is practically needed for most kinds of score prep work.

  2. We are not currently working on any iOS versions or complementary technologies. We have our hands completely full (really, more than full) with the Windows and macOS versions of Dorico, and they will receive our total focus for the next little while. We certainly hope to provide iOS software in the future, but it will very likely be in the form of complementary apps that work alongside Dorico on the desktop, rather than a full-blown iOS version of Dorico itself.

3

While not exactly integrated to Dorico itself, apps like NotateMe and Staffpad should be able to export the work as Midi or MusicXML (well, NotateMe does).
So you can express your ideas on a tablet in handwriting form, then export and pull the file into Dorico for further work.

As an aside, there are also a couple of interesting apps for ios devices. Duet Display and Air Display can allow you to utilise your iOS device as an additional monitor (with mouse/touch support).
Air Display will work only on Mac, but Duet Display will work both on PC and Mac.

Again, neither will allow for handwritten input/independant integration, but will allow the use of a (ios) tablet in your workflow. One person has reported that he uses his iPhone as a repository for pallettes, thus being able to access the palletes with one hand and keeping his mouse in the main work area.
Just a thought…

Cheers…