We are writing orchestral works, typically containing
between 10 and 40 different instruments;
there are in general 3 or 4 different conductor score layouts (example: A4 portrait, A3 portrait, Letter landscape, …); they are based on a common page template set, where only the page size is different; these layouts are inspired on the Default Full Score of Dorico.
each instrument is supposed to get 7 different layouts; these layouts are consistent, i.e. layout 3 for the clarinet has the same settings as the layout for the flute, except that the player is different;
layout 1 for each instrument is similar, and is inspired on the Default Part of Dorico;
layouts 2 to 7 for each instrument are all based on a third template set; the 6 layouts are only different in page size and raster size.
We have developed 7 individual layouts for the first instrument of the orchestra, say the Flute. They are named Flute, Flute 2, Flute 3, …, Flute 7. We have also up to 39 other instrument parts that are based on the same template set as Flute. Now we want 6 similar layouts for the up to 39 other instruments. A manual way of working would be, in Setup mode, for Clarinet I:
(1). duplicate Flute 2
(2). rename Flute 2 (copy) into Clarinet I 2
(3). replace the Flute Player by the Clarinet I Player
(4). duplicate Flute 3
(5). rename Flute 3 (copy) into Clarinet I 3
(6). replace the Flute Player by the Clarinet I Player
etc., until
(16). duplicate Flute 7
(17). rename Flute 7 (copy) into Clarinet I 7
(18). replace the Flute Player by the Clarinet I Player
Then you do it for the 38 remaining instruments.
Note: it would be easy if you could do the following:
select your six Flute 2 through Flute 7 layouts together
duplicate them in one command (a “group copy”) (steps 1, 4, 7, …, 16)
rename them all in one command (a “group rename”) (steps 2, 5, … 17)
replace in these copies the Flute by Clarinet I (a “group replace player”) (steps 3, 6, …, 18)
And then you would still have to do this up to 38 times.
We have been looking at the LUA scripting, but we found no solution so far.
Does anybody have suggestions? Thanks for thinking with us!
It’s a bit too complicated to really be sure that I understand it correctly. Could you post an example Project file showing the desired setup (can be without music)?
Hello Alexander (and all other readers),
Here is a simple example, starting from the standard Dorico Project Template for Classical Orchestra. Project with different instrument part sizes.dorico (428.7 KB)
In that project, we created manually 6 extra layouts from the Flauto layout:
The layouts are only different in that they use different page sizes and orientations.
We are searching for a method to (as much as possible) automatize the creation process for the corresponding 6 layouts for each of the other instruments (Oboe I through Basso). In this example, there are only 11 other instruments, but we have scores here with 40+ instruments…
Why all this overhead of 7+ layouts per player? I mean, I understand that you might want to have one layout (like Letter) for US customers and a second one (A4) for Europe, but why have 5 additional layouts? Who will ever need them?
Hello Mark and Estigy,
Understandable question!
Mark is right, it’s for Synchestra.ai’s SyPlayer app.
Estigy is also right: we accommodate indeed for DIN format (A4/A3) and US (Letter/Legal) sizes. But why 7 sizes?
Answer: because we want to accommodate different electronic device sizes, ranging from small telephones (5") to desktop monitors (17"). A solution could be to generate ourselves the score interactively, depending on the screen size and zooming factor of the user, but then, you are developing another notation application.
We decided:
that Dorico does an excellent business in providing beautiful notation, and it makes no sense for us to try to do it better, because
our mission is to provide the pleasure to musicians to play/ sing with an orchestra that renders beautiful sound, following all the tempo variations of the musician in real time, as if you were on the stage. Both the conductor score and the instrument part are for the musician, in our vision, essential tools that must be of outstanding quality, and therefore we adopted Dorico as our internal standard because they are the best in class (I used Finale from the early years, when it was called Coda Music if I remember well).
.