Thanks Marc,
I can probably find this somewhere, but can you clarify: will that save it “as the default” of any future projects, or will it just make the newly defined noteheads available to future projects. I did see the button, and wondered about this, but I didn’t have the guts to click it!
I suppose it would make this notehead set available as well as all the others. This is how it works on the other areas of the program (playing techniques, tonalities, paragraph styles…)
Marc’s correct. Just be aware that these parenthesised noteheads won’t work well when you have accidentals, or when they’re stacked as chords, or in chords with other noteheads. If implementing parenthesised noteheads was this simple, I have no doubt that the development team would have done it by now (as they’ve done for unpitched percussion).
Understood!
parenthesised noteheads +10
Nice walkthrough! The notehead only becomes smaller if you’ve selected Larger Noteheads in Engraving Options/Notes/Noteheads. If that’s what you want, don’t apply the Default notehead set, instead apply the Larger noteheads set.
Thanks all.
Save as defaults works a dream. For the avoidance of doubt: make sure to use the “save as default” from the left-hand panel, not the bottom right panel.
Also note that the default notehead used by Dorico doesn’t seem to be the “default notehead”, but the “larger notehead”. So, either base your parentheses also on “larger notehead”, or change the Dorico default to “default notehead” in Engraving Options → Notes
and another +10 !!
I find Dorico to be extremely intuitive and easy to use. This the the one part of the program, however, that I find confusing, and it seems like others do as well. I’m not sure how, but perhaps it would be worth simplifying this part of the interface in some way.
After creating my own Notehead Sets and after making them available for other projects with the “Make Default” function how can I use them globally?
When I go tothe “Engraving Options / Notes - menu” the new created Notehead Sets are not available.
The only way I can find is to apply these sets to selected noteheads (via right click or via Edit/Nothehead).
Is there a way to globally apply a user notehead set without having to select noteheads?
Is it possible to make them available in the “Engraving Options/Notes - menu”?
It’s not possible to choose a user-defined notehead set as the default in Engraving Options, no.
OK, thank you
I would think that if you modify the Default or Larger Notehead sets (depending on which you use) in a new file, save it, then always start with that file as your default, then the noteheads should always be applied without you having to do anything further.
Yes, of course you are right 
But I am testing a completely different idea.
It is quite easy to create a user notehead sets and I am trying to see how I could use them without affecting the factory Bravura sets.
For example I can create a notehead sets library with a Maestro-, a Sonata-, a MTF-Font-notehead set or what ever font, it must not be from a SMuFL font, I can easily calculate in FontForge the necessary Metadata for stems.
This way it is theoretically possible to quickly change the notehead design for a whole score.
I have fun testing the several aspects of the look of a score.
But the way one has to apply the user notehead sets in Dorico is a little bit limited or tedious for this purpose at the moment because you have to select the noteheads and this can be problematic if you use noteheads from several notehead sets for drums or whatever.
But well, notehead sets in Dorico have surely not be intended to be this kind of playground
Ah, got it. Engrave/Font Styles/Default Music Font could be a way to quickly do this too, although it will screw up with any non-SMuFL font, and of course will change everything, not just noteheads.