I’m a recent convert to Dorico, and so far I am loving it. One thing I have not figured out is how to manually enter multi measure rests. It seems like Dorico does not have this feature, which I use frequently when creating lead sheets. Dorico will only create the sections automatically for you, which does not work for how I use them. I use multi measure rests to show form on a song that might repeat a section, which just label over a multi measure rest to show that. Anyone got ideas of how I can do that in Dorico? Or something similar? I’ve attached a PDF to show an example.
Bye Bye Love.pdf (49.3 KB)
Welcome to the forum @Wes_Ruelle.
You can split multibar rests wherever you like using System Breaks, but if you are putting text objects in then they should split automatically for you.
Position the caret at the rhythmic position where you want the text > press Shift-X (or Shift-Alt/Opt-X for system text) > Enter your text in the popover > press Enter.
If you want to split multi-bar rests without text then you first need to turn multi-bar rests off (via Layout Options), go to Engrave Mode and then add a System Break at the barline of your choice.
When you turn multi-bar rests back on, the rest will be split.
In addition to Daniel’s answer you can even split multi-bar rests everywhere:
Guys, I don’t think Wes is asking about splitting. He is asking how to turn them on in the first place. It’s in Layout Options > Players:
They are off in scores and on in part layouts by default.
If you use system text to make the section headings like “prechorus”, they will automatically break what would otherwise become one long multirest.
Perhaps you’re right.
I did figure out how to get them to turn on, and the splitting stuff is helpful. I was hoping that it would be like finale, where you can select a group of measures and right click to “create multi measure rest”
Maybe that could be a feature request? Where do you submit those?
What you’ve just written about your thoughts is all you need to do
I would love to see that feature as well.
In addition, I find myself needing to break and then reset rests during the process of adding cues to a part. Outside of employing a hot key independently is there a quick way to toggle back and forth without having to go through the several steps needed to break and reset rests? Thanks
I find the most efficient way to add cues is in the full score, Write mode, galley view. The cues will be visible there, and the multi bar rests in the parts will automatically rearrange themselves.
Yes and thank you. The rub for me is that I prefer to “read” through a part (or choir of parts) to see where cues would be most helpful. So a software limitation is forcing me to adapt my work style rather than it adapting to me.
But I appreciate your suggestion and going forward that seems like the most efficient way pending some future upgrades.
Well, no piece of software will adapt to all possible workflows…
One thing you could try is reading through the part the way you like, then switching to the score to actually enter the cue, by selecting a nearby measure in the part and pressing the shortcut key W
. You can switch back to the part using the same shortcut. I would suggest staying in Galley view for this. Or you can keep the part and score open in separate tabs and switch back and forth, if you prefer to use Page view for the part.
You might also be interested in Dorico’s “Suggest Cues” feature.
You can always just activate the caret as your skimming, navigating through the bars with Ctrl/Cmd+arrow. Then, press Shift+U when you want the cue.
Thanks for the “w” key reminder. I think you’re right about the galley view also. When you get rid of empty staves on the score cuing becomes tricky since the part in question is likely not visable.
Yes to that. What caused me to bring this up was that you can’t seem to highlight say a [—3—] rest to input a cue because only the first bar gets the cue unless you break the rest (and all the others).
As mentioned: if you activate the caret (Shift+N), you can place it anywhere you like and the cue will be created there.
NB it will require some counting every so often!
Have you tried the Cue suggestion feature?
Thanks Daniel!
Not yet Janus. Finding good cues has never been an issue, but I’ll take a look. If the result is that time is saved by not having to go back and forth breaking rests it could be worth it. Then I can always go through each part to modify cues and re-lay out the part as needed. Thanks for the response.
As well as that, you can extend the cue once you’ve entered it.
Just make sure your rhythmic grid is set to something large so that the extending doesn’t take six years.