@billsshepherd: have you installed the latest version? I created my projects and xml with an obsolete Finale 14; do you think the last version (27?) could do better?
Thank you,
Art
@arfo1962 - Yes, I have the latest version of Finale. Once I had done a couple xml imports into Dorico to learn how it works, I moved a large number of Finale files into a folder and exported the folder to xml. I’m slowly pulling charts into Dorico as they need minor updates or corrections. It’s pretty simple… I think there’s a tutorial on it somewhere but let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to help.
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Finale 27 fully supports xml 4.0 without the dolet plugin - the latest version at time of publication.
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Very kind of you @billsshepherd! I’ll take it in consideration 
Thank you @phase_Shift!
I guess this can deliver a better export quality, right?
This is for anyone contemplating the offer, as well as for Steinberg / Dorico:
Due to my having had Finale / Sibelius once upon a time I learned I’m entitled to a cheap switch to Dorico Pro 5.
But having wrestled, over the years, over decades even, repeatedly with most imbecile problems of Steinberg hardware and software, I typed in Google “Dorico problem” - and lo and behold, the tiger has kept its stripes!!
“Sound engine not starting within reasonable time”, claim person after person with the same issue.
I shoulda stopped considering Dorico right there.
But perhaps being a closet masochist I did download the free Dorico SE.
Went through the authentication rites, like I was to get the key to the Crown Jewels of the King of England.
Stuff added - without asking my permission - to startup apps, and window after window popping up for authenticating a sad bl**dy freeware notation program.
And yes! The unreasonable sound engine startup delay is there!
I must have hit the “keep waiting” button for maybe 15-20 times. Plus quitting a bunch of plugin popup windows.
Finally the damned thing loaded. PI put my headphones on, as it was 1:30 a.m. here. Hit “play” on a sample Bach file.
And my Mac Studio M1’s internal speakers (which I NEVER use) started to blast Bach which might not please my neighbours at his hour.
I restarted my SSL12 sound card. Mac shows SSL2 is indeed sound output source. So I am all set…
Try the Bach file again. And internal speakers blast the Back out again!
I quit the bl**dy Dorico.
I restart the Mac. I make sure the SSL12 is the sound input, output, sound everything source. It is. I triple-check.
Start the bl**dy Dorico.
Or try to start it.
“Sound engine delay” again.
I keep hitting the “Keep waiting” button.
And I keep quitting plugins Dorico should by now remember are not in use. It doesn’t. Apparently anterograde amnesia is programmed into it.
The bugger starts, finally.
I open the Bach page. Sound source is SSL12. I quad-check that.
…And the INTERNAL speakers begin to blast Bach again!
RESULT AND ITS BACKGROUND: I have had so much gray hair from Steinberg software (and hardware) during my broadcasting work years, I am not going to spoil my late years’ free time music tinkering with a software company that has LEARNED NOTHING about caring about its customers over several decades. Absolutely nothing.
So, I am going to UNiNSTALL this FREE bug-ridden contraption, and never ever will I purchase any notation software - or ANY software from Steinberg or its associates, again.
That stuff just isn’t going to work; the miserable Steinberg quality path through the decades is as unaltered as it is aggravating.
-
- And yes, there are those users who’ll say "I have used this stuff since I was in my crib and now I’m 108 and haven’t yet bumped into a single problem. - Good for you! But no amount of singing praises of Steinberg will change my experiences a iota.
I just felt I need to write an honest review here to benefit those, who, poor souls, might be tempted to shove their neck in the noose of Steinberg quality control / customer care tempted by a “cheap” cross grade price. Think it over, read the forums. 'Nuff said.
And a disclaimer: There are those hobbyists and Steinberg engineers, who do their best to help us desperate users. Their help is truly appreciated, truly needed.
But if products were released only when laboriously and widely tested, and at the same time, if money would be invested to an army of support personnel, then these free volunteers could spend their time making music, instead of fixing problems Steinberg has caused. And customer support personnel could stop popping antacids.
Dixi et animam levavi.
A.C.
I hope you feel better now, @Amicus_curiae.
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Thank you @Amicus_curiae for an excellent lesson on how not to introduce oneself to Dorico.
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If you would like to help @Amicus_curiae, perhaps contribute to this thread so they can analyse various data. It’s very likely your contribution would be very much appreciated.
From the sounds of what they wrote, they have unlicensed plugins installed that are prompting for a license on startup, which will throw off all the results.
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Dorico has its own setting for audio output (like most other music/audio apps), under Edit > Device Setup.
As fro the rest of it, it does indeed sound like you’ve got loads of VST plug-ins installed that are spannering the works.
Finale 27 supports Music XML 4.0 natively, the earlier versions do not. Be sure you have 4.0 selected in your export configuration. The resulting file will have an .mxl extension. Make sure you to use default, not large, time signatures.
First time here, hoping that there is some meaningful way of making the best of this situation. I initially downloaded the trial version of Dorico, asked for advice from others who scribe music and decided - finally - to buy the crossgrade, partly because there was an additional Black Friday discount and also because with the bundled Finale 27 I had a fallback if my initial findings with Dorico proved insurmountable.
I confess I am struggling. I am an experienced computer user and have used Finale products for over 25 years. However, I am now living with the effects of a head injury a few years back which means I struggle to process and retain new info, especially text based.
Which is where the Dorico help files are a real challenge. It’s ALL text. And assumes that you know where to get to the relevant place in the program anyway. This is leaving me very stressed and frustrated. I’m not convinced the program is running properly. The screen doesn’t redraw after you enter lyrics (is it right that if you click out of one voice part to another you have to reselect lyric entry? that is really boring!) so I’ve had to delete SO many unwanted notes because it doesn’t let me continue in lyric mode but just adds another crochet or whatever.
And the piece I’m working on has partial/pickup bars throughout. I just can’t work out how to make that happen.
So a bit of a plea if I may. Include links in the help files to where I can find actual examples that aren’t just unfathomable text descriptions. It’s bad enough having to learn such a different method of working without finding that the help files don’t really help me.
Welcome, Anne
Sorry that you’re struggling. There are loads of Youtube videos, which you might find more palatable to digest. I’d strongly recommend them, as they really help to get a flavour of the program, and the way it does things.
There are short overviews, step-by-step processes, and lengthy in-depth tutorial sessions, so you should find something agreeable.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by this. When you enter lyrics in the popover, each syllable should automatically appear beneath the note, as you move to the next note.
Yes, if you want to add lyrics to a note in a different voice, you’ll have to select that voice and then open the popover.
Thanks for such a rapid response! I’m aware of the videos, it’s a big chunk of time to commit to watch the ones I think I might need and I just don’t have that amount of time atm sadly. I am cherry picking though.
Re the screen redrawing, the issue I had was that the music isn’t automatically respacing when you add in a long lyric (eg the word “thought” over a quaver) so all the lyrics were bunching and not adjusting themselves. That can’t be right can it?
Are you in Galley View? (Like Finale’s Scroll View)
Dorico does limited spacing in Galley View. It only spaces things out on the page, in Page View.
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Yes!!! thank you!
Great. Thank you again!
Hi @Amicus_curiae,
in my short experience with Dorico I never encountered these kind of issues that possibly be related to your computer hardware/settings and app preferences, as someone suggested in following threads.
I have been using Cubase, and many others softwares, for more than thirty now, and my conclusion was that a ‘perfect software’ doesn’t exist at all; many factors are involved and sometimes you may be lucky sometimes not…
That said I agree that often software houses (not only Steinberg) could do better testing before releasing new products/upgrades…
Hope you’ll find your right solution,
Art
So today has been interesting. I really have been trying to get Dorico working but a need for speed sent me back to my PrintMusic app where I rapidly scribed a score from scratch, cross checked it several times, played it back even more and when I was finally happy I exported to as a musicxml file. Imported into Dorico and mayhem ensued. Tempo markings are wildly wrong, every rit gets created and every a tempo is ignored so it’s getting slower and slower. I’ve checked the import settings to fix a few other problems but can’t see anything there about this particular issue.
Interestingly I tried exporting an xml from Dorico into Finale 27 and had similar problems. I’m really wondering if my Dorico installation has some glitches in it that are causing these - er - glitches?