I have a passage of music enclosed by repeat bars, which I’d like to mark mp for the first time, and f for the second. In other words, mf-f.
After searching the forum, it seems like Dorico can’t yet fully handle that (as in, it’s not a feature that’s supported across all modes including playback). What’s the workaround? I saw someone say I could enter it as text, but I’m not sure how to do that. I’d want it to be attached to the first note, and not as a lyric (obviously).
You can simply type mf-f into the dynamics popover. It won’t play back correctly, but the score will be right. I think there’s an option to have the hyphen or not somewhere - probably in Engraving Options or the property panel (I’m not in front of Dorico right now)
One could create mf-f as an expression to make things easier and more consistent if one needs to enter it multiple times.
Of course it will not (as yet) play back, as Leif said.
This is exactly what I’d like to do, but I can’t figure out how to replicate the fonts of the default dynamic markings – when I try this, mine look like general italicized text. See:
I need help with this – I’ve followed the two links. The first one only says what the possible dynamics are and lists “combined dynamics” but doesn’t say how to enter them. The second link shows how to get the separator to show.
Using the popover, when I enter “p - f” it works perfectly. When I enter “p - mf” it works perfectly. When I enter " p - mp" it doesn’t work. I’m re-engraving an old American concert band piece and that’s the dynamic that’s listed so I would like to have it appear in my new version.
When I open the dynamics in the right-hand panel and scroll down to the “combined dynamics” part, I can’t see how to get “p - mp” – I can get “p - mf” just fine, but no amount of hitting the+ or - muttons or doing the left-right swap will get me to “p - mp.”
What am I missing?
The dynamics on either side of the separator have to be “flavours” of different dynamics:
Best I could do was to enter the dynamic p with SPACE+HYPHEN+SPACE as a suffix and then enter the mp as a separate dynamic at an appropriate rhythmic grid distance after.
Is there a reason that Dorico has to have opposites and won’t allow similar yet different? Can I ask for this to be considered for some future upgrade? We should be able to enter the sort of dynamics that a client asks for unless they totally go against musical logic. Asking for a passage to be slightly louder on a repeat isn’t an illogical musical request.
Thank you for the suggestion, Derrek! Leaving the spaces out but just using - as the suffix makes it look onscreen as it should.
The combined dynamic feature is not intended for different dynamics on repeat. That feature is not implemented yet but is on the radar. It is intended for a fp like dynamic where the note starts on one dynamic level then immediately changes.
I know that’s in Elaine Gould’s book somewhere, but I’m not finding it just yet.
Here is an example, where the proposed workaround doesn’t work either.
It’s tricky! I think you’ll need to have one set of dynamics above the top staff, another below, and then another on the lower staff, and then move them all in Engrave mode. It will be quite laborious, I’m afraid.
@Matzix I tried an experiment. It may be a bit less tricky than what Daniel proposed.
I hand edited an XML file to create a voice player with no staff lines. I duplicated that and added a Soprano above and a Bass below.
I disabled showing of bar rests in Layout Options.
I then input the Sop and Bass notes.
I copied the Sop notes to the two players with no staff lines.
I then input the lyrics (please excuse any mistakes 
).
I then added the dynamics.
When all done, I deleted the notes in the two no staff line players.
EDIT: I also put the no staff players in a local open meter.
Dynamic Test.dorico (604.7 KB)
Hi
It seems that the combination mf-f is not possible, can someone explain? Many Thanks.
I’ve not tested this, but I guess you would have to enter them as two separate dynamics and specify which pass to play each.
Thanks Janus, I ended up write them as normal text replacing them with music text; for some reason the combined dynamics don’t include the mf-f.
p.s I don’t need playback
That’s because combined dynamics are not intended for repeats. There are a number of threads about this over the years.
