I’ll need to transfer all my old Sibelius projects into Dorico projects so I’ll need to retain my Sibelius.
thx
by the way, this looks like such a fantastic product and design, can’t wait
No you do not lose Sibelius. Transferring will be a pain, just to warn you…
When I crossgraded (is that a proper word?) last December, Sibelius retained its full functionality. You just need to provide proof that you own a legitimate licence for Sibelius to be eligible for the crossgrade pricing.
Welcome to the Dorico Forum, by the way!
1 Like
Any quick tips/dos and do nots?
Take your time. Watch the videos, ask a lot of questions, and be patient. I came from Sibelius - very glad I did - but this is a different program. You may get up and running quickly; or not - everyone’s experience is unique. Just don’t assume you’ll be fluent in a few days, and knock out a huge score with no bumps. I remember Daniel Spreadbury (formerly of Sibelius, now with Dorico) counseling those upgrading to the next version of Sib. to wait until that Great Project had been completed - even staying within a program will entail learning new things. Expect this to be more so.
This is a great group of users, and there are some very generous folks who will answer just about any question you have.
Welcome aboard!
1 Like
Not so much except Music XML isn’t always as useful as you might hope - it depends on the complexity and size of your scores, though, and how badly you need to convert them.
Advice for starting on Dorico - most people experience a bit of a steep learning curve going in. Dorico is substantially different in its core approach than its competitors. Be patient with it, ask questions, watch tutorials etc. modifier keys are pretty key to finding your way around so get to know them. In general:
Cursor keys - direction of thing (unmodified - move selection/insertion)
Shift+Cursors - extend the selection
Option+cursors - change the thing
Shift+option+cursors - extend the thing
Cmd+ (anything) - do it more
Shift+(popover shortcut) - insert something other than regular pitches, plus other things
1-8 - durations
+ and - most things to do with accidentals
U - snip a duration at the carat
Also as soon as you’re more used to things use the command customisation feature - very handy.
Hope that helps
Edd
3 Likes
Here are some of my experiences of using XML to export from Sibelius and then import into Dorico. These oddities don’t happen every time - as eddjcaine says, it depends on the complexity and size of your scores.
Normal ties, particularly in cues, convert to laissez vibrer ties;
Cues convert to normal size notes;
Separate voices on one staff get swapped around or sometimes combined into one voice;
Tuplets can get very badly mangled and, in the worst cases, have prevented any further notes from being imported on that staff;
Beaming and note grouping are not as in the original;
Text of various sorts (lyrics, tempo, dynamics, instrument names, etc.) imports as plain text or is allocated seemingly at random to the wrong category of text.
I don’t know whether the problems occur because of how Sibelius exports the XML information or how Dorico interprets it on import, or maybe a bit of both, but I have examined some of the XML files I have exported from Sibelius and found errors and omissions. I have noticed that the problems occur much more often if I have had to utilise fancy workarounds to overcome some of the shortcomings in Sibelius, particularly with tuplets.
On average, I have found XML very handy, but I always need to check the file after it has been imported into Dorico.