Do you care the caret?

Bonjour,

J’apprends Dorico après avoir quitté Finale. Il est bien mieux à plein d’égards, et, a priori, je ne regrette pas mon choix. Toutefois, il me semble que la saisie de notes est un peu confuse. L’ajout de ce “caret”, sensé aidé à bien répartir les notes, me semble juste… superflu. A cause de lui, je ne cesse de switcher entre deux situations, l’une avec caret, l’autre sans, pour poser des notes d’une manière bien peu spontanée. Par exemple, quand je vais “chercher” une durée dans la “boite à durées”, dès que je clique sur l’une d’elle, la durée de la note en cours est automatiquement modifiée. Spontanément, si je vais chercher cette durée, c’est pour poser la note suivante, pas pour modifier celle existante.

C’est peut-être une question d’habitude, mais il me semble que ce caret ajoute plus une couche de complexité que cela ne simplifie les choses, d’autant que son usage réclame son lot de raccourcis qui pourraient être attribués à la simple saisie de notes.

Voilà, c’est une simple question: est-ce que les habitués trouvent ce caret vraiment utile à l’usage, est-ce que ça leur facilite vraiment la saisie des notes? Pour ma part, c’est un peu comme si, pour porter ma fourchette à ma bouche, je devais d’abord contourner l’autre bras pour mieux caler mon coude. C’est faisable et sans doute utile quelque part, mais ça ne donne plus envie de manger.

En vous remerciant pour vos retours d’expérience.

Hello,

I am learning Docico after leaving Finale. It is much better in many ways, and, at first glance, I do not regret my choice. However, I find that entering notes is a little confusing. Adding this ‘caret’, which is supposed to help distribute the notes evenly, seems to me to be… superfluous. Because of it, I keep switching between two situations, one with the caret and one without, to place notes in a way that is not very spontaneous. For example, when I go to ‘search’ for a duration in the ‘duration box’, as soon as I click on one of them, the duration of the current note is automatically changed. Spontaneously, if I go to find this duration, it is to place the next note, not to modify the existing one.

It may be a matter of habit, but it seems to me that this caret adds more complexity than it simplifies things, especially since its use requires a number of shortcuts that could be assigned to simple note entry.

So, here’s a simple question: do regular users find this caret really useful, does it really make it easier for them to enter notes? For me, it’s a bit like having to reach around my other arm to get my elbow in the right position before I can lift my fork to my mouth. It’s doable and probably useful in some ways, but it takes away my appetite.

Thank you for your feedback.

I like that note entry is separate from note editing. I turn the caret on and use the keyboard numbers to select the duration and spacebar or arrow key to enter rests. If I know I have a long line of articulations such as staccato or accents or even slurs, I turn that on and they appear with the note entry. For me, it’s fast and efficient.

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The caret tells you whether or not you are in Note Input mode.

In Note Input mode, then switching durations will not affect a note already entered – it specifies the duration of the next note to be entered.

If you are not in Note Input mode, and you select a duration in the left-hand panel, then the selected note will change duration.

I am trying to imagine how you are entering notes if the caret does not move afterwards. Are you perhaps inadvertently in chord mode? Are you using mouse entry?

How are you entering notes onto the staff?

Actually, I work with a graphics tablet. It’s very handy for placing notes on the staff: you just specify the duration using a shortcut before touching the staff, and that’s it. It seems to me that the caret is just one extra double-click before placing my note using shortcuts, which makes my tablet useless except for… moving the note up and down! Why move a note up or down with the mouse using the caret, and with Alt+up/down arrow if it’s not there? Does the caret allow you to align the notes on the grid shown above? Okay, let’s leave the grid to ensure that the notes are placed evenly, let’s make it appear with a double-click if necessary, and that’s it.

It doesn’t seem normal to me that we treat the note differently twice, depending on whether we are with or without the caret. That’s what’s confusing. For example, try putting an appoggiatura in one mode and then in the other. In both cases, something happens, but not the same thing. It’s strange, though.

That said, I’m still learning, so maybe I’m surprised too quickly. But it doesn’t seem to me that this is based on spontaneous user behaviour, but rather on a set of options that were deemed useful and that we’re trying to incorporate as best we can.

Please, pity for an amateur.

Or activating note input with the toolbar button.
image

It’s two different modes. If the caret is visible, you can enter new notes; if it’s not visible, you can edit existing ones.

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Give it a little more time. Some day you’ll appreciate the caret, and the division of Write and Engrave!

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