Please don’t take this the wrong way, I’m still grateful for Dorico’s editor! And for your tremendous effort! 
I was comparing both, and I’m a Nuendo user for… ouch, more than years I care to remember!!! ;), so I’m pretty versed on all the different iterations of firstly cubase and then Nuendo’s different editors.
Please consider I’m a very happy customer! Of course I can dream about both apps becoming one large sea of functionality, as my work requires intensive use of both DAW and notation.
To the point:
- the actual speed of operation: things happen much more quickly in Nuendo, instantaneously, wether in Dorico it takes a while, like if the underlying engine is different and less optimized;
- the set of tools (scissors, glue, etc) could be replicated, allowing extensive editing directly from the … editor
- integration of Expression Maps Cubase-style (but I read somewhere you’re working about it?…)
- extending notes or note starts in Dorico always defaults to some extended range anytime a note is clicked and hold, and then moves to desired length; maybe user error, so I’ll look into it before making a feature request
Yes, Dorico’s editor isn’t working directly on MIDI, of course, but rather on our low-level model, and updating that model is more expensive than editing MIDI directly, and I daresay Nuendo and Cubase are also fearsomely optimised after many years of refinement. We certainly do plan to make it easier to create playback technique changes in the Key Editor. And the issue you have seen where dragging the start or end of a note causes it to snap by the grid increment rather than to the next grid position is definitely something that is on our hit list to solve.
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Thank you so much for your prompt response, it is thoroughly appreciated! This kind of proximity between developers and end users is really refreshing, and it was a very important part of the buying decision process.
And great you’re working on that mentioned issue!
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In that case, please may I make publicly clear the massive debt I owe to (presumably) Michael; when my dad brought home the Hello Music! package in 1992 with a Yamaha CBX-T3 external sound box and a copy of Cubase Lite, orchestral music was, to me, some boring old nonsense that old people did.
My Dad also told me that a couple of lads a colleague of his had taught Physics to were apparently planning to release some pretty cool new software for the Archimedes. A second hand Acorn was duly bought and I was a Sibelius man through and through right up to That Moment.
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1.) More filename operators/options
-Ability to choose date format, specific “tags” that stay within the file for print. I would also like to see the same filename parameters across the board for exports: printing, audio, musxml, etc.
2.) More time signature appearance options
-currently there are some convoluted workarounds to make time signatures appear correctly in multiple scores. ideally, I could edit which staff large time signatures appear on, how big each one is, and where they are located on a per-layout basis. Engraving options are decent, but to me it feels like these should all be in the layout options as I will need different time signature displays for each layout.
2.) bar numbers, dynamics, etc collision avoidance/displacement:
-there are a few issues with the bar number system, namely, how they are displaced by stems/beams/dynamics in parts, while at the same time displacing dynamics, rehearsal marks, etc in the score. You can bypass most of it by putting bar numbers under the center of each bar, but in parts they need to be on the bar lines. This causes a bunch of manual work in moving bar numbers around in the parts. I also was wondering why the bar numbers under a multi-measure rest are located in engraving options for the rests, instead of the category for bar numbers?
3.) better handling of vst instrument assignment:
-i would really like it if the vst selection worked similar to other daws, so add the staves (tracks) and then select your vsts completely independent from what your staves/tracks are named. There’s something about the instrument “library” dorico has and it’s relationship to what vst it chooses and the playback template.
4.) random bug with windows 10:
-occasionally on note entry, I will have to press tab to be able to use the arrow keys to scrub forward/backwards with the caret. Not sure if this is just me or a consistent bug.
I’m not sure how replacing a VST sound with another sound is less convenient than setting up a track/voice/staff without a sound and then assigning one from scratch.
Im “Write mode”, select and copy (simple command/contrl C) the signpost of the configuration you want and did pages before and paste (c/c V) in the new signpost of the newly created Line or Frame break. Curiously, it works in Write mode, not Engrave.
I would like Dorico to be able to provide entry of a character, as a single character, which corresponds to:
- 5/3, 6/4, 4/3, etc etc
- /6 (six with a slash through it), b5 (as single character), etc notations of figured bass etc etc
- all the roman numeral symbols, as themselves (uppercase & lowercase) and also with the 6/4, 4/3, etc etc (as a single character not multiple characters!).
For reasons I can’t comprehend, there have been worldwide uproars regarding computers having a cheeseburger emoji which have or does not have lettuce on the cheeseburger character. However there are absolutely no emoji or characters which correspond to music symbols like 6/4 or iio or slash 6.
NOTE I am not asking for explanation of how to add notation using Dorico’s chord feature or figured bass feature. I desire to enter these characters as characters (i.e. in System Text, or in a Title, or anywhere else).
Also…
I would like Dorico to allow simple graphic sketching “on top” of a page of music. For example, as by providing a separate drawable graphic top layer of every page, or alternatively drawable areas which are anchored to a specific measure. Examples of use:
- I want to draw boxes around motifs and label them with text. Then I want to draw a straight line or a curved line to another measure or another staff, with an arrow at the end, to show “this motif also goes here”.
- I want to draw arbitrary wavy lines corresponding to lines or runs of pitches, as a sketch idea of subsequent music to write later, or overtop of an existing stave to indicate the general arc of the music (i.e. curving arrow line shows “this is the arc of the melodic line”)
- I want to draw a set of boxes (with text inside) which indicate the compositional form. i.e. sonata form, but which is also linked to the music itself, i.e. can embed specific rehearsal marks or bar numbers as part of the box.
These drawing procedures are as basic as a PowerPoint slide drawing that is anchored to a position in the score.
Also…
I would like Dorico to provide the tool for creating a 12-tone matrix, like the popular one on the web (musictheory dot net?).
Also…
I would like Dorico to provide a scale tool, very similar to GuitarPro’s Scale tool (GuitarPro being only $65 by the way), where music can be selected and Dorico lists every the scale/modes but sorted in order of most likely fit (i.e. “C Major Scale 100% match … C Whole Tone Scale 43% match”). Or if music is not selected, the tool simply allows selection of any of the scales from the list, and shows the intervals & notes (according to current key) in an interval-size-graded graphic.
Also…
I would really like Dorico to internally bundle a synth tone generation which can do proper continual gliss and note-bends (like a fretless stringed instrument or a trombone, etc) of the instrument it is emulating, even if the instrument tone is somewhat synthetic, the pitch of the gliss or bend would be meter-accurate. Plus also other common extended techniques like muted note “thump”.
ALSO, with this feature, I would like Dorico to substitute these synthetic sounds on a note-by-note basis itself, if the underlying VST can not perform them (which is nearly all VSTi today), if the playback technique is mapped to that internal synthesis substitution tone.
You might be interested in the MusAnalysis and MusGlyph fonts created by @DanKreider
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The most game-changer feature which I would like in Dorico, is:
- A virtualized storefront which creates & provides money-payment-ready profile-sharing/score-sharing features for use between composers and performers .
- Note this is not the same as musescore’s hub, it is for connecting professional players ↔ professional composers ↔ professionally engraved scores<->money payment system
Here is how it would work:
Performer says “I would like to play something in the style of Blah but I can’t find the score/can’t find new work in that style”
The answer should be: “Create a profile in Dorico and search for Composers in the Score Authors tab. Buy the one you want. It even accepts Apple Pay”
Composer says “I have finished my score but don’t want to publish it on Blah which takes 50% of every angle of the cut especially as exclusive agreement, and doesn’t let me shop it around with a virtual playback at a convention/industry event”
The answer should be: “Create a profile in Dorico and upload your score to the Share Score tab, click to Allow Printing, then share the score-link with your convention crowd. The score-link will provide animated playback of your score and even allow soloing parts. If they like the score, they can Buy it directly.”
Composer says “I am writing/have written something in the style of Blah but can’t find players/performers to record it”
The answer should be: "Create a profile in Dorico and search for performers in the Score Performers tab. Upload your score and your budget per instrumentalist in the Share Score tab and see if anyone pings on it. "
Performer says “If I don’t find a music gig I am going to have to pawn my instrument or sign up to deliver even more pizza’s.”
The answer should be: “Create a profile in Dorico and search for composers/scores in the Players Wanted tab who are paying for instrumental recordings”
Performer says “Ok I found a score in the Dorico ‘Score Share’ that is very interesting, I want to play it”
The answer should be: “Go into your profile in Dorico and buy the Audition Score from the Composer and record a take of it and upload that audio file into Dorico to submit back to the Composer as an audition”
…etc etc…
The reason this is the most game-changer feature for Dorico is because the #1 biggest problem in writing notated music is that Composers can’t find Players (assuming they have a budget to pay the Players). And Players who are actually interested in performing new music, can’t find Composers/Scores (for recording an audition). And even when Composers and Players do find each other, the negotiation/storefront/payment system is either nonexistent, or lacking, or takes too big of a percentage of the already tiny amount. Yes, there are various & sometimes dubious networking web sites which do some of the above, but not all encompassing the score/audition/payment-for-work closed loop as described above.
Interesting ideas. It would be nice to have a mechanism for clients to hire arrangers. I’m not sure how the business transaction would work. I’m thinking that the “storefront” would provide a gallery where arrangers/composers could display examples of their work. Perhaps the storefront could have the means for a contract / work order to be negotiated, a payment to be placed in escrow, etc.
Of course, this “storefront” would be mostly independent of the core Dorico functionality, allowing its development in parallel. And of course, that same storefront could serve Cubase/Nuendo mixers/composers.
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I’m late to the party, but did anyone mention “sample start time delay adjustment” for VSTs?
Many sample libraries use shifted start times that need to be compensated for. It would be great if there ware a way to adjust for this in Dorico.
(I searched but couldn’t find any comments. My apologies if I missed)
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You might be able to drag the notes backwards a little in the key editor. I have read that the team are already aware of this request.
Yes, this is possible I believe but a rather inefficient way to work if you know the exact offset time required and if it is consistent across all samples. Good to hear that this has already been considered. Thanks Daniel.
Agreed
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You could select all the notes and change the Playback Offset property by a given value, rather than dragging.
I’d love to have an optional ‘TO DO NOTE’ feature. I’d like to be able, when closing a document, to enter a text message that would be displayed when I open it for the next time. (‘Remember to fix the 2nd oboe’, etc.) I have to work in bursts and sometimes have to close my work in a hurry; then I open it again and I’m at a loss as to what exactly I was supposed to be doing…
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I use a SHIFT+X text box for this.
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A good way to track todo’s is to add Comments in the score plus use the sidebar showing all Comments. It doesn’t work exactly as you wish though:
It would be nice if Dorico saved the Project with the same window state of having the Comments sidebar opened. Then when re-opening the project, the Comments sidebar/list would be immediately presented. (if the project were saved with the Comments sidebar opened)
I wish the icon/bubble for Comments in the score could be made larger (or option to “expand/collapse all comment bubbles”) because they can be easily missed when re-reading. Currently a Comment is a tiny little bubble icon, although the bright color pink is nice.
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