Dorico 5 mouse editing

Dorico
1

mouse editing is great, a big step, thank you
other features I’d like:

  • it seems impossible to drag notes from a piano staff to the other one, it would be useful,
  • for all left-handed users, on windows it would be comfortable to use AltGr or another key on the right side instead of Alt
  • use mouse to change from natural to #/b
    thanks again!
1 Like
2

You should be able to drag from one staff of the piano to the other by moving a little way horizontally so that Dorico knows you want to do a rhythmic drag rather than a pitch drag, then move to the other staff.

3

Congratulations on Dorico 5! Another big step forward! I am very happy with the new version!
Mouse editing is my favorite new feature in Dorico 5! The lack of this feature was one of the last reasons why I still often do compositional sketches with Logic.
But I hope that the function will be further developed. Important for me is:

  • Chromatic dragging (perhaps with a modifier key): i.e. shifting to all other 11 pitches and keeping the original intervals
  • Diatonic dragging with acceptance of chromatic steps
    Examples:
    Now (in c major) e, f, f#, g dragged to f results in f, g, g, a.
    chromatic dragging would result in f, g flat, g, a flat
    Diatonic dragging with acceptance of chromatic steps would result in f, g, g#, a

Further wishes:

  • Horizontal and vertical dragging at the same time (simple and easy to control in Logic!)
  • At low zoom it is difficult to see how far you have moved the notes vertically or horizontally. A small pop-up window indicating the interval or note value that has been moved would be very helpful.
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4

it works! thank you

please consider left-handed :grinning:

5

When the fragment would be moved to D, what would you then expect—D, E, E#, F? Too many edge cases to consider.

6

The existing key commands for all the things you’ve asked for are much faster than mousing.

3 Likes
8

It’s not just about speed (but I think mousing is just as fast). It’s about automating workflows.
I can’t think compositionally and use key commands at the same time.
Maybe it’s the result of 30 years of Notator and Logic, maybe it’s the nature of my brain. Or both.
I am not the only one. I know quite a few colleagues who are still composing on the basis of mousing (often with Logic) and who later copy their composition with Dorico, Finale or Sibelius.

9

So what do you want to do? Drag a mouse selection around aimlessly until something sounds OK? Each to their own.

I use both mouse and keyboard compositionally (rarely using MIDI keyboard input) and I’ve never felt the need to drag stuff around with a mouse, nor missed that capability, having transitioned from Sibelius.

I would commend to you just two commands that I use most frequently: alt-click (to copy stuff multiple times from A to B, C, D etc.) and shift-I T to transpose.

Procedurally it is hard to beat the power of lock duration to re-pitch. How would you do that with a mouse?

Others will no doubt have their own favourites.

As an aside. I was listening to the radio the other day, and struck by how anodyne and predictable one modern track was, when juxtaposed against a baroque piece, with which I was unfamiliar. Both styles are to some extent formulaic, but the latter still had the capacity to surprise and delight, and was doubtless created without the assistance of rodents!

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