It’s just a lot more work of course adding the legato and then something to go back to normal. As long as there are no other playing techniques that are actually in the music, I guess they can all be filtered and hidden at once, but it would still be nice to have some options to phrase correctly automatically. The standard bebop eighth note phrasing of tonguing on the off-beat and slurring to the beat seems like it could be automated reasonably easily.
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Yesterday I spent the day and completed my first real world project in Dorico 4 (not a tutorial). It was something easy; a lift of some horn parts for an R&B group I am working with. It took me awhile! Lots of searching in the Dorico forums, and referring back to the very thorough tutorials on the Dorico website. I have lots of small projects like this upcoming which is perfect. I can take my time and ingrain the new muscle memory I need to get efficient. It reminds me back in the day when I bought Finale as a cross grade from Encore. I really loved Encore, it felt so easy to use, but I had a feeling it’s days were numbered. Finale was the standard so that’s where I felt I needed to be at. Man was it ever a pain to get useful in Finale! Although I will continue to use Finale and maintain a current license, (legacy scores and all that!) I feel that Dorico is going to be a big part of the future of music notation, so here I am!
Daniel was correct when he said that even if I didn’t ever upgrade, Dorico 4 would keep me busy for years! I am already looking forward to see what the team comes up with for Dorico 5. Regardless of how soon D5 is released (a few months?) with the sale/cross grade price it seemed like a great time to jump in.
I have been watching with interest about the twist the thread has taken when I mentioned about Halion sounds. It’s all very interesting. Once I get useful at the tasks I need to do routinely in Dorico then I am going to see if I can crack some of the mysteries of expression maps, playback templates, and VST sounds… or just wait for NotePerformer for Big Band version!
You are quite right- i did have to put in non- standard articulations to get a semblance of appropriate playback, and then go through and remove those from the score.
You hit on something with the comment about your sax section having different sounds. Saxes are less ‘homogeneous-sounding’ than the brass; that is an essential characteristic of an authentic big band sax section sound, IMO.
Please, better Playback functionality on macOS without solving issue with headphones, changing audio interface (like AirPods - when connected/disconnected to system), no-sound in Playback mode and all other needings with reset audio device, restart Dorico etc.
Possibly something smooth for macOS like Logic Pro X, possibly no ASIO …
I’ve never understood why so many people only think of swing solely in terms of rhythmic timing. This completely inane scientific study from last fall tried to prove it and both examples are atrocious, LOL! As you mentioned by having to add “non-standard articulations,” the phrasing is equally important. There is a definite formula to standard bebop phrasing like below, so some sort of default jazz phrasing certainly seems like it could be attainable by notation software or NP.
Here’s Dorico with the Timing set on Light swing 8ths:
Corny and artificial, rhythmically clearly a computer. Now here’s straight 8ths, but with phrasing:
A little too straight obviously, but not really any worse in terms of feel than the Light swing version without any phrasing. Now here’s Light swing 8ths with phrasing:
Clearly this isn’t going to fool anyone into thinking those are real saxes, but the feel is better than either of the other two. The catch is that no jazz player would want to read the phrasing, as notating it is completely unnecessary, so it would be great if Dorico could have a rhythmic feel setting to automatically accent the offbeats and slur them to the beats for strings of eighths like this.
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This is so important. Swing is extremely difficult to quantify scientifically because the exact rhythm, articulation, emphasis, etc., differ between pieces, tempos, even phrases!
I think it’s because that’s what is being taught! It seems that understanding of the subtler aspects of {what swings and what doesn’t} is mostly limited to professional players – and probably even for a lot of them most of it is unconscious.
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Have youy explored the aggregate device route? I’ve acquired airpods last week for I was going to travel many hours by train, and it allowed me to go smoothly from my macbook pro (Dorico pro) to my iPhone in BT…
You mean something like this? (at screenshot) …
Yes, it works but not by 100% ; by great software for musicians which Dorico is I expecting something better 
Do you have some special recommends in MIDI or Dorico settings to works in well everytime?
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If Dorico will save you time, which I bet it will, then you probably need it now. Take the leap and don’t look back. 
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Amen!
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