First of all: BRAVO on Dorico 6! I’m absolutely loving this release, and it was great to catch Daniel on the Scoring Notes podcast and hear more about the process of creating the new features. Now, I did indeed hear Daniel say you all would like to be done with chord symbols for a while. That said:
I’ve always considered the implementation of capo chords to be a rare miss from the devs; unlike so much of the app, this feature seems deeply complicated as a user. It occurred to me that the inclusion of chord rows in 6 might just open the door to a new approach for capos, and maybe a new level of interactivity between chord rows.
What if we simply (?) had the option to designate a chord row as a capo chord row? Perhaps, by first entering “capo” in the popover (triggering this feature) and adding a fret (e.g., “capo 3”), Dorico could fill the row with capo chords dynamically linked to the row below? Maybe Dorico could even create a row label (e.g., “Capo 3:”) at the start of the row?
In the event that the enharmonics of the capo chord aren’t what we intended, what about a modifier (+ or -) that would adjust the capo chords to the next highest/lowest lettered root notes (e.g., converting Fb to E)?
It then occurred to me that, if these rows of chords could be dynamically linked, it might be possible to create multiple rows of capo chords (e.g., if the composer wishes to offer an option for a second instrument with different tuning). This could be triggered by another variable, perhaps a parenthesized number referencing the sounding-pitched chord line?
So, with the popover formula “capo fm(l)”, we could create the capo at our intended fret [f], modify [m] the enharmonic if necessary, and connect the row to a designated line [l].
Having the ability to create these in Write Mode, in the same manner as we’d enter chords in the first place, would make the process of capos easier than any other app has managed to do without plug-ins.