This post is not about comparing Dorico to the Cubase Score Editor, it’s about how a scoring program can take advantage of the components in a fully fledged DAW. I don’t imagine that Daniel and his team have set out to remake Cubase, but it appears, that they see the potential in high-grading and combining many of the features inside Cubase with the score editor Dorico. Below is a list of features that we depend on whilst creating scores in Cubase.
Project Root Key. This is a very powerful tool for transposing actual audio files into a chosen key.
Transposing instruments staff by staff, and how it can interact with project root key. Almost all score editors allow staff by staff transposition, there is deep functionality when combined with the project root key, midi track by midi track.
There are some very helpful features in the Cubase Score Editor. Note names are listed, when notes are highlighted. Especially helpful with enharmonic situations.
4.Score Layout Tools, adding and subtracting instrument staff’s to the score. It seems most everyone that I have talked with is duplicating midi tracks (instruments), one for sound, one for the printed score. The Cubase Score Editor is sorely lacking when it comes time to engrave.
All of these features have evolved over time inside Cubase, most of them interact with the score editor very well. Laying out a score can be a real challenge at times, often instruments are added and subtracted for no particular reason, I think the program just gets overwhelmed. There is no real way edit the database (midi tracks) that show up in the score layout.
In the one week that I have used Dorico, I would sum things up by saying this is a remarkable program, the future is bright. Again, this is not a comparison between the Cubase Score Editor and Dorico, it’s a list of features that already exist in Cubase, that we hope will be added, and continue to evolve in Dorico. I have created two scores in Dorico, and printed one. The print dialog is amazing, although, if you could take us one step deeper, by allowing access to all of the printer dialog, i.e. the ability to choose presets (paper type and color profiles) that would be really cool.
You can always use the Mac OS print dialog from within Dorico if you like: it’s found at the bottom of the Layouts panel in Print mode, in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
Thanks for your other suggestions. I hope that over time we will be able to replicate some of the useful MIDI/score editing functionality from Cubase into Dorico, and possibly bring some of Dorico’s fine graphical output into Cubase, without compromising the separate identities of both applications.
