A couple of days ago, I upgraded and updated all my music software when I put my new studio together. For the past 35 years I have used Finale as my notation software with occasional use of Logic Pro’s built-in notation. When Finale stopped production, they said that Dorico was the go-to, soooo I purchased Dorico Pro and started working with it, and I HATE IT!!! I’m a composer, performer, producer, arranger and I need a notation app that I can work with. Dorico is most definitely not it. I have been able to get nothing done for the past 2 days, I can’t find any of the tools, I can’t enter music. It’s just absolutely DREADFUL!!! I just got done sending an eMail to Steinberg support asking for my money back. Dorico is a complete disaster!!! I’m going to purchase Sibelius, which gives you a 30-day free try-out period, and I want a refund from Steinberg!
Welcome to the forum, @Sharon_Thoms . Did you not know that Dorico offers a 60-day free trial?
If you want to see what Dorico is all about, you might consider working through the First Steps Guide. And the folks here on the forum are happy to help if you run into specific issues.
Sharon, if I may be so bold, I suspect that you’re going to experience this level of friction with just about any program. 35 years is a looooong time to use one piece of software. you need to realize that software has changed a lot (in general) even if Finale didn’t very much. As such, you need to prepare yourself to have to adapt to a new program —whatever it is— and not just scream because the other thing isn’t finale.
There are many of us here who would love to help you if you are willing to ask.
It’s true that Dorico is very different, and you need to learn how it works. You won’t get far just assuming that you can figure it all out just by clicking around. However, it is very logical and consistent, so once you start to learn how one thing works, everything else will be similar.
To be honest, I doubt you’ll find Sibelius easy without the same amount of learning, either.
There is plenty of help here, and there are plenty of tutorials, videos and documentation.
I urge you to give it a chance – but meet it halfway.
Hi Aaron Sherber,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
I did not know that there was a 60-day free trial of Dorico. That’s news to me. If I had known about that, it would have been good.
I started working through the First Steps Guide, but I got really frustrated at the terminology and definitions which just don’t make sense to me at all. And then there were all these Key Commands, so many I couldn’t keep track of them. Plus I couldn’t find a way to download the First Steps File so I could look at it offline or print it out.
It was a totally frustrating experience.
I’d say not going through First Steps is the best way to guarantee you loads of frustration.
I feel your pain, but try and stick to it! And many of us have learned English music jargon through learning this program (there have been several years without a translated user guide, and many languages are not available…)
Hi Sharon, there are many Finale users here (from starting with Dorico a few years ago, to many taking the plunge a few months ago) and others who will be able to help you should you wish to learn Dorico, perhaps with a very small project to get familiarized or in any help with the (excellent) First steps guide @asherber has mentioned.
Trying to jump right in as you might be doing, could be similar to learning to fly a helicopter after many many years of driving a car … since all they both do is move you from one place to another.
They are differently designed, both under “the hood” and in the way they function.
If you have specific questions about something you are needing to do, feel free to post them here. At this point you are learning, the goal being to learn (not the goal of being able to quickly composer/arrange within a few minutes which is what you are used to.)
Learning can be a different process to completing.
It might depend on how much time you have to put aside to learn. As you know Finale will continue functioning, some here have managed enough time to set aside for learning Dorico, while still completing their work in Finale. But if you have a period of down time, it might be good to work in Dorico with the intention to learn it, then decide after you have some basic knowledge and a little more fluency with it.
Best wishes with whatever your decision is.
BTW you are very unlikely to find a forum quite like this one for helping learn software. We are all musicians and helpful to each other, because Dorico is so new and most of us have come from other notation software so we understand the frustration you are feeling.
Thanks for starting this thread … we have been there!
Welcome Sharon … if you are staying around
Sharon this might be useful
Dorico is a very well thought out piece of software. Its terminology is often different from Finale’s, but it makes sense once you get used to it. For that matter, if you take any two pieces of software in the same space (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.), they are likely to use different terms to describe similar things and to have their own sets of keyboard shortcuts. The Dorico manual has a section that explains most of the program’s core concepts.
Here’s a PDF version of the First Steps guide that you can print out if you like.
Hi @Sharon_Thoms,
Beside the link to the downloadable PDF, here you find the files attachments to use while learning the First Steps:
Here is where to find the Attachments to follow along:
The First Steps Guides are also available as Video.
Here Part 1:
And Part 2:
Beside that, you find in the Dorico resources Page, may other useful links to learn:
as for example a very compact Getting Started guide:
I wish you to have some patience and willing to learn a new logic and approach (a revolutiononary and very elegant one). You will be rewarded many times, discovering how amazing Dorico workflow concepts are. And if you have any question, please, don’t got into frustration, but ask here in the Forum. We are here to help!
(And as addition, I see that you are replying with email: I suggest you to look at the forum page of your topic, to have an overview of all the replies, instead of seeing an email at a time)
I came from Finale end of last year. I understand your feelings of frustration and being overwhelmed. BUT…Dorico is a fabulous program and I am so glad to be using it. the best advice I can give is to not compare it to Finale. Start with something simple…a leadsheet for example, or 8 bars of a piano piece. It is by far the best way to learn. Baby steps and asking for help as you progress will have you up and running. You don’t have to memorise loads of shortcuts to use it initially, just the basics like note entry. The user interface is really well designed and looks great - poor old Finale I realised was way out of date!
So, I started with importing a choir arrangement I’d done in Finale and doing a few tweaks which got me used to the interface and ‘how to’ do some stuff. I then went on to write an arrangement and now have composed two movements from a piece I’m working on. I’ve asked this forum lots of questions when I can’t find what I need and the response is (thank you all) - very quick and helpful. I find its very good for using my vsl sample librarys to playback, yes a learning curve with percussion maps, playback templates etc. but so worth it. Just learn stuff as you need it. I have actually enjoyed learning all about it because it is so good. Much like driving a new car
I hope you manage to make it work for you as the resulting scores look great.
@Sharon_Thoms,
Hi and welcome to the community!
We all understand your frustration as a newcomer to Dorico, which is completely different platform than Finale, and notation program of a new generation “Hybrid DAW” (Notation software that provides serious amount of DAW tools)
Many of the colleagues here know me as one of most persistent Dorico critic on this forum. Well, I still here using Dorico on daily basis. Of course there are things that could be improved, and many others that need to be implemented. No doubt it will happen at some point.
I really advise you to give more effort and time to Dorico, you would not regret. On the other side, the Dorico team is always here helping us, the “old dogs” also help the newcomers. Dorico evolves extremely fast because of this close connection. Do not underestimate this important factor!
About the learning curve,
Well, Dorico is a very complex platform, no matter how intuitive it is, you can’t get used to it without spending some time learning it.
I’ve seen that some colleagues here advised you to start with simple projects in order learn Dorico in a “painless” way. Not a bad idea, but it will take much more time.
I took another approach when I was learning Dorico. I decided to recreate “Progulka” by Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Ravel and then to Re-orchestrate one of Tchaikovsky’s pieces in the style of Rodion Schedrin’s - Carmen Suite (amazing orchestral work for just strings and percussion).
That way you will challenge yourself to learn as much as possible for a shorter period of time.
Don’t forget to keep a paper notebook and pencil by your side + the key command chart and popovers
Popovers:
Key command Chart:
After re-creating 2, or 3, partial but complex, orchestral works in Dorico you would start feeling confident and comfortable enough.
There are many tutorials on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@dorico
And you could also ask here for everything you need to know.
Best regards and success in your Dorico journey,
Thurisaz
@Sharon_Thoms there is a parallel thread here.
(Many others if you search from the last few months but please don’t feel like you have to look at them all. There are so many, you might not get back to learning but skim through them if you have time, because they would have similar information, and you might find a link or information that might help for where you are at the time. )
For me, learning a new “thing” I always jot down notes (on paper) as it is quite overwhelming learning something new and all the associated information related to what might be just one thing, but you then have to read around a few other related topics to make any progress.
I agree Aaron. To try a software before purchase it is certainly the wisest solution, especially as Dorico’s trial period is generous.
This avoids the many disappointments caused when people feel obliged to obey MakeMusic’s injunction (whereas… we do what you want).
We might have lost Sharon…
Or she is too busy composing in Dorico!
You all tried hard. +1 for effort.
Jesper
I don’t know where Sharon lives, but if it is the USA then she has probably retired for the night.
Probably. In East coast it is 4:30 AM, and in the West, 1:30.
Time to dream of a wonderful future Dorico…
I just wanted to take a few seconds to congratulate all my fellow forum users who have managed to not mirror the tone of the initial post.
I know it’s not always easy, and you all have done very, very well!
That’s a good analogy. Another one I like to use (regarding transitioning to any type of software) is like moving to a foreign country and being frustrated that they use different words for things, and upset that you can’t learn the new language overnight. Functionally, both “languages” refer to the same things, but use different terms.
Fortunately regarding most software it’s not quite as difficult as learning a new foreign language. Just spending a few weeks to a month going through tutorials and working in it every day (even if it’s just 15 minutes a day) will be enough to re-orient yourself to the “local lingo” and have you speaking it natively in no time