Hello, I’ve been using Dorico for about a month now and really liking it. As I learn it, I still starch my head trying to figure some things out. Why does it give “a 2” in the successive bar (338)? The line was copied to both players so is exactly the same. Notice it’s not doing that in the clarinets and bassoons. But what I think is a bit odd is the clarinet and bassoons are using both voices, so stems are opposite though that’s not happening in the flutes and oboes. What I don’t fully understand is why the line is treated inconsistently when it’s the same copy and paste? Any tips on this would be appreciated.
My second question is the dynamics in NotePerformer seem to be ignored. I’m trying to have the percussion a bit louder but if I max it out or take it down to zero in the mixer, it sounds the same.
Dorico manages condensing a phrase at a time, where a “phrase” is “notes between rests. So a new phrase starts in bar 338, and Dorico makes new decisions. It doesn’t take into account that the flutes and oboes were already a2 in bar 337, which is why it adds another a2 in 338. As for the clarinets and bassoons, there must be something in the next bars, before the next rest, that prevents Dorico from using a single voice – or maybe there’s an inconsistency in the notes we do see in terms of dynamics or articulations. If you want specific guidance about condensing decisions, you’ll need to upload your project file so someone can take a look at it.
As for NotePerformer – by default, NP sends all of its output to the first mixer channel in Dorico. If you want to change the percussion levels, you need to open the NP mixer, by clicking on the ‘e’ icon next to one of the instruments in Play mode.
This doesn’t look the same as your earlier screenshot. You originally had clarinets and bassoons with two stems, which I think was your question. In this file, I just see the repeated a2; this is a known consequence of the fact that Dorico starts to make condensing decisions at rests. I think you’ll just have to hide them in Engrave mode.
Sorry, it happened a few times so I might have used a different passage of the same issue. Ok, hiding it would work too. Thanks for helping me understand how to approach it. I really appreciate all the help!
Hi @kazzy, you don’t need to hide the a2 manually. Adding a condensing change at bar 6 will take care of it.
Explanation attempt of why the second a2 appears:
At bar 3 Dorico starts calculating a new condensing phrase until bar 11: the phrase starts with unison as in the previous one, but the in bar 6 the unison is broken in two different “voices”, so Dorico writes the a2 in bar 3 to tell “this new phrase starts with a2 unison and then separates…” .
How to avoid the second a2:
If you force a recalculation at bar 6, just checking the instrument groups in the Condensing Change, Dorico doesn’t write the a2 in bar 3 anymore, since there is no change from the previous phrase and there are no more mixed unison/non-unison in the same phrase (considering that at bar 6, where the unison stops, a new phrase starts, thanks to the Condensing Change):
Thank you Christian. Can you please explain this further: “but the in bar 6 the unison is broken in two different “voices”, so Dorico writes the a2 in bar 3 to tell “this new phrase starts with a2 unison and then separates…” . I don’t fully understand conceptually as I’m new to Dorico and coming from 20+ years in Sibelius so the philosophical shift might make a lot of sense but isn’t clear to me from the start.
I don’t really understand what “forcing a recalculation at bar 6” means. How do you do a Condensing Change?
Select the barline at the beginning of bar 6, and from menu Engrave choose Condensing Change. You will see all the instrument groups that are affected by condensing. Just check the desired instrument groups in the left panel, and click OK. This tells dorico to start a new phrase for the condensing.
Normally Dorico calculates condensing in phrases: they are chunks of music between rests. In your example the first condensing phrase is from bar 1 to bar 2, the second phrase is from bar 3 to bar 11.
The second phrase has a mixed situation: it starts with unisons, and then changes to non-unison. For each phrase Dorico adds/reiterates the a2 if he thinks it is necessary. Because of the mixed nature of the second phrase (unison followed by non-unison), he adds/reiterates the a2 at bar 3.
To test this, if you for example (after deleting the condensing change) break the second phrase, inserting a rest in the flute, so that we have now three phrases) you will see that the a2 will not be displayed in bar 3, because in this second phrase there is no change from the preceding phrase, it remains unison until the next rest which represent the end of the phrase:
It takes some time to understand all the fine correlations between condensing phrases, unisons, voices, stems, etc… If you would like to go deep into condensing understanding I suggest following 2 videos:
