Dorico shortcuts, foreign language keyboard, and Stream Deck

Hi everyone,

I got myself a Stream Deck to make shortcuts in Dorico easier.

I bought the Notation Central template in order to get proper icons. They said on their site there is a beta French version (yes, I’m French) so I thought it would be even easier.

I discovered when I downloaded their package that the French version of their template is not a translation of the text on the icons (which remain in English) but of the shortcuts, as it seems (which I did not know) that shortcuts are not the same wether you use, say, a US or a French (computer) keyboard.

In the meantime the guy from Notation Central, following my remarks, changed some info in the FAQ of their site advertising for the French version (he also offered me a template for the 15 keys version of the Stream Deck to apologize-I had bought the 32 keys version).

In most cases the shortcuts work more or less fine, and I do not regret I bought the Notation Central template.

But still, I have to remap a few shortcuts, and there are also some which I do not find at all.

For instance, the diamonds headnotes, for the harmonics. If I go to preference in Dorico, I can not even find the line where there would be a shortcut for this kind of thing.

My question is: some of you guys who run Dorico in English and Stream deck do you have a shortcut to make a normal note into a diamond head note?

Maybe @Daniel could tell me more about it?

Or is it a bluff from Notation Central?

Thank you,

Benjamin

I’m the guy that built the Dorico Notation Express profile. Noteheads cannot be bound directly from within Dorico. I spent many hours working with the (somewhat limited) scripting functionality in Dorico to figure out what was going on behind the scenes, and I then grafted those commands (and the jazz ornaments, Hide Stems properties and a few others) into the keycommands_en.json file manually, in a text editor.

I’m happy to talk you through how to do that for yourself, and I’m sure Marc Larcher (who adapted the keycommands file for French keyboard) will pop into this thread at some point too.

Yup, hi Benjamin!
I’m sorry I didn’t take the time to update the last version of Notation Express (I don’t really need the new shortcuts and it’s not trivial to build a 100% working version)
If you do need, I’ll have a look. As far as I know, all those commands created by Leo do work on my machine.
Have you installed both my keyboard commands fr and the French version of Notation Express? It’s the only way to make it work on our machines (unless you use a genuine English keyboard).

Thanks a lot, Leo, thanks and hi, Marc !

Yes, I’d be glad to use the full fonction of the Stream Deck template, so if it’s not too much asking I’d love if you could advise me how to do so.

Regarding your adaptation of the program for French keyboards: I thought I did install the French shortcuts file, but a few of the shortcuts were wrong, so it feels like something went wrong when I replaced the file. Now I have started to update the key commands, and to customize the template to make it more intuitive to my way of working, so starting again from your file would be a bit of a pain… Except if I save my shortcuts in another location, try to replace with yours, etc. (But I’m afraid I will soon get lost with all the shortcuts files, which on is the good one, etc.).

A question, by the way: in the Dorico shortcuts list, do you choose “default” or “French” keyboard, to be sure to use your file (once it has been moved to the proper location)?

I will make a test and let you know. But regarding the other shortcuts, if you can have a look, or explain to me how to program it, would be great-knowing I’m very, very bad at programing, etc.

Merci beaucoup et bonne journée !

Benjamin

If you use “Default” then Dorico will use the keycommands file for whichever language you’re running Dorico in. If you’re using Dorico in French, “Default” will use the keycommands_fr json; if you’re using Dorico in German, “Default” will use the keycommands_de json. What language are you using Dorico in?

French!

In that case it doesn’t matter whether the language within Dorico Preferences > Key Commands is set to French or Default. It will consistently use the keycommands_fr json. If you can make a list of shortcuts that don’t seem to be working, I can tell you what you need to edit in the JSON file.

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Dear fellow Doricians,
I use (and I always have) Dorico in English, and the key command file used is the french one. Because my system is French and so is my keyboard template, I suppose.
I would be glad to know which shortcuts were wrong in my file, so that I can modify them or explain why I chose those shortcuts. I wrote a file explaining most of my shortcuts in 2.2, here it is.

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Thank you Leo and Marc, I will make further test and will let you know! B.

Hi Leo and Marc,

Marc, thanks for the information. I reinstalled the French shortcut file and everything seems to work fine!

One thing though: I can’t find the icons for changing the grid resolution-have you decided not to include it, or is it, once more, me who just can’t find it?

Thanks a lot for your work,

Benjamin

Oops, sorry, I eventually found it in the Notes/More Notes folder!

Great! Thanks for the feedback!

Sorry to bother you.
I’m planning to buy a Stream Deck with Notation Express.
But I need to use Dorico’s italian version ( and of course the italian keyboard) because I need the localisation.
Will it be working for me, or can I easily adapt it myself to italian?
Thank you very much in advance.
Stefano

Caro Stefano,
I made the different mac French versions for Notation Express. Tim, who made the localization for German keyboard layout has sent a very interesting video to explain his workflow — much better and faster than mine.
It is a task that needs some time and patience!
Of course, I am happy to share my french version if our keyboards do not differ too much. But you’ll always have to tweak things.

Dear Marc,
thank you very much.
I just watched Tim’s interesting video. I think I can make it.
I will certainly ask you for the french version, as soon as I can get the Stream Deck (not easily available in Italy these days).
Of course I’ll be glad to share my italian version.
All the best
Stefano

Marc and Tim are probably best-placed to answer your questions on how long it’ll take you, as they’ll have a better idea than me as to what proportion of existing shortcuts are likely to work. It is a bit of a repetitive slog, but it’s not difficult to get your head around (and when I put out updates I can let you know specifically where the additions are).

Marc has already answered. Thnak you

Hi Marc,
I’m having the same problem using a French keyboard. Where I can get the key-commands_fr.json file?
I’m on windows and working with Dorico 3.5
Could you send it to me?
Thanks a lot