Hey kids, yes I know that DSW sounds a bit weird because is a word I made up yesterday in the heat of the FB forum, but I suggest that all Dorico users that like the term start using it from now on.
Dorico is not a DAW (Digital Audio Wokstation), because it has no audio recording & editing, but it certainly has great scoring devices. Dorico is the first notation based Digital Scoring Workstation.
Best
Dorico, the Future of Scoring
Well … I appreciate the spirit of your comments, but I’m not sure that “Digital Scoring Workstation” actually is a compliment. In my view, the goal should be to advance the productivity of composers, arrangers, and producers across the entire spectrum of what they do. Certainly recording is a big part of that.
Dorico is a first rate concept today, with a significant part of that concept already committed to code, most of which works rather well. It appears the concept anticipates the convergence of the various fields represented by today’s DAWs and notation products, and I look forward to seeing this convergence proceed. We know Dorico 2 is not ideal for playback and has no recording capability, even for MIDI. I am of mixed minds about how much of this belongs directly in the notation program and how much could be accomplished by more seamless integration with DAW products.
Regardless of how we get there, it is about productivity and quality of output (both printed and audio/video). This will be a long journey. It took about 20 years to realize the full potential of DAWs beyond simple sequencers or audio recorders. I think it will come faster this time because it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel. Many of the key technologies are already in place.
But the technologies are not all good enough yet. There is a new generation of MIDI coming. And I hope we will see solutions that practically eliminate the latency issues that frustrate real-time MIDI note entry. There is a whole frontier of productivity possible by integrating touch & pen input. Beyond that there are opportunities for the software to recognize harmonies in recorded material and assist the composer in “scoring around” previously recorded material. See the new StudioOne for some hints in that direction.
We are in a good place. First things first. The immediate priority must properly be on finishing the basic notation foundation.
Fair enough, thank you for your input.
I like the suggestions. D is already a DSW and by the speed it is developing it will sooner or later be a (the?) DCW: Digital Composer’s Workstation.
Actually, Overture is the first.
Digital = on a computer
Scoring = Written Music
Workstation = Place for work
How about EEE - Electronic Engraving Enabler? But maybe not Cyber Notation Terminal.
Not by a long shot.
Sadly, the existence of the Designer Shoe Warehouse (the only thing you’d see for years if you googled DSW) might keep this idea from getting off the ground.
I like just calling it Dorico 
I would suggest NSA- Notation Scoring Application or CIA- Composer’s Imagination Actualizer.
I just write music:
promoting memes is beyond my pay scale.
I would say Digital MUSIC Workstation. That’s a step beyond audio production, leveraging technology for all the elements of music production.
Products have been nibbling away at this for awhile. Cubase, Sonar (and others) have had notation capability. These were tightly integrated with the rest of the DAW environment but the notation features were quite limited by engravers’ standards. More recently Presonus has experimented with getting StudioOne and Notion to synchronize / collaborate. I think this is a good model because not everybody needs both notation and high-level audio production.
Clearly the marriage of notation and production will be an important industry trend, and there will be various solutions offered. Steinberg is in a powerful position to create the Cadillac product here. (Avid could be in a similar position but they don’t strike me as a very inspired company these days.) Beyond the synergies within Steinberg, there is also the umbrella of Yamaha, who ought to be intensely interested in this new frontier. If there have not already been intense strategic discussions within the Yamaha family about this it would be a business blunder of epic proportions. I don’t think there are many dummies at Yamaha or Steinberg, so I trust this is well in their field of view.
I think that we should be honest with ourselves that Dorico is still really an “Advanced beta” product. It has far-reaching possibilities, but is many years away from being a mature product. The people using Dorico today are clearly “early adopters”. It will be interesting to watch as this reaches the mainstream.
I call her Dorrie!
“I think that we should be honest with ourselves that Dorico is still really an “Advanced beta” product.”
If this is the case, then I’ve been waiting twenty years for Finale to stop being one…
A lot of truth there.
At the risk of spoiling your great punch line, there was a time when Finale did represent the state of the art. But there has been very little innovation in the past 8 years and almost zero since 2014.
One must note that most companies in this space have ultimately failed financially. We all have an interest in seeing Dorico succeed business-wise. I believe it will not be sustainable simply to be the best most modern tool for professional engravers (e.g. hymnal publishers, orchestra librarians, publishing houses.) I think the key to a sustainable business is to reach the broader market, which includes a lot of people who work more with DAWs than they work with notation products. And this makes particularly good business sense considering Steinberg is already there with Cubase and Nuendo, and Yamaha is a leading supplier of kit for musicians of all stripes.
This need not be a competition of interests between various segments that are attracted to Dorico. The Dorico team has developed an architecture that really can grow to serve multiple segments.
Indeed. Overture has gone farther down the road in this regard, but Dorico is poised to capitalize in a way that Overture simply cannot with a one-man operation.
A few months ago Don said he was about to release a Kontakt-based integrated VST library. Unfortunately since then he has disappeared despite requests for updates on his progress. The disappearance has been so sudden and so prolonged that people are wondering whether it might be health-related. One man is a precarious platform to build on.
But I do agree, Don has the vision many are seeking. I hope Dorico makes progress towards a similar vision, even if they approach it differently.
I think fireplayer’s post is spam. First post from a new user and bears no relation to the rest of the thread…