I’ve run into problems trying to create an incipit with cut C 3/2 signature. The piece has verses which alternate but the incipit has both. I have the notation correct with a modern signature, but can’t figure out how to keep the underlying barring, spacing etc correct and superimpose two contradictory signatures. . Also, is there a better way of inserting ficta than as a text object? Any advice welcome
Use Playing Techniques for ficta. Make a new technique, of Type “Glyph”:
Then edit the content to add an accidentals. They will sit above the note beautifully.
Not sure I quite understand the incipit problem… 
Thanks Ben.
The original ms has two signatures at the start, cut C and 3/2 in that order. I need to get them both into the incipit (prefatory staff) without messing up the transcription which starts in the triple metre (notated as 3/1) and goes into the cut C after several bars. Does that make sense?
You mean like this?
Hmm. I don’t think you can do it with a ‘native’ time signature, so you would have to fake it somehow. Probably easiest to add the 3/2 as text.
Exactly. I’ll keep fiddling with text then. Thanks. I wish it was a bit more intuititive!
Why should it be intuitive for the software to allow you to do something that has not been common practice for c500 years?
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Incipits remain common practice in modern editions of Early Music, and Daniel has said that he hopes to include native support for them at some point.
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Just as he has indicated an intention to provide better tools for modern notational practices, whilst also sorting out the multitude of other niggles in 19/20/21C common practice…
@naomi.barker I may have a crazy hack for this.
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For your incipit, create two bars. The first has cut C (and could be a pickup bar of only 1 crotchet). The second is 3/2. (I’ve used a pickup bar of 1 semibreve, just to show the note.)
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Use dashed barlines, with a dash length (in Engraving Options) of 0, to create an invisible barline.
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You’ll need to hide the rest in the first bar, which you can only do once there are some notes somewhere on that staff.
- “Some Spacing adjustment will be needed to tidy things up.”
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That’s not a crazy hack, it’s a good solid solution. Nice going, benwiggy. What’s the role of the coda?
To generate the gap after the incipit. You can then select the coda and hide the marking, and then no one will ever know you used the coda function to generate the gap.
Well, except other Dorico users! 
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One more tip: If you need to use dashed barlines (and so can’t use them for ‘invisible’ barlines), you can use a Tick barline, which has properties for its length. You can set the Properties to zero (well, -1/2) to create an invisible barline. If you need other Ticks, you can restore the default length on another Tick subsequently.
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As a professional music editing program, it should be designed to accommodate the editing of music from any period, including practices that have not been common for the past 500 years. The ability to edit music should not be limited to modern standards but should encompass the entire range of music history, allowing composers, editors, and musicologists to work with precision and flexibility, regardless of the era or musical conventions they wish to represent.
Welcome.
My comment (2 years ago) was simply questioning the immediate development priorities, not the long term capabilities.
The Development team makes their own decisions about features to add next.
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Welcome, Esteban.
There have been some improvements in this area since this thread was written.
Incipits can be more attractively created because you can now set the Coda Gap width (to zero), and you can Hide the Systemic Barline in Codas and System Breaks.
You may like to read an article I wrote on Scoring Notes website about the Early Music capabilities in Dorico, which includes incipits.
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