You absolutely do not have to leave note entry. Just apply the appropriate key command to flip the enharmonic. One catch is that Dorico provides the option to modify previous pitches based on context after you’ve input more notes. Lillie linked to it above, but since the link doesn’t seem to be working with the new documentation it’s here:
IIRC Dorico’s pitch spelling algorithm is proprietary but based on the PS13 algorithm. So sometimes Dorico will change things on the fly if you have that enabled. If I turn that off and use pitch-first MIDI input, it’s still easy to flip without leaving note entry. Gif below:
I am very new to Dorico, so thank you for your patience and help. Indeed this works. It depends on the note entry option settings, which I had not understood on the first run. It feels closer to Finale now
The online documentation system was changed earlier this year. You will find many old posts that reference dead links. However, it is surely not too difficult to copy the headline of the link and search the documentation?
I find the manual riddled with these kinds of problems. You can’t even type enharmonic equivalent into the manual’s search function. Are you kidding me? How about changing rests from an eighth and a sixteenth into a dotted eighth. The manual says, “You can easily do this in Dorico.” Good, tell me HOW. The program “can” do this is different than “this is how the program does it.”
In funk, jazz and blues, I frequently choose a different enharmonic depending on whether the chromatic note is approaching from above and below. I don’t want the program always choosing a global solution for me. These situations are too common to not have a quick solution. I don’t for instance, want the program to shows the sharp 4 if my blue note is resolving down to a natural 4. Also, sometimes the blue note will resolve up from a flat five to a natural five. I want to change the enharmonic in that moment. This global solution doesn’t seem to work for that.
Thank you, Juddanby. It must be the lack of sleep from trying to learn this new program after teaching Finale for years. Still frustrated that so many things I’m used to doing easily are taking me so long.
I mess around in MuseScore from time to time, mostly to experiment with their MuseSounds. I have to say every time I try it I forget how good we have it in Dorico, how much faster everything is.
In MS: you cannot move notes/left right by arrow key; you cannot adjust note length by arrow keys; you cannot move or duplicate music to staves above and below by key command; you cannot convert normal notes to/from grace notes; you can’t add any dynamics via keyboard; you can’t adjust dynamics from keyboard; you can’t move multiple hairpins and complex dynamics from keyboard; you can’t do complex filtering with ease; you can’t auto select multiple notes in a grouping from the beam; rests must always be entered manually (nothing as beautiful as the caret tool and grid); … I honestly could keep going for awhile. I haven’t even gotten into condensing, engraving, and part preparation where Dorico especially shines. There’s so many areas where Dorico’s editing tools are comparatively way faster.
Just saying that if time is money, you’ll find MS to be an objectively slower option with the lack of editing features. I personally wouldn’t find one feature such as enharmonics to be a dealbreaker, but that’s just me.
Understood, @fleschtonerecords. A 32-year Finale user myself, so the switch two years ago was definitely…paradigmatic. One definitely has to learn a new relationship between the global “smart” behaviors that make Dorico really great for the end results (truly!) and some details of input. I quickly got to know Opt+/- for tweaking enharmonics as I enter.
If it’s any consolation (and hope for the future), I recently had a jazz piece premiered and almost every single member of the nonet made a point to tell me how great their parts looked — which was kind of a weird experience! (And as a two-year “apprentice-level” user, I don’t have the remarkable Dorico skills that many here do. It was largely Dorico just doin’ its thing.)
I agree with all these points. The more I learn about Dorico, the more I’m impressed with all the many ways it’s better than Finale and MuseScore. I plan to stick with Dorico.
I did hear back from the Dorico staff who said they are aware of the need for a simplified key for this enharmonic flip. It’s on their radar. My impression was that this would be in addition to the present method opt +/-.
