I downloaded Dorico for iPad and decided to give the free trial subscription a shot. I’ve decided to start a list of issues and UI adjustment requests that would need to be addressed before I throw down a ton of money on lifetime license, or even 3 dollars a month. Some of these apply to the desktop version as well, especially as the main point of having it on both is to be able to sync your work across devices.
1: iCloud on iPad
*Implementation feels sketchy at best. In your interface, there’s no way to click on a file listed as “on my iPad” and move it to iCloud. The only way to migrate it is to duplicate it.
*in the middle of working on a file stored on iCloud, multiple times I’ve received a popup saying “this file has been changed would you like to reload it”? Ummmm no? Nothing makes me more nervous about using this than the prospect of losing work. Sure enough, when I reloaded I had to set the Fixed Tempo again. Not sure what else I lost.
Maybe a manual save feature could be nice.
2: Playback on iPad
*There is so much room on my screen for a FULL transport bar. Why cut out the fast forward and rewind buttons (agh this drives me absolutely crazy)? This is true in both write and play mode. There is no numpad on iPad Magic keyboards, nor is there an FN key so there needs to be an alternate way to nudge the playhead forward or back.
3: Tempo slider (both iPad and Desktop)
*I’m just going to say it: **Down with sliders and the tempo + / - button!! Can we please please please just be able to type in a tempo? This is especially finicky on a touch screen but also annoying even with a mouse. Every DAW has figured this out, I’m not sure why Dorico has to be different.
4: Marquee tool options (ipad)
*I’m not entirely sure how these are intended to work but they are extremely glitchy. When I try to use the selection tools, they act like the hand tool and drag the view instead. Sometimes they also select, but not always. Sometimes the screen jitters and goes crazy. I wish I could take and upload a screencap because this is one of the things that makes this app most unusable. My understanding is that you need to hold down your finger (apple pencil does not work at all for this) until the “throbbing box” pops up, and then you can drag to select? It does not consistently work this way.
*We should be able to choose options such as “apple pencil selects (marquee), finger drags the screen”, etc etc. Just some customizability so that we can figure out a workflow. If anything, I would not usually be using the Pencil to drag the view, only select specific items or draw marquee boxes.
Overall, this is not bad for a first attempt at an iPad app: basic note entry works great. I love swiping around the piece in gallery mode. However, any editing beyond that which involves any kind of selection is really clunky.
iPad Pro 2022 + keyboard
Mac Studio