Finale cross-graders: customization is your friend

Yes, I mean of course not all note values can follow the same logic as it would be impossible, but what I like about 4 = quarter is it creates a sort of “sun” in a rhythmic solar system around which all the others revolve as bigger or smaller. Which to be fair is exactly how Dorico does it too, but my point being I guess I shifted it so that I free up 3 keys to be more useful to me, as well as making it easier to remember quarter notes since, for the music I write, quarter notes are typically the basis of most of my meters.

Indeed. I use them frequently enough for stuff like harp & wind runs, but not as frequently as all the rest - so that one I have to access from the mouse panel. IMHO it’s not a big loss, for a note value I use with relatively less frequency it takes what, another second to access from the mouse?

I pretty much only borrowed numbers 1-9 verbatim from Sibelius (where 7-8-9 are nat/flat/sharp). For 0 and all the other keys encircling, I have created my own custom shortcuts which I simply access most frequently when doing note input, none of which would make sense to anyone else. For * I can quickly enter and leave note entry mode… + / - I increase/decrease rhythmic grid… = I automatically enter tuplet mode with a 3:2… 0 plays my composition from the beginning… some of that may seem bonkers to others, but it works for me! I like that Dorico has given me the ability to create a hybrid system. I don’t really use other Notation software anymore but I use other DAWs and video editing software, so in some ways I’ve had to merge some concepts so, like you said, I don’t get my brain in a knot!

FWIW if anyone is interested, Notation Express recently released a mobile streamdeck profile which is fantastic – and the Dorico version closely resembles the Sibelius keypad, too. Looking at the screenshots on the blog are fairly similar to how I’ve set mine up - except for I don’t need a shortcut for rests, given how little I use the rest tool since Dorico handles rests and time mostly automatically.

I seem to remember - all those many years ago - that Finale’s choice of the quarter/crochet to be 5 on the keypad was that they considered it to be the most common duration and 5 frequently had a texture (dot or other raised marker) as a “home” key. This helped in not getting off center and entering the incorrect durations.
Also, FWIW, I am using Stream Deck Mobile with Notation Express and added my own page to replicate the letter notation portion of Finale’s Speedy Entry. (I’m not a touch typist and it was easier using the pitch layout that Finale set up where “A” was middle C, “S” was D, and so on left to right as a piano keyboard. Oddly, the letter “D” being the pitch E took a little getting used to!) So now I have a row with the pitches for C through B, and durations in the bottom; Sharp, Natural, and Flat from top to bottom along the right side. I also have the Dorico shortcuts for octave up / octave down instead of the three octave range of the Finale Keyboard layout. It’s a big help while I re-wire my brain to the Dorico layout.
Jim B

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For me, it actually helped, to switch to the new 6-quarter 5-eighth. It helped getting my thoughts off my prior software (25 years of Sibelius) and speeded up my general Dorico learning process.

I appreciate your instructions. I, too, am a very old (and I do mean old) Finale user and I’m struggling with Dorico but am making progress. Your post is very enlightening.