First concerns with Dorico

[Coe]

Hi,
I have just completed my first project using Dorico 3 instead of Finale 25, a commission from a wind trio.
I like many features of Dorico, but I also had some major and minor concerns.
Before giving it up, I would like to share my concerns in the forum. Perhaps there are some easy-fix that will encourage me to continue using Dorico.

1) Tempo Mark engraving
For some reason, instead of showing the quarter note = 120, it appears a square.
I enter into the tempo mark and says "q = ". I suppose that’s the sign for quarter-note, but a square appears instead.

2) Fit music
In Finale, fit music is very logical and easy to do. I’ve found that in Dorico “make into system” tool is not that practical. sometimes you have the half of the measure stays in one system and the other half changes (which is a nice feature, but as an exception).
Also, in Finale I can fit music in all parts at once. Is there a similar feature in Dorico?

3) Parts layout
I changed the parts layout so I could have the title in addition to the instrument name on each page following the first. However, when I made the change to the clarinet part, the other two remained the same, so I had to change each one individually. If it was an orchestral work, that would be a lot of work. But I suppose there is a quicker way to do it.

4) Crescendo and decrescendo
The crescendo and decrescendo signs sometime go beyond the measure, so I have to go to engrave to make it fit in the right place. Also, sometimes I want to change the size of the crescendo sign only in one instrument, but when I do it on the score, all the 3 change together.

5) Dorico shutting off
A few times when I was changing the page layout Dorico shut off by itself.

6) Deleting bars
I have found it not intuitive the way Dorico works for deleting bars. Pressing shift+b and then writing -1 to delete a bar is really not intuitive. I know I can also click on the bar on the top of the measure and then click on the bin, but isn’t there a way you can select many bars and press “delete”?

Thanks for you help.
Dr. Henrique Coe

[Romanos]

@Coe

1) Tempo Mark engraving
For some reason, instead of showing the quarter note = 120, it appears a square.
I enter into the tempo mark and says "q = ". I suppose that’s the sign for quarter-note, but a square appears instead.

I suspect you’ve changed your default font to one that doesn’t include the proper quarter note character. If this is the case, try a different font or reset to default for tempo marks.

@Coe

2) Fit music
In Finale, fit music is very logical and easy to do. I’ve found that in Dorico “make into system” tool is not that practical. sometimes you have the half of the measure stays in one system and the other half changes (which is a nice feature, but as an exception).
Also, in Finale I can fit music in all parts at once. Is there a similar feature in Dorico?

You have to be a little choosy with where you click when you use this function. Just make sure you select barlines rather than notes and you’ll be just fine.

@Coe

3) Parts layout
I changed the parts layout so I could have the title in addition to the instrument name on each page following the first. However, when I made the change to the clarinet part, the other two remained the same, so I had to change each one individually. If it was an orchestral work, that would be a lot of work. But I suppose there is a quicker way to do it.

You need to adjust the master page for parts. It sounds like you edited the clarinet part specifically and expected the other parts to update. Not really fair to expect that of dorico, eh? Down in the lower right corner of engrave mode are master pages that you can edit that apply universally. Once you make your edit there, you’ll need to remove the page override in the clarinet part for it to update, fyi.

@Coe

4) Crescendo and decrescendo
The crescendo and decrescendo signs sometime go beyond the measure, so I have to go to engrave to make it fit in the right place. Also, sometimes I want to change the size of the crescendo sign only in one instrument, but when I do it on the score, all the 3 change together.

I believe there are improvements planned for this to allow more flexibility in engrave mode. For the time being you need to un-link or un-group (I can never remember which is which) from the others (right click and select the option) and then you’ll be able to edit the one individually. Alternatively, don’t apply dynamics to multiple parts at the same time and then they won’t be automatically linked.

@Coe

5) Dorico shutting off
A few times when I was changing the page layout Dorico shut off by itself.

This is not normal. The next time this happens, reopen Dorico and create a diagnostic’s report from the help menu and share it here and the team will take a look.

@Coe

6) Deleting bars
I have found it not intuitive the way Dorico works for deleting bars. Pressing shift+b and then writing -1 to delete a bar is really not intuitive. I know I can also click on the bar on the top of the measure and then click on the bin, but isn’t there a way you can select many bars and press “delete”?

Turn on the system track (alt+t) and you can select a range of bars. I’d suggest turning back off when you’re not using it, however, as there is a bit of a performance hit when it is active.

[Lillie_Harris]

For cresc/dim - there is an option for allowing them to extend across barlines that you can set for individual dynamics or globally in Engraving Options. You can also set the rhythmic grid to something small, like 16th notes, and shorten them rhythmically in Write mode by pressing Shift-Alt/Opt-left arrow. (Changing their rhythmic duration affects their semantic duration - moving them graphically in Engrave mode only changes their graphical length)

If you don’t want Dorico to link dynamics when you copy/paste them, you can prevent this by changing your preference.

(Edit: and welcome back to the forum! I hope this piece is a success and that you enjoy continuing to use and learn Dorico )

[Coe]

Thanks for the quick answer.
For the parts layout, I supposed there would be a solution like that. Thanks for the alt+t tip, very helpful.

For the tempo mark engraving, each time I open Dorico it gives me this message (photo attached).

.

In the preferences, the default text font family is “8514oem”. I haven’t chosen that, so I suppose that’s Dorico’s default font. However, I am not finding the option “reset to default”. Maybe I am not in the right place.

[Lillie_Harris]

If you’re on Windows, did you restart after installing or updating Dorico (just to be sure) ?

[Romanos]

There appears to be something faulty about your installation. Academico and Bravura are bundled with Dorico and are the default fonts, so you should never get an error message saying those fonts are missing. You might need to do a re-install of Dorico to correct this.

[pianoleo]

This looks like some weird font to do with DPI scaling, and it has nothing to do with Dorico. Are you looking in Dorico’s Preferences or Windows’ Preferences? Redirecting

[Coe]

Thanks for the tips. I suppose the option you mentioned concerning barlines is this one, right?

[Coe]

Dorico preferences

[Coe]

Well yes, I installed Dorico several months ago. And this issue happens every day I open Dorico.

[pianoleo]

In that case something weird is going on with your fonts. If you haven’t changed that Preference yourself, it should definitely be Academico. Try running the Dorico installer again, then restart your computer, then try launching Dorico again.

[Coe]

So I have just updated Dorico and restarted my computer, but the same missing font message appears and the square is still there.

[Coe]

Instead of updating it, now I literally reinstalled Dorico and components, and the founts now are OK, thanks a lot!

[Coe]

So after reinstalling Dorico the fonts issue was solved.
One more question. when I am printing all the parts into PDF, Dorico doesn’t tell me which part it is when it gives me the option of saving. Is there a way that Dorico automatically puts the name of the instrument part when printing all parts into PDF?

[jesele]

Check preferences → General- Files.

Jesper

[Romanos]

@Coe you can set up preferences as suggested by @jesele but you can also do this on a project-by-project basis right from within the print dialogue.

[Coe]

It just happened of Dorico shutting off by itself when I was changing the font size and clicked on another instrument to change it as well.
I went to Help → Create Diagnostic Report.
But nothing happened.
Where is the diagnostic report located after I create it?

[Romanos]

check your desktop

[Coe]

Dorico Diagnostics.zip (303.7 KB)

[Coe]

Hi, it seems I don’t have this option