Another long time finale user here (Beta tester starting 1.5). Love/Hate Dorico but I’ll get there. What is the advantage of flows vs simply using a template? Writing a musical and started with separate files. Decided I should use flows.
Pros:
A single file
fonts and other choices retained
Challenges:
Much harder to get to the flow I want (f13–which one was that?)
Keep “sliding” between flows inadvertently because no way to isolate to see only single flow
Instrument changes (this drum kit vs that one) seem kludgey
Slight variations of title (bass vs Bass guitar) create new players
and many, many more.
Would I be ahead to simply make a template to get the pros without any of the cons? AM I missing something or some big advantage I am not seeing?
Consecutive Page numbers (this was v e r y tedious in Finale).
Customizable Flow Headings.
Especially for parts you can have multiple flows on the same page.
Smart tacet handling, just remove an instrument from a flow.
Regarding your challenges 1 and 4: It’s up to you to name flows/instruments consistently.
And you can use the Jump Bar to navigate to specific flows quickly.
PS: Yet another Pro: If you decide later to change a visual parameter – for example a different font size – in a 50 movement musical with separate files: Have fun !
I appreciate the quick reply! Thank you. Ive been through that but can always use another run. Specifically, the fact that you cannot isolate a single flow (and if you have 30+ flows it’s hard to remember by number) is cumbersome. I’ll scroll back to get to beginning one a flow to find I am in another for example.
Thanks. The flow issue is a serious one for me that I am still trying to figure out. The page number issue can be handled by changing first page # but the fact that they continually adjust if all in one project is a big plus. Thanks!
The Dorico title bar will tell you which flow you’re in, so if you’ve named them appropriately it should be fairly easy. You can jump to the previous/next flow with the jump bar, and I think you can also assign key commands to those in Preferences (not at my computer right now).
Just think of flows as movements and templates as your overall design for what you are producing. I was reluctant at first coming from Finale but I had always dreamed of movements in Finale - suddenly, I had them! Wish come true! All the other advice here is spot on!
Thank you all for helping teach an old dog new tricks. The Jump to flow in particular is very helpful. I wish I could keep it from scrolling out of my current flow but I can work around that
It’s no problem creating as many layouts as you want. I often create one or more ‘working layouts’, with just the flow(s) I’m working on. In Setup mode, you can (temporarily or permanently) de-select any flows you don’t have to see, which makes on-screen navigation way easier.
If I was you, and I wrote a 33 movt. oratorio a few years ago, I would definitely use multiple files with maybe one or two flow in each, preferably only one…Do not try and incorporate all your flows into one file…I promise you, it will save you a world of pain. See threads like this: Adding/removing pages without reset of vertical staff spacing - #32 by Danilo_Pez
There was a similar thread a day or so ago…
You are bound to make changes in the middle of your composition after having made some manual staff adjustments, and no matter what anybody else says here, page templates cannot adequately solve the problem…you simply cannot write all your music before adjusting the look of certain pages, and once you create page overrides you will lose all your formatting when you want to insert an extra system or page into the middle of your piece, etc.
It is, unfortunately, one of the biggest drawbacks of Dorico, and until there is a page freeze function, which ties the formatting to the page, or some other clever solution to this thorny problem, I would stick to separate files with one flow in each.
One other way to work could be to use multiple flows when writing and trying ideas, then copy the files and delete the flows to leave just one flow in each file, and then make any custom formatting changes. Once you have created a “house style” with all you text choices and the engraving choices, the library manager is a brilliant way to copy over all your settings for consistent engraving between flows.
Thank you @Grainger2001 . This is what I feared. I wrote about 1/2 (16 maybe?) of the show in separate files and still have them. I have spent the last two days putting them into a master file as flows and have run into many problems. I realize I could have started in a master file using flows but did not trust this (lost a mvmnt of a symphony to Finale in the 90’s and was glad it wasn’t the whole score!) I may switch back to individual files with a well-crafted template.
If you have different drum kits in different flows, you can simply add them all to the “Drummer”, give them a sensible name, and Dorico will handle the instrument changes for you.
If you are combining files you really do need to be consistent. Particularly with xml imports, Dorico really doesn’t know whether a line called “bass” is a singer or an instrument, so it may arrive wrong. But it is simple to move the notes to the correct player.
