Forced Duration Suggestion

Dorico
1

I’m working on a piece at the moment that continually switches between a 6/8 division and a 3/4 division of a 6 quaver bar: a bit like Bernstein’s America.

Unusually, I’m finding Dorico a bit awkward to work with. This is because forced duration appears only to work when inputing notes and not when editing them, i.e. selecting a quaver tied to a dotted crotchet with forced duration on and typing 7 (for a minim) does nothing. It’s also a nuisance having to press “o” after after beginning note input. (The score was imported from Sibelius via XML.)

Would it be possible for the double click of a key to automatically create the correct time value in forced mode? Single clicking the same or another key would then switch to unforced mode. This would also work for editing as well as note input and perhaps the duration selected could turn red or some other colour rather than blue to indicate this.

I have sometimes switched between hidden 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures, including some on single staves, but this is not always a easier work around.

I’ll probably create a work around via Stream Deck or AHK, but I think it would good to have something like this built into Dorico.

Please let me know if I have missed anything.

2

If the meter switching is regular, you could use an alternating time signature? Input once, and music should follow the set meters for note grouping for as long as the time signature lasts. If they don’t, try resetting their appearance (as depending on your input preferences for MusicXML, they can come in with force durations set that would override the automatic note grouping set by the meter).

Outside of note input, you can still apply force duration to notes, but it does fix the note as it currently appears. You can though shorten the duration first, then push it back up to full duration again - e.g. to turn a quarter tied to an eighth into a dotted quarter: select it, press O, press 6, then . (dot). That turns it first into a quarter note, then adds the rhythm dot.

3

Thanks a lot Lillie. That’s really helpful. I didn’t know about the input settings.