Hello Dorico team and colleagues,
I would like to suggest the following feature request regarding Reusable Modal Pitch Frameworks.
Dorico’s key signature and accidental system works exceptionally well for Western tonal music, atonal writing, and contemporary microtonal notation. However, when working with modal musical systems—such as Middle Eastern maqam music—the current workflow becomes unnecessarily complex and error-prone.
In maqam-based music, the “key signature” does not represent a functional key, but rather a modal pitch framework, where certain scale degrees are consistently altered by default (often using quarter-tone or three-quarter-tone accidentals), while others may change contextually during melodic development. At present, users must manually create custom key signatures for each maqam, with no way to name, store, reuse, or manage them as musical entities.
Practical example:
When notating Maqam Rast, the composer must manually define a custom key signature with lowered 3rd and 7th scale degrees using microtonal accidentals. Reusing the same maqam in another project—or transposing it—requires rebuilding or carefully rechecking the entire setup, increasing the risk of notation and enharmonic inconsistencies.
This leads to several practical issues:
- Repeated manual setup of identical modal key signatures across projects
- No semantic distinction between functional tonal keys and modal pitch frameworks
- Error-prone enharmonic spelling and transposition behavior
- Increased engraving and maintenance overhead in larger scores, cues, and layouts
Proposed enhancement:
Introduce a concept such as Modal Key Signatures / Modal Systems, distinct from tonal keys, allowing users to:
- Define and name reusable modal frameworks (e.g. Maqam Rast, Maqam Hijaz, Maqam Bayati)
- Specify default accidentals per scale degree, including microtonal alterations
- Apply these systems purely as notation frameworks, without invoking tonal or harmonic logic by default
- Preserve consistent engraving, enharmonic spelling, and transposition behavior across the score
Conceptually, this could be implemented as an extension of Dorico’s existing Key Signatures and Tonality Systems, allowing users to define modal pitch frameworks alongside tonal keys within the same infrastructure.
Such a feature would not alter Dorico’s existing tonal logic, but would instead extend its notation intelligence to better support modal and non-Western musical traditions. This aligns naturally with Dorico’s design philosophy and would significantly improve workflow efficiency and reliability for composers and engravers working in modal music.
Thank you for considering this request.
Best regards,
Thurisaz