So I am using Dorico Pro 3 (Mac) and just getting my feet wet. I just finished my first project and have learned a lot. But one feature that has eluded me is the ability to customize the chord symbol appearance - at a default level for new projects - for all chords of the same type (I am not referring to the many chord options you can click on in the Engraving Options / Chord Symbols page; but instead the more detailed “Project Default Appearance” section). I have gone into Engraving Options / Chord Symbols / Project Default Appearance, and customized the design, sizing, element offset, scaling etc. for all chords defined based upon a specific root-note. For example, if I customize the appearance of a Dmi9 chord, I can apply it to all Dmi9 chords in a project. But if I want the same appearance to apply to an Emi9 chord, I have to design that appearance separately. Furthermore, I have to repeat this process for every new project.
What I want to do is create a custom appearance for all --mi9 chords; or all --7b9 chords, etc. and be able to reuse those chord symbol appearances for any new project I choose. Is this possible in Dorico 3? With Finale, I was able to create custom chord libraries that preserved all aspects of the appearance for any chord type, regardless of the root note; and use those libraries in new projects. If anybody has a method, I’d appreciate it.
When you edit the specific chord in Engrave Mode, you are editing that one specific individual instance. When you edit in Project Default Appearances, you are editing that one specific root/quality combination. For a global change, when you are in the Project Default Appearances window, don’t edit it there, but select the suffix and hit the Edit Component pencil underneath the symbol. That will take you to the Edit Chord Symbol Component editing window which will allow you to edit the actual suffix, so any changes will be reflected anywhere that suffix appears.
There’s no way to export a chord library like Finale. I keep a sort of “master default” file which I continuously update with any modifications and usually start from that default. If you start with a default file that already contains all your edits you won’t need to make them on each file.
Thanks, Fred, I’ll give that a shot. It sounds like I will need to create a custom “template” with my chord suffix appearance mods to start every new project. And perhaps a set of templates for different instrumentations.
Any news on exporting the project default chord symbol appearances ?
I was hoping that Export Library would be the solution, but so far I haven’t been able to import my custom chords into other projects. The Library manager doesn’t have a projects default appearances button; so there’s nothing to import.
Maybe I’m wrong, and it does indeed exist ; please advise.
If not, this would be a huge request for a future update, as I have done hundreds of little tweakings…
Hi, could anyone guide me to this process again?
I have edited the appearance of A-maj7 the way I like it, but if I write G-maj7 it looks different and I can’t understand where I’m supposed to be editing for a “global” fix. Thanks a lot! Best -m
This was a feature that I was hoping that would be implemented / enhanced in Dorico 5.1 but unfortunately was not. The way it is now is a lot of work.
Maybe in Dorico 5.2 update… who knows?
Thanks a lot everyone for your precious help. Yep it helps but it’s very unlikely I’ll have time to tweak all the possible iterations of a (e.g.) minmaj7 chord with all the possible roots. If I’m understanding correctly, if I change the default appearance of a specific component (e.g. the triangle for maj7) then it will have to look identical whether the chord I’m using is major or minor, and that’s really messy and quite difficult to manage. I hope some implementations are in the books for future versions of Dorico.
Many thanks again
Best
-m
You shouldn’t have to, providing you follow the correct steps. E.G. if you want to change the “7” in a dominant 7th chord to look like an “8”, that symbol will look like an “8” in all chords that contain it - even minor 7th chords.
What exactly do you want it to look like? As Dorico creates this suffix by combining other elements, you unfortunately can’t make a global change to the entire suffix, but you can to the individual elements. It all depends exactly what you are trying to do.
For example, if you want the “James Bond chord,” you can certainly make a global tweak to the - or to the maj7, but you can’t make a completely new suffix.
There of course may be a simpler way to do it with Engraving Options, or a more complicated way by redefining another element. It all depends what you want it to look like. Can you post a pic of what you are having difficulty customizing?
Hi all thanks for your help and apologies for the late reply.
I hope I am not confusing anyone or confusing myself, what I find hard to handle is how some chords in Dorico look perfectly fine, but others look really odd and quite out of context (e.g. not something I have ever seen on a lead sheet chart in almost 30 years). I transcribed a tune and used a few minmaj7 or maj7 chords, and ended up having to tweak them, but I have a feeling that if I make a global change that wouldn’t work as all the “triangles” will change to the same appearance, correct?
Here’s what I mean. I tweaked the Fminmaj7 to make it better, as the default (Bbminmaj7) looks really odd as it’s crazy small.
Can you confirm that If I tweak globally as you are suggesting, all the maj7s will look the same?
