Having trouble implementing Quarter Tones (or Micro Tones)

For some reason Dorico is not allowing me to put in quarter tone accidentals on a pitch. As soon as I check the Tonality System to Equal Temperament 24 EDO, and click on the quarter tone accidental that I want to implement, it automatically reverts to 12 EDO in the Tonality System. Can anyone chime in on why this is happening?

Are you following the exact steps described in the manual?

yes, i believe so, not sure what step i am missing :frowning:

Adding a new key signature?

Marc I have already placed Shift K at the beginning of the work to “atonal”, but Dorico is still not allowing me to implement a quarter tone accidental, which is what Luke had taught on the UDemy/SkillShare course.

But was that atonal tonality described as a 24edo tonality? I don’t know the udemy course, I am sorry…
I mean, you can search the forum, this question has come now and then. And usually, the problem is that people are stuck with a 12 edo tonality because they have not created a new one that is defined as a 24 edo :person_shrugging:

HI Marc, it’s the official video course that is provided on UDemy and Skillshare for Dorico. Regardless, Dorico is not allowing me to place a quarter tone accidental as it reverses right away to the 12 EDO. It should not be this complicated…

I can assure you it’s not complicated. You’ve just missed one step (which probably will totally make sense to you once you find it!)

Marc, it is very complicated, which makes Dorico more of an engineer PC (“right side of the brain”) mind vs. a creative intuitive person using Apple.

It’s not complicated, it is complex and deep. Very different.
Writing in 24 edo is quite complex too. But let’s not discuss this and try to get through this :wink:
From a very old thread (Dorico 1.0.1 !!!)

I don’t think the procedure has changed in 8 years

done.

Can you share your dorico file?

Myth’s Sway.dorico (806.3 KB)
sure. bar 23 is where I am trying to put a quarter tone (24-EDO Stein-Zimmerman) on each downbeat.

I’m sorry, it’s time to go to bed here, I can’t go and use my Dorico pro (and I’m not sure I can do this on the iPad). But probably someone will chime in and solve your problem in no time !

Hi @brianjmark, I hope this is what you are looking for (I am not an expert of Tonality systems at all). I made a short video with the (very easy) needed steps:

And here with the Stein-Zimmermann 24 EDO…:

Thanks for your video, i really appreciate the time you spent to show me how to do this, but unfortunately it’s still not working. I watched your video twice. ALSO, i do not want a double bar on that bar where I want to put the quarter tones. Is there any tech support for Dorico that can solve this? If I won’t be able to implement quarter tones so freely (and I am not an atonal composer, but I like to create quarter tones in tonal music), I will have to finish this project in Finale…

are you talking about the bar-line?
Select it and apply a single bar-line.
Either by choosing it from the bar-line panel, or - if you are fluent with popovers - select the double bar-line, click Shift-B and type | and Enter. | is the “pipe” symbol.

ps. I am just a simple user, enjoying the software.

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Hello everyone I am not sure what I typed/pressed but it’s working now. Something with the “Used in this Flow” with the extra invisible bar/measure icon did it?

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Be sure to not have anything selected in your score, before you touch the panel on the right. To deselect everything click Command(Control)+D

Then choose your tonality system from the dropdown menu in the Tonality System zone, from the right panel.

Then click on the staff icon in the Key Signature zone (not in the Used in this Flow zone !!!)

Your mouse will be loaded with the time signature, and you can click on begin of the desired bar, to apply it.

You can then select the double bar line and choose from the Bars and Barlines panel on the right, the single barline.

Here another video with a very slow alternative explanation:

And the Dorico file with the EDO 24 added (from bar 23):
Myth’s Sway-24-edo from bar 23.dorico (1.0 MB)

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Brian, I just answered you in another thread, where you had similar attitude, it’s not working, it’s definitely not working, oh it’s working, i don’t know why it’s working…
Best when working with a new software is to keep a calm attitude, so you can follow step by step, what people might contribute to help solving your problem. We all struggled in the beginning, even now sometimes, but it’s always a pleasure when we can get it to work.
You might tag the specific post that helped you as “solved” so other forum users with similar problems will see the solution right under your initial post.

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