As a newcomer to Dorico and having previously used both Finale and Sibelius, I am finding this process extremely frustrating -the lack of a clear pathway for support. I have spent hours going through videos and conversations on the forum (and the manual) but some questions remain, such as my previously posted question about the way ties automatically remove other items that have been added. Can anyone advise how to contact someone from Steinberg who will actually help rather than relying entirely on other uses in the same position as myself?
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Apart from this excellent forum, you can forget about Steinberg. Trying to contact them, depending on what country you are in, is equivalent to searching for alien life in the galaxy, Iād say harder. In Australia they for you off onto Yamaha who not only NEVER reply but also know nothing about the product, based on the experience of people who did once get a reply. The same applies to some other countries. Forum members will always advise you to seek help here. There are a lot of very knowledgeable and kindly helpful members.
I always make a point of complaint about this case by some remote chance Steinberg employees may read this and do something about this unacceptable state of affairs.
Persist with the forum. Donāt forget it has a very powerful and capable search function.
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This forum is definitely the most reliable and fastest way to solve a problem. Not only do the developers read it, but also helpful and experienced users. To quickly find a problem that has already been addressed, it helps to do a Google search beforehand, e.g., āDorico pitch bends.ā
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Iād echo these comments. Use the forum. And donāt worry about asking simple questions.
Also, please do not use AI to look for answers. More often than not it will be incorrect and will confuse you more than enlighten.
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Can you please post a link to your actual query post?
Johannaās other post
You might like to continue to post in your other thread, clarifying for those who have been able to offer suggestions, so you get more specific answers. Sometimes it might take a few posts between each other, to clarify what you are asking, enough for anyone to help, otherwise some answering posts might be uncertain how or what to reply because they do not have enough information.
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Surely there is some way of contacting a fully experienced support team who can answer these questions straight off ? . It is a lot of time and work waiting for a response. And for some questions, I have spent a lot of time reading through the threads but the answers are still not forthcoming - like how to create the symbols for mallets in percussion? And the very frustrating way that ties interfere with other elements.
Thank youā¦
Having a support team that is instantly ready to answer any question, for tens of thousands of users, is a pretty tall order. You may have to wait a few hours for a response on this forum, but Iām not sure it requires any effort beyond waiting.
As said: ask your questions. Weāre all here to help one another. The team do read every post, but thatās on top of actually making the software and all their other duties.
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I think youāre unfortunately overestimating the size of the Dorico Team. I agree with @Juerg_Loeffler that this Forum is the best āHelpdeskā you can get. Next to the online manual
Thanks for answering -I greatly appreciate it. I will persist with the forum. It has just taken me by surprise that Steinberg is relying 100% on their customersā goodwill towards each other and not providing any support themselves.
Members of the Dorico Development Team (including @Lillie_Harris whoās responsible for the Manual) are frequently responding in the forum too!
You can identify Steinberg Employees by the steinberg logo in their Avatar
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Thanks for your advice - much appreciated. With the percussion mallets, I did read that thread in the link, and followed it through but it only takes you to pictograms of percussion instruments, not mallet diagrams, from what I could see.
Iāll try again or I might just try to import the images I need.
So if we have suggestions for Steinberg about how they could improve their product - is there any way that can happen - is there any avenue for feedback?
I think you would have already guessed by now, butā¦ The answer is: Post here in the forum 
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It might be best to create a seperate thread for spcific questions, making it easier to forum members to see whatās the issue.
Please provide examples of what you want to achieve, add a screenshot of an example from the liturature preferably.
Iām not sure what you mean with a āMallet diagramā.
Images of different types of Mallets (Wood, Yarn, Rubber) maybe?
Thanks - my comment about support was based on years on years of using Finale (and Sibelius), which had a more detailed manual and more expert support (directly from the company) when needed. And some things could be done in fewer steps than what I am finding in Dorico, but perhaps Iām wrong - just need to get a better grasp of the program. For example, in Finale, you could allocate a wide range of dynamics, articulation, and other elements to your own choice of keyboard shortcuts. I donāt think that is possible in Dorico? I have seen other comments about this.
But I can see the forum will be very useful, now that I have started getting some responses -thank you.
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Dorico has a very detailed user manual, and there are also many YouTube videos on the Dorico channel ā from short Quick Tips, through explanations of features like Note Entry, to in-depth lengthy sessions that explore various workflows.
There are lots of keyboard shortcuts built-in to Dorico; and thereās also the ability to assign or change any keys for any function.
Members of the Dorico team regularly contribute to the forum (You can identify them by the Dorico logo in their avatar)
Many things can be assigned to custom shortcuts (see Preferences>Key Commands) - admittedly not dynamics - but many, many features are far quicker to add than Finale/Sibelius using the popovers.
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Create a new Playing technique as in pic1. Name it and select type Glyph. Click the pencil to edit the glyph. Click the trash can to delete the text. Select rangeāBeaters pictograms, select the symbol you want, and Add Glyph. Click OK. Click the star icon in the lower left if you want to save it as default for use in other projects. Now you can select a note or rest in the score, and add it. You can use Shift + P with the popover text in the Edit Playing Technique dialog. A faster method would be to select a note, press shift + x to add text, right-click, and Insert Music Text. Find the symbol under Beaters.
Jesper
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Like in Finale there are many predefined keyboard shortcuts.
Dorico just works a bit different.
Letās compare the workflows to insert a dynamic
| Finale | Dorico |
|---|---|
| Select the dynamics tool by your custom shortcut (there is none by default) | select the notes |
| select the notes | Press SHIFT D |
| place the mouse | |
| hold the metatool key | |
| click | enter the dynamics literally even sequences like p<f |
OK, in Finale you can stay in the same tool for inserting more elements.
There are also shortcuts to quickly copy/move musical elements to the staff above or below.
As you are talking about shortcuts there are many procedures in Finale you canāt perform without the mouse/trackpad, much more than in Dorico.
Coming from Finale myself I can say that averagely the note input in Dorico is faster than in Finale using a MIDI keyboard.
With regard to Finaleās metatools: There are third party solutions like Elgato Streamdeck which provide keyboard shortcuts for almost all categories on a dedicated device or a phone or a tablet.
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