Hello guys!
I’m wondering how could I record in real time swing or shuffle music parts avoiding a lot of tuplets being written?
Should I set rhythmic feel to swing in the timing options in play mode and then record?
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Dorico doesn’t currently have an option to interpret played swing and write it out straight, but it’s something we hope to add in a future version.
In the meantime if you set quantization to straight 8ths - no triplets (either before, or after recording by subsequently selecting/re-quantizing specific notes) it should notate entered swung 8ths as straight. You could then select any ”actual” triplets and quantize only those to “8ths - triplets” after the fact…(all perhaps needless to say) and then insert a tempo text of “swing” for playback…
D.D.
Looks like Dorico 4 didn’t solve the problem.
I am struggling a lot even with step inputing swing rhythms…
I feel you
But aren’t swing rhythms entered as straight 8th-notes? I can see the difficulty in playing them in that way, although playing around with the quantization settings should help achieve what you want, but step inputting 8th notes is very simple.
Or am I misinterpreting what you’re trying to do – are you trying to notate swing rhythms other than as regular 8th notes with the instruction “Swing” over the first bar?
the attempt here is to peofrm swing parts live with midi keyboard and have them noted properly on the score once the recording ends
at the moment Dorico can’t interpret swing recorded parts and write them “straight” on the score
What happens if in Preferences/Play/Quantization you set the quantization to tell Dorico the shortest note value you’re entering are 8th notes and not to intepret tuplets? Uncheck “fill gaps” and uncheck “detect grace notes” – I’m not in a position at the moment to try that but logically that seems like it should get the results you want.
the point is to keep the recorded swing performance in the playback while having the right notation in the score; if you quantize it you loose the swing 
But can’t you get that back by instructing Dorico to swing? I guess I’m not all that up on playback issues because I use Dorico for notation and only use playback for “proof-listening” and am not concerned with turning out prime-time ready recordings.
you could but it’s not the same thing for several reasons:
1 - according to your method you should play “straight” swing/shuffle parts which is akward and unatural OR you should write note by note in stop time and this would take much more time.
2 - you would miss the actual feel, since the “swing” instruction is not as good as a human being, so it would require additional editing and time to make it sound right
3 - Dorico can be used as composing tool as well therefore being able to achieve a realistic feedback and representation of what you’re writing is essential
4 - being able to record live and transcribe automatically swing parts would spare you a lot of time (like it does for “straight” music parts) and it would also allow you to realize good sounding demos without the need of working on cubase afterwards.
When you do jobs for jazz big bands or similar ensambles you are required to send score, parts and audio.
I understand that this feature may be hard to implement but for “modern” music production/composing would mean a lot expecially for those people who rely on music notation rather than “midi piano rolls” and write for big ensamles
all of the above is valid for composing and arranging projects that imply a creative process
if I just have to transcribe a part, most of the time the swing instruction would be enough
No you don’t! As long as you keep Preferences > Play > Preserve note positions ticked, the music will be visually quantized without loosing the timing. I’ve recorded a lot of swung eights passages in Dorico, and it works great.
The problem arise when there’s a lot of eight note triplets, because when you set the quantization settings to “Detect tuplets”, the swung eights are notated as quarter+eight note tuplets. I think the missing link is a special mechanism for that particular rhythm that doesn’t avoid all triplets.
But really - set your quantization setting to eight notes and disable tuplets, and it will take you very close in many situations. The absolutely brilliant requantization feature handles the rest.
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Yes I tried that and as you said, it works well for eights notes but not for tuplets.
Anyway, a part from that, there is a bigger problem, expecially for drum parts or instrument that make extensive use of playing techniques.
the applied playing techniques are quantised, fixed and uneditable; the performed notes are not quantised, hence most likely the notes won’t display the playing technique applied and the playback won’t play it correctly
for instance, a drum groove recorded live with closed hi-hat and open hi-hat playing technique won’t play as expected
To make sure that the playing techniques are applied correctly to the notes, the solution is to quantise the midi events…but and that point you’ll loose swing feel as I said before
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