May I ask everyone a question? Is it currently possible in Dorico to work just like blank staff paper—free from all restrictions, ignoring standard music notation rules, and allowing me to freely write single notes and chords of any pitch and any note value? Besides, each staff line should be fully independent, unaffected by key signatures from previous lines, with no automatic prompts whatsoever. Simply put, I just want to use it to jot down my harmony study notes. All those score-based constraints and automatic reminders are really wearing me out.
You can write without a time signature, and if you keep Force Duration on, then Dorico will keep the note durations exactly as you write them.
I don’t think ANY notation software is “free” in this sense (as far as I know).
Aren’t you looking for a drawing program like Affinity?
Yes, I’m working this way right now. However, I still can’t hide or remove the key signature reminders at the end of each staff line. I’ve tried relevant settings to turn them off, yet nothing works. Though it doesn’t affect practical use at all, these extra elements make my notes look untidy with unnecessary clutter. I admit I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive, haha.
Use the coda trick? (insert a coda at the end of each system — shift R, coda)
Best answer, from @benwiggy considering Dorico 6
I tried the method, but it didn’t work. Following @MarcLarcher’s suggestion solved it perfectly. Thank you for your help!
So maybe give @MarcLarcher’s post the solution mark, so that future searchers can find the solution more easily?
Jesper
Sorry, I’m not a native English speaker. I use AI translation tools to communicate with everyone. I still haven’t fully figured out what many functions are for. I’ve updated and marked the correct solution in @MarcLarcher’s reply.
You could use a separate flow for each exercise, here.
Are you an official staff member of Dorico? If so, I’d like to share a few sincere suggestions regarding the software. I understand these ideas are unlikely to be adopted, as they would probably require a fundamental redesign of Dorico’s workflow and operational logic.
While Dorico offers extremely powerful, professional, and highly rigorous music notation capabilities, I believe many users share the same frustration I do: in some ways, it feels too rigorous and too professional — in other words, overly complicated. Users often have to memorize a large number of commands and constantly adjust various settings just to achieve what they have in mind. The learning curve is very steep, and becoming truly proficient and efficient with the software requires a tremendous amount of time and effort. In today’s era of rapidly advancing AI technology, I feel this creates unnecessary barriers for many users.
I also believe that most Dorico users are not professional music engravers. Many are musicians, arrangers, composers, producers, and recording engineers. There is no doubt that Dorico excels in professionalism and precision, but I still think there is room for improvement in terms of simplicity and user-friendliness. Based on my own experience, I frequently rely on AI just to help me understand certain settings and figure out solutions to various workflow problems. Admittedly, I am not a professional engraver and only have beginner-level engraving skills, but I don’t believe Dorico is intended exclusively for professional engravers. Restricting the software to such a narrow user base could ultimately limit its growth and wider adoption.
Therefore, I wonder whether it might be possible to simplify and streamline Dorico’s workflow, so users no longer need to repeatedly search through countless menus and settings. Alternatively, perhaps built-in AI features could be introduced. When users encounter operational difficulties, the AI could provide targeted assistance and solutions. Users would only need to input the core musical content — notes, dynamics, articulations, repeat markings, and similar basic notation elements — while the AI handles much of the remaining technical and engraving-related work automatically.
The AI could also identify non-standard notation practices and suggest automatic corrections when appropriate. In a way, this would resemble how classical composers in the past focused on writing music itself while dedicated copyists handled the tedious technical details, allowing composers to concentrate entirely on expressing their musical ideas and inspiration. I believe this is what AI should truly exist for.
Lastly, I’d like to share one additional thought. Nowadays, AI music generation tools such as SUNO are appearing in large numbers and becoming increasingly powerful. Many people believe musicians will eventually be replaced and that human music creation may become obsolete. However, I firmly believe AI can never truly replace musicians — especially exceptional ones. Only human-created music carries genuine warmth, deep thought, emotional complexity, and real-life experience, and these are precisely the qualities that resonate most deeply with audiences. Unless AI one day gains real life experience and genuine emotional understanding of its own, I do not believe it can fully replace human musicians.
That depends on your point of view, and what you’re trying to achieve. For me, the way Dorico works suited me right away despite having used other music notation software for almost 30 years. Sure, I’m still not an expert after having used it for over a year - there is much more to learn and discover, as is expected from a professional program - but I found getting into it and writing simple things that look decent (or even good!) to be easy.
While this forum is full of posts stating how difficult it is to get started with Dorico, I believe that I’m far from alone having the opposite experience. We who are happy with the program (and the excellent manual) just don’t have to vent or ask for help as much so we are not as visible.
I only partially mean to be snarky (because I hate AI for multiple reasons) when I say that’s part of your problem. You have heard about the research about what heavy AI use does to the brain? It might help you get a solution, but it’s not a good way to learn. Have you tried reading the manual instead? Or watch videos, if that’s a style of learning that works better for you.
Hi Steven, that’s a large body of text that (forgive me if I’m mistaken) reads like it’s been at least strongly adapted using AI.
Would you mind summarising this in your own words, nice and succinctly, to make it as easy and inviting for me as possible to read and consider your thoughts? Thanks.
Sorry, English isn’t my native language, so I rely on AI translation to communicate. Let me briefly summarize my thoughts.
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Dorico is an excellent, highly professional, and extremely precise piece of software. However, it has a steep learning curve and isn’t very beginner-friendly, especially for non-professional music engravers.
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I believe integrating AI into Dorico would be a game-changer.
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In my opinion, this is exactly what AI should be doing.
For most people who don’t earn their living from music engraving, learning a complex new program is always difficult. It requires a lot of time and effort, and truly mastering it is even harder. For many users, creating sheet music is just a secondary task alongside their main job.
For example, I work as an arranger. When clients request real string recordings for my arrangements, I need to convert MIDI files into proper sheet music. These situations are occasional rather than routine. In such cases, I need to generate scores quickly and don’t have time to figure out how to use certain features in the software.
In short: If AI can save users the time spent learning complex software, I believe it would be truly revolutionary — and this is precisely what AI should be for. Creators don’t need AI to generate cold, soulless music on its own. What we truly need is AI that helps us eliminate time-consuming tasks unrelated to the creative process itself.
I think you have to be willing to spend some time on this if you want to do this on your own. I guess if you go to the first steps, you should be able to produce sheet music good enough for human players.
If you don’t want to spend time, then hire someone to do that for you. An engraver.
Just as you hire the string players if you don’t want to learn to play the violin yourself.