Import audio files

Will Dorico be able to import audio files in the future?

This has been requested before, and is on our wish list for future versions. However, I can’t say when it will be implemented.

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Actually, I want to use Dorico to orchestrate something basic that I made in Logic! At the moment, it seems the only way to do that is to import an audio file into Dorico. If there are any other ways, please let me know!

Did you try either exporting midi or musicXML (score) or are they not what you want?

I haven’t used it much yet, so I don’t know, but I feel like the results of Logic’s new features like the piano player are not something that can be expressed in the form of sheet music. I think it might be possible to convert it to a MIDI file, but I think an audio file would be the quickest way.

I think importing audio is a very important feature. If I can import the audio I need in the Playing Tab column, I can listen to the audio and record the score in the meantime, which will be much more convenient, and I can also adjust the speed of the score changes. Much thanks~

You can do it using a video file. Use some external app to create a video with your audio file that matches the requirements from Steinberg and attach it to your flow, and you’ll be able to work with an audio file and notate whatever you need alongside it.

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Yes, I just tried this method. But the video need to contain sth, instead of a black video.

So, I think if the audio file can be imported into Dorico in a track, and the pattern can be dragged(like DAW, logic pro), it will be much more convenient.

The feature request is well known to the team. See Daniel’s response in post #2 above. For now, since a blank video doesn’t work, he gave full instructions for a method here:

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I just find a tricky method, as video shows. The solution is to use ACE studio, in the mean time, I can also use AI singer to sing lyrics with Dorico.

Awesome!!!

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How do you send the lyrics to ACE studio?

And can ACE studio be opened as a vst instrument inside dorico?

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No, I write the lyrics in ace studio.

Yes, but I am not sure if lyrics can also send to vst, maybe not.

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I see! It looks very interesting! It would be amazing if there was an efficient way to at least copy the lyrics from Dorico

For anyone wondering, this is from the ACE Studio manual:

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One question: If you change the tempo in the middle of the piece, does the sync remain correct (with ACE Studio)?

I’m wondering if it uses timecode or beats/tempo BPM (?) for sync

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I guess, it may only uses timecode for sync.

If you are interested, maybe you can give it a try?

Yes, If you could try that (adjusting the tempo in the middle of the piece), I’d be very interested!

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Aha, so glad to see you mentioned ACE Studio here! I’m co-founder of ACE Studio and I’m learning Dorico now. I’ve never tried using ACE bridge vst in Dorico before, your video really inspired me!

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Currently ACE Bridge VST can only send the master output of ACE Studio to DAW (like Dorico, Cubase, etc.). MIDI & lyrics in Dorico cannot be sent to ACE Studio via the bridge. We are planning to upgrade the VST for ACE Studio to allow MIDI from DAWs, including Dorico, to be sent to ACE Studio. However, it’s still uncertain whether lyrics can be sent, as it seems that Dorico’s MIDI does not contain any lyric information. I am thinking that supporting the import of MusicXML into ACE Studio might be a better solution.

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I’m interested in how you achieve the sync between Dorico and ACE studio. Do you use timecode for that?

It would be very useful if there was an efficient workflow to import the lyrics and tempo map at the same time from Dorico to ACE studio (perhaps with musicXML?)

Dorico’s score can be exported as MIDI. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with MIDI, but simply put, it’s a digital representation of musical notes (including information like pitch, duration, tempo, time signature, etc.). Exporting MIDI from Dorico and then importing it into ACE Studio essentially means importing the written score into ACE Studio. The next steps would be to manually input the lyrics and generate the AI vocals. I happened to make a video yesterday to demonstrate this process.

We are developing a feature to support importing MusicXML, which will allow you to export MusicXML from Dorico and then import both the notes and lyrics into ACE Studio, eliminating the need to manually copy the lyrics.

However, these sync methods are non-real-time and require manual operation. We are still considering whether there could be a real-time sync method that doesn’t require manual import and export.