I have a large orchestral score which has traditional orchestral tempo markings that are meant to be visible (e.g. Allegro, Presto, q=120, etc.)
But I created a custom tempo map for playback in my DAW, which has beat-by-beat small tempo changes to make it feel more human. It has a ton of subtle speed changes.
How do I import this custom tempo map into the Dorico score, but NOT show any of it visually, but only use it for playback? I’d like to leave the traditional markings visible, though.
Honestly, I would duplicate the file, use one for the playback (with the imported tempo track) and the original one for the notation…
Perhaps like this:
-duplicate the flow
-in the duplicate, filter all tempos and suppress playback
-clear tempo markings from the original
-import tempo map to the original (I have had more luck just importing a full midi file with all tempos and time signatures included)
-hide all (new) tempo markings
-copy and paste the supressed tempo markings from the duplicate
Thanks for these replies. @MarcLarcher that’s a decent suggestion but now requires me keeping the two copies in total sync with each other manually, as I continue to make changes. Hmmm.
@SampoKasurinen I’m not sure I fully understand, but you’ve got my brain working on if there’s a way to have them both within the same flow…
Yes, you can have them both in the same flow (visible tempo changes with suppressed playback and hidden tempo changes for playback only).
I would recommend duplicating the original flow only as a backup for the visible tempo changes. You can delete it after the process is done and everything works correctly (and looks correct).
Ah. Now I think I understand what you’re saying. I will have to try this delicately (on a copy of the file).
@SampoKasurinen your solution is GREAT and worked really well. I just have two follow-up questions:
When you wrote “hide all (new) tempo markings” I did this in the Properties panel, by unclicking “text shown” and “metronome mark shown.” Is that what you intended? Or is there another or better way to do it?
Second question: once those things are hidden, I can’t figure out how to re-enable their visibility if I need to make more changes to it. Since those two options are disabled, they’re invisible, and I can’t figure out a way to select them in order to make them visible again. I tried selecting all then using Filter > All Tempos, but when I do this, the two options for “text shown” and “metronome mark shown” aren’t available.
Let me know if this is unclear and I can make a screen video showing the issue.
Hi! That is great to hear!
I guess you have the signposts turned on and you can still see these hidden tempo markings? They become visible again by changing the properties in the properties panel. But these properties are different for gradual tempos and immediate tempos, so perhaps when selecting all tempos all properties are not shown?
This is the way I would do it, I guess the duplicate flow acts as a kind of “filter” between the old and new tempos.
Be aware that different programs treat “rit.” and “acc.” differently: a “rit.” made in Dorico takes actually longer than a “rit.” drawn in (for example) Logic Pro. For this reason I usually suppress the playback of “rit.” markings and use instead a “ladder” of hidden immediate tempo markings.
@SampoKasurinen thank you so much for following my saga!
I started a new thread because this has become a slightly different question. The new thread is here: Importing a tempo map and complications arising
The crux of the separate thread is: when I import the MIDI file’s tempo map, some tempos are imported one way (as a visible marking) and others are imported as signposts. I’m trying to understand why that’s happening, so that I can have control later over each type of tempo marking in my file (visible, invisible, for playback, for visual display).