I’ve been hesitant to start a new topic for this question. At first I wanted to add a reply to this very interesting discussion, but since my question is also about a seeming inconsistency in the way the setting is applied, I decided to start a new topic.
I’m engraving a piece that contains both f sub. and sfp very frequently, and I ran into the fact that Dorico prohibits using both dynamics in the same project without having to set an override in the Properties panel for one or the other, each and every time you enter them. Ideally I’d like the Appearance of subito for forte setting to be set as follows:
Because, well, sub. f is the only option that actually means subito forte.
When the above setting is set to sub. as in my screenshot. Dorico thankfully still allows me to enter sf without changing it. However, when entering sfp, Dorico turns that into fp sub. which not only is a really silly dynamic as the sub. after fp is completely redundant (I’ve never seen that in published music either, but that might be just me), but I don’t get why sfp is autocorrected while sf is not. Also, this doesn’t work the other way around - if I choose sf as a default setting above, I can’t input f sub. without Dorico changing it.
So my question about the actual functionality of the setting is this: is it intentional that typing sf is still allowed when having the Appearance set to sub. in Engraving options? If so, why does that not extend to other variants of the sf dynamic (such as sfp)? And if this is indeed intentional, what is the purpose of the setting at all?
Kind of FR
In general, the very existence of the Appearance of subito for forte setting is puzzling to me. It’s very frustrating not only because of the repeated interruptions to my workflow it’s causing me at the moment, but also because, as has been pointed out in the thread I linked to above, the existence of that setting seems to be based on some weird misconception that sub. f and sf are the same thing, which they are not. So to squeeze in a kind of feature request while I’m at it: if that setting can’t be abandoned altogether, adding a third option that comes down to “don’t change what I enter” would at least solve the practical part of the problem as that would leave my sub. f’s and sfp’s alone.