Instrument names function in score setup is totally useless in its present implementation

Hello,

after some months I did not work with Dorico at all I end up frustrated after one hour of a score setup which I would have done in another program in 5 minutes.
Webern, Sechs Stücke für Orchester op. 6, III. Satz, Mäßig:

I try to do it in the way how UE did it 1956. UE is not the worst publisher out there…
Not possible (instrument names):
Trumpet Staves: 1.2. at staff 1, 3.4. at staff 2, “Trompete in B” located vertically in the middle of these labels.
Not possible (Violoncello):

  1. Hälfte at staff 1, 2. Hälfte at staff 2, Violoncello located vertically in the middle of these labels (no instrument name at all as a staff label).
    Same with Contrabass (sic!).

It is not possible to get rid of the section numbering at all (group players), to move them to different groups does not change the numbering. A space to change the name has an ugly result (names are not aligned any more) and does not help with 1. Hälfte, 2. Hälfte etc.
Instrument names is definitely not flexible at all. The intention of Dorico is clear for me, but since this function is not totally flexible, I have no use for Dorico - sorry to say that…
Or am I not aware of an easy, quick way to change instrument names as I have described it above? Shall I perhaps leave instrument names empty and add some graphics instead? Does this work? Is that less time consuming than a setup in another notation program? What do you think? ( I don’t want to waste more time trying this workaround).

By the way, german is quite a common language in music engraving, and german composers are not among the least important ones in musical history. Yet there was obviously no intention to get help from real professional german musicians to have a proper translation for Dorico… Yamaha seems to have not enough money to hire someone for this task… Sad.

As we can see, someone like Webern had his very own way to label his instrument staves. Something like that is totally ignored by Dorico - how long does this program exist now, and how much did one have to pay for all updates from version 1 to version 3.5?
You should become more professional in all regards, not only in specialized setups for some musicians worldwide…

Sorry to have to write such a strict verdict - I hope you understand my frustration. See you again at version 9.5, perhaps these problems will be solved by than.

The centred numbering issue is fixed by setting the Paragraph Style for Staff Labels (inner) to be centered rather than right-aligned.

The cello/bass issue is the same, isn’t it?

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is that what you want to do ?

In this example, the violoncello are done using instrument names editing (not easy)
The kontrabasses by using the divisi feature. This much more easier.

Great - I knew there should be one or more solutions available.
Yet I would love to override the automaticisms :wink: of Dorico in a much more easy way, like double click and typing what you want to write - gotcha.

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Actually, centering staff labels - while great for divisi situations such as the celli and bassi - is no good for condensed solo players. It borks situations where there are only two condensed players and both appear on the same staff (e.g. a Clarinet 1.2 situation).

On the plus side, I see that the Layout Options on the iPad version have more control over staff labelling, which would indicate that these changes, at least, will come to Dorico 4 on desktop. You’d still have to compromise on the centering of instrument numbers, and without Engraving Options (on iPad) I can’t tell whether automatic transpositions now work correctly in German (e.g. B vs Bb and H vs B).

@dspreadbury I note that the Engraving Option for condensed players to be appended by a full stop - e.g. Clarinet 1.2. - doesn’t appear to work.

Nothing is totally useless.

In which case, you would have written “I’m having trouble finding a way to do this, can someone help?”, instead of “this is totally useless, how much have we paid, should be more professional, etc, etc.”

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