I just realized that pretty much all my threads that I’ve started on here have been complaining about what Dorico lacks. Therefore, it might be a good time to take a moment to appreciate everything that it’s got.
I’ve been using Dorico since december 2017 and I can certainly say that the switch from my previous notation software is nothing I have ever have second thoughts of. The experience feels friction free and exciting at the same time, and its logically structured interface rhymes excellently with my workflow. I think the team pretty much has nailed what the world of music notation softwares needs in times like this, and knowing what it’s capable of it makes me glad to see that it’s got the positive attention it deserves. A big plus is also rewarded for the team members’ responsiveness on this forum and on Facebook, dealing patiently and professionally with our many questions and demands (do you ever get to sleep?).
Thanks for all your efforts and keep up the good work!
I tend to post with requests or problems too. I gave up reporting these to F…
Dorico has changed my workflow entirely. Working in F (which I still do daily) feels like going back to the 90s. Highlights for me: flows, cues, drum notation, Shift-I pop-up, and master pages.
The program is just brilliant and the team are brilliant.
On recent projects it’s the horizontal lines that have made life substantially easier for me, along with local note spacing changes, multi-caret entry and grouped playing techniques. In case it’s not obvious from my frequent presence here, I’m a huge fan of Dorico and the development team.
Side-note: I’ve had a couple of situations in the past few weeks where colleagues in the field have mentioned Dorico - I’m pleased to see that it’s gaining traction outside of this relatively close-knit community.
I’ve been using music notation software since about 1990, and now for the first time, besides my own work I find myself entering pieces into Dorico for fun - Bartók, Shostakovich, Bach, Beethoven - it’s such a joy to use, and NotePerformer is also incredible. One thing I just noticed a couple of weeks ago is when you stop playback for a large ensemble piece with NotePerformer, some instruments keep playing a few more notes, while others stop right away. It’s like rehearsing with a real group! I don’t know whether that’s intentional or not, but it’s delightful.
I’d also like to echo the praise for Dorico, especially how everything just works. I love that I don’t have to use hacks for something as common as a cue or trill note. I love how music flows and re-flows like text, regardless of the tuplets involved. I love that the default output is excellent, and consistent with the widely adjustable rules. I love how updates are so frequent and bounteous that my feature wishlist is essentially complete: at this point I’m anticipating improvements, and features that I want but don’t know about yet!
Dorico is hands-down not just far-and-away the greatest music composition software that I’ve ever used (previously, I’d used Sibelius, and Encore before that, and I’d dipped my toes into a few other such applications), it’s one of the finest software packages that I’ve ever had the pleasure of using in any category.
I’m especially impressed with its playback design and capabilities, which I had always considered woefully overlooked or incomplete in other notation packages. Dorico 1 offered good playback; version 2 was alarmingly better, and with version 3, they’ve just about nailed it. It pleases me greatly to see that this aspect of the application hasn’t suffered a fate prescribed by the sentiment of older/Luddite users who have commonly insisted that notation software should offer good playback only as a bonus feature, and that rudimentary functionality in that regard is always sufficient.
I can count on one hand the number of applications that it actually thrills me to fire up on my laptop. Dorico is at or near the top of the list. It’s an immense joy to use, and it’s even beautiful just to look upon. A true feat of design and engineering that I feel privileged to use.
