keyboard controller set up & interface

Dorico
#1

Hey there

I am a new user and setting up an external controller on Dorico Elements 3 for the first time. I have worked out how to select a note value and then play the controller, and then Dorico enters the notes on the stave, as I’ve played them, but only in the value that I selected in the menu (EG every note is a crotchet OR every note is a quaver etc). Is there any way to configure the settings so that Dorico will enter the notes as I actually play them IE with a variety of note values, almost like a musical version of dictation.

And - if there a setting whereby Dorico will automatically write and detect the chords above the save, as I play them?

Thank you

#2

You can use real-time MIDI recording, if you’re a skilled enough player, and play to a click. Select a staff and press Ctrl-R (on Mac, Cmd-R). You will probably want to set latency. https://www.scoringnotes.com/tips/real-time-midi-recording-in-dorico/

Dorico doesn’t have automatic chord detection, per se. You can select a vertical stack of notes, and Dorico will display the chord in the bottom left corner status bar.

#3

Dorico kinda does have automatic chord detection. If you type Shift-Q to invoke the chord symbols popover and then play a chord on your midi keyboard, Dorico will do its best to provide a chord symbol. These things are open to interpretation - it may be that (e.g.) you’re expecting an Am7/C and Dorico gives you a C6, but in my experience it’s still quicker to play and then correct rather than to manually type chord symbols in.

#4

Yep, and you can also play the chord, THEN the bass, which might be more accurate in those cases.

#5

Dan,
Did you mean play the chord and then the bass, or did you mean play the chord (in the inversion you want) and then re-strike the root?

(Or do both methods work?)

#6

AFAIK the chord recognition uses the notes in any order.

The recognition problem is that “C/A” is the same notes as “Am7”, and choosing between them is pretty much a guess. But if you play a C chord without an A and then an A bass note, there is no guessing involved.