keyboard controller set up & interface

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

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. Real-time MIDI recording in Dorico - Scoring Notes

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.

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.

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

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?)

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.