Kybd Sequence for Dotted-Quarter Rest?

Dorico
1

Sorry, I’m new to D and having lots of trouble/frustration with “basic” things…

How do you start a measure with a dotted-quarter note rest when manually inputting music?

I see “o”=force-duration, “.”=dotted-mode, and “,”=rests.
So when I move into a new 4/4 measure and type the sequence “o . , 6” - I would expect to get a dotted quarter, but instead… nothing.

What key-combination will let me just enter a dotted quarter rest?

(I can “retroactively” enter and then go back and delete a fake note, or move up 4-slots on the grid, input a note, and then go back and merge the automatically inserted quarter+eighth-rests but there has to be a better way)

Thanks.
(Mac Dor5.1 Pro)

2

The sequence should be “o , 6 . y”
Follow this with “,” if you need to input a note after the rest.

3

One possibility is entering the time signature 4/4 (with the shift-M popover) as [2+2]/4. I think that groups the beats the way you’re looking for, with a dotted rest at the beginning of the measure (assuming your first note is an eighth on the and of 2).

2 Likes
4

That works! Thanks for the help!

You know UX is not great when you have to type a 5-character sequence that only works in a specific order.
“y” isn’t shown in the interactive keyboard-shortcut page and while I do see “y” in the shortcuts-card under “Default Pitch” - what does that even mean? :unamused:

5

The order is usually important, although here you can press “,” after setting the duration with “6 .”

So, both “o , 6 . y” and “o 6 . , y” will work.

“o” turns on Force Duration
“,” tells Dorico to input a rest rather than a note
“6” followed quickly by “.” sets dotted quarter as the duration
“y” inputs the default pitch which, in this situation, has been set to be a rest

“,” after the dotted quarter rest has been input will set input back to notes

1 Like
6

You mean “,” and not “r”
R is used to repeat whatever is selected.

1 Like
7

Well spotted! Thank you.
I have corrected that last line in my previous post.

Slightly related - I saw some graffiti ages ago along the lines of
“Tottenham Hotspurs rule. OK”.
Following that, somebody had written
“Proofreaders rule. OQ”.

9

Also this entire thread is predicated on entering rests again. Next time try just entering the next note, and then there will already be a rest that you can more easily force to display a different duration.

This entry style requires a little backtracking, but to me it is far preferable to feeling you have to enter all the rests. I always work with implicit rests in grey, which I find not only helps me see which rests are explicit, but also lets me focus better on the notes because most of the rests fade into the background.

4 Likes
10

All the new Dorico users here are wonderful. I work in Dorico for hours every day, but I am learning a lot of new functions and shortcuts thanks to the great questions these power users are bringing.

2 Likes
11

I understand that that is the Dorico “approach” but the normal rendering would be a separate quarter rest and half rest - Not the dotted-quarter I was looking for.
Personally - going back and then forward measure after measure is not to my liking.