Learning Dorico

Hey Lapieuvre,
I just thought I’d share my experience with you, for a bit of encouragement, as I think it is very similar to your situation.
I also don’t find Dorico intuitive, but I don’t think that is a knock against Dorico. It’s a very complex program and amazingly quick and powerful, and easy to use, but you have to really learn it. I used Finale and Sibelius through university 20 years ago, and finally ended up staying with Sibelius for many years, because like you, I found it was easy to jump in when you had been away from it.

With Dorico, when I was starting, I became very frustrated because there seemed to be a lot of new terminology, that seemed like Dorico took for granted I would understand, especially for editing layouts, and the like. And even still, I feel like the layout side of things, and how to edit the look of things could be better explained, despite the wealth of wonderful tutorial videos and ample documentation.

So, although I am a bit of a manual-phobic person, I bit down on my mouthguard, and just went in and persevered with the learning materials.
I still have frustrations with layout stuff, but Dorico is easily the best and fastest.
It just has a huge wall to climb before you get quick with it. I found that when I admitted to myself that Dorico wasn’t intuitive, and I wasn’t going to learn simply my messing about, then I really got things going.
It’s well worth the perseverance.

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Aleos,

Thanks for this. And thanks to all of you, on this forum. It is the most dynamic forum I’ve ever seen.

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Just a thought. If you are likely to forget the detailed mechanics as you come and go, can I suggest you focus on the basic workflow needed to write for your style of music and not be overly concerned about engraving details? Dorico does a pretty amazing job without much intervention! Over time you will forget less and be more comfortable tweaking settings. And you can always ask for help here.

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I started this thread in august 2023, seems like it was last month !

I’m getting better with Dorico, but still not pro level. I even start to enjoy using this app.

You guys here are the best forum helpers I have ever seen on the whole internet.

Thank you for your help !

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