More Newbie How To's

Dorico
1

I’m trying hard to be intuitive, think like the developers, read the manual, search the forum, etc. Still having trouble with some things that just don’t work the way they’re advertised.

I have a 4/4 measure with quarter note, dotted 8th, 16th, quarter. quarter. I’m trying to change the 2nd beat to 2 eighth notes. (At this point it would have been insanely easier to delete the notes and re-add them, but I KNOW that can’t be the only solution. I want to learn the RIGHT way.

I looked up in the manual “Changing the Duration of Selected notes”

Select one or more notes.
Activate a different duration on the notes panel or press its key command.

I select the dotted 8th and 16th.
I press the 8th note on the panel (or press 5)
I get quarter (beat 1), 8th, 16th rest, 2 16ths tied, dotted 8th, quarter. Apparently when it changes the dotted 8th to an 8th, it “saves” that dot space and makes it a rest, then it changes the 16th to an 8th, so it has to decrease beat 3 to fit.

What I want is: take all the notes I selected. Make them all 8th notes. NOTHING Else! Don’t add anything or move anything. Just change the note values! If I had asked to make them quarters, I would expect it to affect the subsequent beats and measures. But dotted 8th + 16th = 1 beat. 2 8ths = 1 beat. Fair trade. Change it!

By the way, I tried this with the Rhythmic Grid Resolution set to both 8th and 16th. Same behaviour.

Please help. It can’t be this difficult. I’m willing to change my ways. Just tell me how. Thanks.

This is one of many. I will start other threads I guess for different topics.

2

BTW, is there a way to post little graphics in here? It would have been a lot easier to clip in a pic of the notes rather than describing them. Thanks.

3

Just a tip… Changing note values behaves differently when insert mode is active …

4

For posting graphics: if you click on the “Post Reply” button at the bottom left, there is an option for uploading attachments (.jpg, .gif and .png allowed).

5

What I want is: take all the notes I selected. Make them all 8th notes. NOTHING Else! Don’t add anything or move anything.

You are asking Dorico to move something: the 16th note, back a 16th.

6

Fratveno, That was it! I was not in insert mode. I don’t really understand the logic behind the different behaviours, but being in insert mode creates exactly the result I wanted. Thank you SO much!

7

In Insert mode, Dorico is allowed to move things (or does not create any rest when not told to). In normal mode (insert off), Dorico tries to leave untouched the beginning of musical events, when possible. This is how I see it, maybe not that accurate, though…

8

Well, let’s not confuse a beginner even more by talking about how chord input mode interacts with insert mode. That can get weird.

But insert and overwrite modes work the same as a word processor or text editor. In insert mode, the following music gets moved left or right to make space for what you just changed. In overwrite mode, it doesn’t.

9

That’s a GREAT way to think of it. Thanks.