Most important feature requests for Dorico 4

While we’re on feature requests for Dorico 4, I’m hoping for a kind of QuickView function, so that one can view and identify [at least] the first page of a file without having to load it into Dorico. I’ve requested this before but I think it’s worth adding here.

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I’m also hoping for better beam angles when 32nd (or shorter) notes with beams within the staff are involved. For this, the distance between the beams would need to be increased very slightly, much less than the setting in Engraving Options. This has also been discussed before.

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I typeset music from manuscript all the time, and it never occurred to me to do this. But then I’m not sure I’d want to, because the size and spacing in the manuscript are likely to be completely different from my score, and I wouldn’t want the score to end up looking like the ms, which might end up far too squashed or loose.

OK, it’s easy enough to remove all the Breaks when you’ve finished checking, but that’s another step to forget about. Currently, my spacing out a flow requires either one or two Breaks near the end, or a change in Note Spacing at the start.

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Generally I do this only to make it easier to check my work against the original. When I’m ready to do my own layout, I remove the breaks. This takes almost no time at all, as I have keyboard shortcuts for filtering for breaks.

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IIRC there’s some knotty reason for System and Frame Breaks not being in Write mode, to do with the fact that the same music could appear multiple times in separate frame chains within the same layout. Breaks are not just layout-dependent, but also frame chain dependent. A compromise is made in SE and Elements on the basis that it’s impossible to create multiple frame chains in a layout in those flavours or Dorico (though it’s possible to open files that already contain those sorts of things).

The term “galley” goes back to the printing press. Type would be laid out in sticks which would then be arranged in a galley. See Galley proof - Wikipedia for instance (or better, the Process section at Letterpress printing - Wikipedia)

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It’s amazing how quickly such terms get forgotten. One used to get galley proofs of books, without page breaks and printed on long rolls of paper. Some of us still use EMACS for creating text, which does not divide the text into pages, rather than a program like Word, which has the ability to make text look sometimes more glamorous than it deserves. I wonder if the same applies to music.
David

This is one of my top wishes too. I’ve mentioned this quite a few times before too, but the current way Dorico handles instrument changes is simply wrong in the jazz and Broadway fields.

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+1 for me too. Perhaps some of these can simply be migrated to Paragraph Styles where this is already possible. Additionally for some items like System Text, I’d love to be able to set a default distance from the staff. As of now Engraving Options/Text just has one setting for all text items. As I’m generally using larger and bold type for system text vs standard Shift-X text, it would be great to be able to specify an additional spacing offset for it.

A few more that I hadn’t seen mentioned yet in this thread (although I may have just missed it). These are mostly minor frustrations that I still encounter all the time.

  1. An option to automatically select any tuplet bracket if a note in the tuplet is selected. I can’t recall ever wanting to copy a note’s pitch without its duration, so why discriminate against tuplet notes? Musically it makes about as much sense as discriminating against dotted notes. I often get jammed up using Select More or drag selecting and neglecting to get the tuplet. If not discovered until later on, it can be a huge time consuming mess to sort out. I would just like an option to always select the tuplet automatically if a tuplet note is ever selected. If I ever don’t actually want the tuplet for filtering or something, then put the burden on me to deselect it. I would just find it much safer to have it always selected by default.

  2. Option to turn off chord symbol MIDI input. I never use this, yet I have to waste time to keep leaving chord input to figure out the correct alterations, then restart chord input. I’d love to just be able to turn this off and be able to play my MIDI keyboard while typing in chord changes.

  3. A toggle keycommand for Write mode display. There are only 2 options, Galley and Page, and I inevitably always hit the wrong command. If I’m in Page clearly I’m trying to go to Galley and vice versa. A toggle view command would be very useful.

  4. Some sort of way to change the goofy layout name defaults. Has anyone ever actually seen a part labelled “Trumpet (B Flat) 1” that wasn’t created in Dorico? Obviously these can be edited, tokens work too, and I can save a template to start from, but it would be nice to be working from a default setting that someone would ever actually use. Maybe there is now and I don’t have my defaults set up correctly.

  5. Bar repeat option to always show the count on the final bar. Sure, sometimes I’ll want to show a count every 4 bars or something like the current Engraving Options setting, but I’m almost always going to want to show a count on the final bar, as that’s the bit of information the player needs the most. As of now I have to edit the properties to show this when it would be great to have a setting to have this happen automatically. An additional default setting could be allowed to not show it if it’s only a single repeat (or under x times) as it is unnecessary in that situation.

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Does still seem quite odd as a choice - I would struggle to proof things in galley view…

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Traditionally galley proofs were printed on one long strip of paper. I suspect that’s the reference.

I’m the same way. It’s easiest to scan for mistakes when the two scores are laid out the same. I will insert the breaks and then delete them for final formatting once I’m sure all the notes are correct. I will often print out the manuscripts too, and number the measures by hand so I’m doubly sure. Sometimes I will also verify measure by measure, and cross the measure out once I know it’s correct. It’s always a God-send whenever the original has a regular layout like 4 bars per stave…

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Hey pianoleo - what are you doing with the “u” key there? How did you split the note up?

The u key is the shortcut for cUt. The scissors tool. It allows to cut a note in two where the caret is placed. You can also cut slash zones, etc…

I always thought it was (t) for tie and (u) for untie… :wink:

Do read up the thread - the two messages immediately above the video explain exactly what I was doing with the U key.

Ah missed that bit thanks

Edit: ZOMG so useful.

Since this is becoming a list of desiderata for the next version, I’ll add one of mines: add a Prefix to the playing techniques (now only a Suffix is allowed in the Properties).

Paolo

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Why do not include the magnetic attach of dynamics to notes?
So far, when you add or delete bars the dynamics are moved according and it’s ok.
Looks like while using INSERT mode, the note shifts left or right (it’s ok) but the dynamics do not follow the note where they were attached.

That’s because until now, dynamics are attached to a rhythmic position, not to a note. Note that uou can input dynamics at any rhythmic position using the caret (something new users don’t know), the behavior could be related to this.