New user needs help to get going

I get this

Yes. Click Add to finish adding that guitar then look,down to the lower right to the Layout Options icon I circled in the screenshot. Read up on the Layout Options, too. There’s a lot there.

Welcome to the forum @DigitalEd !

Sorry you’ve encountered some frustrations, but I’m confident you can get answers to your questions and moving along in no time.

Other users have pointed you to Library > Layout Options > Players > Fretted Instruments already, but that (and this page in the manual) is how you choose whether to show just notation, just tab, or both tab and notation for each player who’s holding a fretted instrument.

You can set this differently for each layout – for example, you could have a guitar just show notation staves in the conductor’s score, but both notation and tablature in the part to help the player. They both show the same music, just in those two different presentations.

Make sure you’re in note input first – meaning, the caret is active on the guitar’s staff. Then you can click, and the pitches you click get input onto the guitar’s staff.

(A quick note about the manual – the Operation Manual for Dorico is more like a reference, we segment our manuals so that as much as possible, all you need to know about a specific action or dialog is on one page, and you can just jump in and out of the manual to the pages you need. You’re not expected to read it cover to cover!

You should find that each topic has sufficient context and metadata to come up reasonably well in searches, and have related links at the bottom of the page to relevant information. If that’s ever not the case, e.g. you can’t find something or you don’t know what to call something, just post here and someone will help you.)

@Janus if you’ve got that bookmarked, I’d recommend reviewing it: the popover PDF for Dorico 4 has been updated.

You’ll always (or should, at least) be able to access whatever the latest version is via the latest manual version’s landing page (e.g. here for Dorico Pro 4).

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Of course. Dorico is a sophisticated tool. I found the same to be true when I started using Finale 30-40 years ago. The first goal is to learn where everything is. Feeling “comfortable” is a whole other matter. But learning the logic of the program gets easier with experience.

Then there is always the “ten thousand hours” rule. :woozy_face:

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How do i set a VST sound to each different track.
So I can have one sound for the guitar track and a different sound the bass track.?

I looked at the manual help and I don’t get it I changed settings and nothing works to change the sound for the bass track?
I have unify loaded in two times each with a different sound set.

There’s essentially three steps.

  1. Load your VSTs in the VST and MIDI tab
  2. Route your Instruments to the correct VST in the Track Inspector (check the channel numbers are correct)
  3. connect an appropriate expression map for each instrument (click the ‘cog’ icon)

For more detailed control you will have to create expression maps that connect playing techniques (a mark in the score) used by that instrument to playback techniques (an instruction the VST understands)

I don’t see a track number of each track the guitar and bass have no track number on them I see. I tried changing the track number and only channel 3 port 1 works.

Also I am getting a droning ding ding ding sound that keeps playing when I press a key on my keyboard that is not part of a VST sound I can even turn off the VST sound and I still get the ding ding ding going on


?

Also I now no longer have playback the top left play controls are now grayed out?

I don’t have Unify - so can’t help further.
What happens if you use the Dorico default playback template?

If you select your instruments/players in Setup mode, Dorico will assign different instruments to the tracks for you.

I found the ding ding sound it was an instrument in Logic I also had open and I got the playback working.

Will see if I can assign the different tracks. This is turning into another long day trying to get simple basic things done.

I have them set up in setup mode but I do not see anything about it setting up track numbers for them to use for each sound?

All playback setup is done in Play mode, not in the Layout Options dialog. You’ve already been to all the right places: you add the VST plug-in(s) you want to add to the rack, which you find by clicking the VST and MIDI button in the left zone in Play mode. Once you’ve loaded your VSTs, you click Track Inspector to see the routing controls for the selected track. Select the track in the track overview on the right-hand side in Play mode to see the routing controls for that track. Under the Routing heading, choose the plug-in you want to use, and set the port and channel as necessary. That’s it.

I have VSTs loaded and set but still see no way to make each one work for each item guitar and then bass.
I see the routing I set the plugin and it dose not work on the Bass track I get the same sound as the guitar track.
No place dose it show what track is what - no number on them and in routing no place dose it say guitar or bass to pick. - I can change number but it dose not work.
This is the most disappointing program I have ever got that lacks straight forward ways to use it for everything I try to do. I no longer have the time to deal with this. Other programs work like you would expect.
I am done with this and will be asking for a refund back. Other programs I picked up for Black Friday deals I can use right away.
I got Dorico to be a way to do things faster not slower and have it as a stand alone program with a matching iPad version,

In my business I work with media for a living for over 30 years now i go from photo editing programs to graphic editing programs to video editing programs to music making programs and have had no problems learning and using them.

I just can not get Dorico working for me. Or see how it can work for me when I need to use it at times quick to get something done when I want to. It would not be a every day use program maybe once a month or once a week use program.

My goal here was to at times use Dorico quick to create some lead patterns for guitar or other sounds or full parts of a song I may be working on or come up with something new. I would save it out as midi to then use in Logic Pro right away as I make it into a full song. I can not see how this will work in my work flow now that I see how it works.

I should have spent a lot of time with a demo and then I would have not got it as soon as I could see it had no loop feature for one. But I rushed in to get the sale price.

Once you have loaded your VSTs, you switch to the Track Inspector to assign each one to each channel:

Shouldn’t this be:

“For more detailed control you will have to create expression maps that connect playing techniques (a mark in the score) used by that instrument via playback techniques (a “link” as it were between score markings and keyswitches) to the keyswitches the VST understands.”

I’m sorry that your initial experience with Dorico hasn’t been a smooth one, @DigitalEd. I suggest you book a session with our product specialist John at a mutually convenient time and have him walk you through a few of these things one-on-one. You can find out more and book a session here:

I am all ready moving on I signed up for a month of HookPad to try. I had paid for Dorico in place of trying HookPad I see now I should have tried it first.
In HookPad I was about to add chords. Make a lead pattern, Pick music sound and style. Save out as midi and and score and load it into Logic Pro all ready with out reading any help files or needing a special session with some one to help me get started.
This is how Dorico should be easy to use from the start with things that make sense what you look at the interface. So HookPad is doing what I was expecting Dorico to do and doing it right away.
I need to make quick lead patterns or chord patterns. In days I was not able to do this in Dorico but in Mins I was able to do this in HookPad. And it has looping easy to see button in the interface making it easy to edit your notes and chords and keep hearing them play back for you edit them.
It may not have all the advanced features of Dorico but I can get work done in it and start using what I make right away VS not in Dorico.
It also shows me chords that work with each other and a great feature you tun on that shows you the notes line in colors that will work best for the chord style you pick when creating your lead or melody line super easy. I have to say I am really liking it.
I have sent in a request for a Dorico refund I can not use it like this. It is not fast and easy to use as it should be. I do not want to dig in a hundred menus to find something that should be on the main interface to easy click on. I would only be using this once a week or so maybe even once a month at times so it would be like starting over every few weeks that I would want to use it.

DigitalEd, I’m glad you found the right tool for the job and I’m sorry it took a little painful experimentation. Good luck with your musical endeavors!

— Jason

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