Newbie questions, coming from Musescore

Dorico
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I’m a current Musescore user, evaluating Dorico as a possible alternative. I appreciate the free SE version as a way to evaluate buying other versions. I have a friend who swears by Dorico, for me, the main attraction is real time MIDI input, also the possibility of finer control over playback. Some of my questions may be affected by the fact that I’m evaluating using SE rather than a fancier version.

I’ve experimented with Dorico for a couple hours, getting real time input to work, but encountering numerous questions. Here are some of them:

Is it possible to set the count off duration for record?
Is it possible to set the metronome sound or volume?
Is it possible to loop a few bars in playback mode like you can in Musescore?
Is is possible to control how an articulation like staccato affects playback? In Musescore it shortens the note. It’s not perfect but it is useful.
Is it possible to control functions with CC controls from a MIDI keyboard. For instance, setting note duration in step record, starting and stopping recording in realtime input mode?

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Welcome to the forum, Andrew.

Is it possible to set the count off duration for record?

Yes, in Library > Playback Options, which is not included in Dorico SE, but is included in Dorico Elements and Dorico Pro. There’s an option for this on the Click page of the dialog.

Is it possible to set the metronome sound or volume?

Yes, again, in Library > Playback Options (Elements/Pro only). You can also manually override this in Play mode by selecting the Tempo track at the top of the track overview, then assigning a different VST instrument in the Routing section of the Track Inspector panel. However, without the Playback Options dialog you can’t influence what MIDI pitches are sent for the click.

Is it possible to loop a few bars in playback mode like you can in Musescore?

Not really – Dorico doesn’t yet directly support looping in playback.

Is is possible to control how an articulation like staccato affects playback? In Musescore it shortens the note. It’s not perfect but it is useful.

Yes, Dorico allows complete flexibility in how this kind of thing is handled. The default MIDI playback effect of staccato is to shorten the played note by 50% (up to a limit). This, too, is defined in Playback Options.

Is it possible to control functions with CC controls from a MIDI keyboard. For instance, setting note duration in step record, starting and stopping recording in realtime input mode?

Yes, you can assign Dorico commands to MIDI notes and controls on your MIDI keyboard. However, Dorico doesn’t currently allow you to set different commands to e.g. specific values for a particular CC.

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@Andrew_Voelkel
While Dorico SE is a great way to introduce oneself to the program without a time limit, realize that a 60-day trial is available for the full program, Dorico Pro, which (by using modifier keys on opening) can give one a taste of Dorico Elements as well.

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For looping, it is easy to put temporary repeat barlines around a passage and set a large number of repeats.

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Thanks for all the help. I’ll download the free trial because I didn’t see a lot of these options in the SE version. It’s too bad about MIDI CC - on my little Oxygen there are a bunch of buttons perfect for this and a transport control section as well. That works well with Musescore.

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Putting in temporary repeats for loop is kind of a hack IMO, extra time spent, but I guess it would work.

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Search and you will find many discussions on this topic.

Also be aware that you can select a note and hit P to play, then hit P again to play from the same place, so you create a manual loop of variable length. And if you use ctrl-click to select notes from non-adjacent instruments, only those selected will play… (all this and more is very useful without the need for loops)

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