OK, unlike other score programs I’ve struggled with, Dorico doesn’t seem to support note entry with Apple Pencil. It doesn’t respond to pencil taps onscreen, nothing. Am I doing something wrong, or does the program lack Apple Pencil support?
Hello, there are a few threads on this, for example this one:
No support yet.
Hello and welcome to the forum, @markbohrer56
What’s worse, I have lost my expensive Apple pencil, and I can still input my music into Dorico for iPad..
Just joking, music input via pencil is not (yet) an option on the iPad version of Dorico (nor on the other versions). You can use the onboard piano or guitar keyboard, or if you have an external keyboard (whether it is a real keyboard or a midi keyboard or both in combination), that’s also an option.
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Working away from the piano or synth with an iPad, every other notation program I’ve used allows you to tap notes into place (and multiple notes in vertical chords) with Apple Pencil. (Mine has ridden in a magnetic carrier on my iPad case without getting lost for years.)
I only switched to Dorico when Finale was discontinued. I’m not as musically active these days. But when I have ideas away from the keyboard, I want a program that allows note entry somewhat like using pencil and scorepaper.
Guess I’ll be using (Fender) Notion for this. It’s clunkier than Finale was but I can tap in individual notes where I want them.
I use StaffPad sometimes for arrangements, then export musicXML to Dorico if I need it to look nice 
(Similar: if I need to type a letter or document, I often use a simple text or markup editor then layout/format in another program to get to PDF.)
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Thanks, that’s very helpful. Just paid for StaffPad after looking at reviews, and went through the in app tutorials. Seems pretty great, and much more like writing out a score by hand - only quicker.
My mentioning StaffPad was not meant to be any kind of advertisement for it as I was assuming you would be using Notion, which works quite well. StaffPad has not been updated for a long while (years) and many users are wondering if it will ever be updated again. I have purchased many of the sample libraries for it, and find the audio rendering quite good for my purposes (sometimes exporting the audio stems into (Nuendo) a DAW, to add other tracks, singers etc. and mix).
Glad you worked through the tutorials and have it working. I use it for basic arrangements, it lacks much of what Dorico (etc.) offer, but for iPad as is your use, and assuming you do not want to get too sophisticated/complicated, I hope it works for your purposes.
You might not know, it was an independent app, but a few years ago, purchased by the Muse group and as I understand it, Musescore incorporated the StaffPad playback engine where each of the sample libraries available are tightly interpreted for better realism.