Any tips for those of us who have inbuilt muscle-memory of how one Program works…
Just bought Dorico as my old version of Sibelius refuses to work properly on my new Mac.
But the learning curve is vast for someone who could race around the Sib Keyboard Shortcuts. Things are just not the same …
Not so much a trick, but an encouragement: when I went from Sibelius power user to Dorico, I was amazed not only by how quickly one can develop the new muscle memory, but even more so by how quickly one can forget all the movements that one thought are an integral part of one’s self after years of usage. If I opened Sibelius today, I would have to start from scratch.
Starters:
Simply inputting notes is quite a challenge in Dorico for old lags…
For starters I’m inputting a piece of J S Bach as I am learning my way around the program.
It’s in 2/2 time (half common time) but the layout automatically groups all notes together under the one 1/2 note (Minim) - I don’t like that. How can I split this up into per crotchet (1/4 note) - makes it easier to read.
Thanks
Good points - thanks for the encouragement.
Didn’t I just say that, but from the Notation Options?
Jesper
Acceptance is the first step! It will take some time to get acquainted and back up to speed. I think it took me about 2 months to ‘get’ everything and be reasonably proficient.
There is a huge number of video tutorials, excellent documentation, Quick Start guides, etc, etc.
Some users from another program have tried to make Dorico behave exactly as they are used to; but invariably that illusion falls down at some point, and they end up confused or stationary.
Hi John and welcome to the Forum.
You may well have already done it, but you can change Dorico’s keystrokes for note entry so that they mirror what you were used to in Sibelius. FWIW I did that when moving to Dorico from Sibelius back in 2016 and I’m still using those same keystrokes today. That approach might well apply to other Sibelius Keyboard Shortcuts you’d like to continue with.
A trick I found helpful, as recommended when I was starting out…
If things are not working as expected, it can be frustrating. Step back from the immediate problem, and spend some watching a video or two, or read the documentation, with the aim of understanding the overall design philosophy for that area.
It’s hard sometimes to make the time for that, but it can be a great help.
I can’t emphasize this enough. In the long run, you will save tons of time by working with the program instead of against it!
To add onto this sentiment: Dorico has remarkable internal consistency. Once you learn how a thing works, other things tend to work in a similar fashion.
