Hello again! I am a new user, and to make matters worse, I am 79 years old and not too “technology savvy.” (Thus, an OLD new user!!! )And to make matters worse than worse, I do not have the greatest memory! So when I do something, I cannot always remember how I did it or even how I found out how I did it. I was using Musescore Studio to write some arrangements for my piano students. I got pretty proficient at using it, but the only thing I do not like about it is that I cannot hide the staff lines for my very young beginners. That’s why I thought I would try Finale, which I have since learned is Dorico, so I’m trying it out.. However, I find this program very confusing. I will go to Help and find instructions that may say something like “go to page layout…” Then I go back to my score, and for the life of me, I cannot find anything that says “page layout!” This is just one example. So – trying to figure out exactly where to go and what to do has been a nightmare! It even took me forever to find this dialog box. Is there any kind of easy “CHAT” to ask questions and get immediate, easy instructions?
Sorry to write a book to explain myself, but I thought someone might take pity on this old lady!!! Fortunately, I do still have a good sense of humor.
My latest question is something I did earlier, but I cannot remember how I did it! Here it is… I’d like to remove the staff lines so that just the notes show. Can anyone help? Remember, I need simple instructions; then I will copy and paste them into a document so that I can go back and read them time and time again!!!
If you think this program is just too much for this old lady to handle, just tell me. I promise my feelings will not be hurt too awfully much. I won’t do anything too drastic – just mope around for a while!
Just to be clear: Finale is different from Dorico! Yes, Finale is discontinued and many (most? wise?) users have happily moved over to Dorico.
I’d say your best bet is not to try and work things out as you go along. Rather, search for some of the many tutorial videos online - like those by Steinberg’s own Anthony Hughes - and follow them at your own pace, asking us here about anything that puzzles you.
Dorico is rich, immensely rich, in features; it’ll pay you to work slowly to become familiar with its overall structure then perhaps delve into specific areas only when you see where they fit into Dorico’s extremely well-designed whole.
Even highly-experienced previous users of Finale (which is now defunct) and other notation software have had trouble switching to Dorico. So you definitely will have your hands full learning this new program. However, new things are good for the mind, so I think you should at least give it a chance by experimenting and watching the help videos.
To answer your direct question. Dorico does not have a easy way to remove all the staff lines. However one may use the following special file that someone created and appears online, which apparently produces that effect. I attach here for you to double click to download to your computer and open and use. You can change the given time signature to any one you want, once you have figured out how to change time signatures. This is the last help I can give you right now. So maybe others will chime in to continue to help you. There are some very kind users on this forum.
No, but posting here will usually get you instructions reasonably quickly.
Unfortunately, removing staff lines is not simple in Dorico. @John_Ruggero has posted a file above, but I don’t think it gives you a reusable solution. Here’s one way that other users have tackled this issue.
Your user configuration files for Dorico are under c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Dorico 6 if you’re on Windows, and /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steinberg/Dorico 6 if you’re on Mac. Inside that folder, create a new folder called DefaultLibraryAdditions (one word, no spaces).
If you’re starting a new project, you can add a new player with the 0-line instrument. Or you can open an existing project, expand the player card for your player, click on the three dots next to the instrument name, choose Change Instrument, and switch to this 0-line instrument.
I know these aren’t the simplest instructions, but if you get stuck, you can come back here and let us know how far you got, and someone can help you further.
If it’s any comfort to you, I started using Dorico when I was 81 (moving from Sibelius) and I am very happy with it. This forum is wonderful - they will help with anything. You do seem to have picked a slightly tricky question for your very first; most things turn out to be really easy once somebody points you to the right options to use.
Gutchie, I am with you. I will turn 84 years old, as of tomorrow, Sept. 29th. I was a pen and ink music prep (copyist) who started copying music in high school and college in early 1960’s. It wasn’t until 1995 when my middle school son got into computers. He helped me get some computer skills, and I purchased my first Finale. I had 30 years on Finale. Went to Dorico 5 Pro/6 Pro and really like the program, even though it is much different. I mainly do 17 staff big band charts, so, turning out playable parts for the players, plus hearing a good playback to fix wrong notes before the gig is a requirement. I need to do more with learning the basics, as some, above, have suggested. There are great power users over here offering support to senior citizens like we happen to be. This might help. Anytime I have a question, I will try AI (artificial intelligence) for help. I copy the answer on my computer and select the steps, go to Word and print it, and make a booklet of all of the “helps” to go back to if I forget. Yes, I do forget, also.
Good luck with Dorico.
Denver “Denny” Seifried
Bass Trombone-Dayton Jazz Orchestra
