Playback Project VS Notated Project

Dorico
1

Hi again,
I strongly believe in project-based learning and weaponizing your imagination.
What do I mean by that? Well sometimes I like to pretend I have projects I need to get done even though I don’t.

Sounds silly but when it comes to learning all sorts of software this method can be quite powerful.
So here is what I’ve done:

When I used to make arrangements for my band with Musescore I first had to make a “Playback Project” that I could export to MP3 so they had a good idea of what things were supposed to sound like. That meant every single note was written so they could sound on the output file. Then I would save the project as a different one then start converting it into a “Notated Project”, Eg what the players would actually see on their page (Slash notation, chord symbols, things that the notation software wouldn’t necessarily play back).

Since I’m relearning Dorico and didn’t know which was more practical to start with, I decided to begin with the playback one. Here are my questions:
1- Can I make it so that the repeat bars repeat more than once?
2- Can I make it so certain things only play on the second time, or only at the last time?
3- Can I extract the chords into text automatically? (So I can save time not going into each chord one by one just to see what they are)
4- Can I hide certain bars from showing up in the individual player parts? (In the project the first bar serves only as a count-in. I can just delete it in the Notated Project, but it would be more elegant to just hide it)
5- I want to change the positioning of the dynamics and text, how do I do that?
6- How do I make it so the text goes over the barline, instead of having both overlapping?

I’m uploading the project for those who want to take a look at it. Note that I have taken the opportunity to also learn how to attach my own VST instruments instead of Dorico’s default, so some things might not play right away.

funk1.dorico (1.1 MB)

Thanks guys :slight_smile:

2

Do you mean you want to have one bar of music, and then it be played for (say) eight successive bars? If so, yes, just drag the right-hand circular handle of the bar repeat region to extend it over more bars. Described here.

[quote=“GATO_ARABE, post:1, topic:757852”]2- Can I make it so certain things only play on the second time, or only at the last time?
[/quote]

Unfortunately not at the moment, no. This is something we plan to add in future (but not in the forthcoming Dorico 4.0).

Not easily at the moment, no, but you can select a chord on a single staff, and Dorico will show you the implied chord symbol in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

You can’t hide bars directly, no, but you could split them into a separate flow, and then include that flow only in the full score but exclude it in the part layouts. In Playback Options you can change the amount of time Dorico pauses between playing one flow and the next from 5 seconds to 0 seconds, so that Dorico will play the count-in and then immediately start playing the first full flow.

You’ll need Dorico Pro to move items graphically by arbitrary amounts. If you’re running Dorico Elements or Dorico SE then Engrave mode is not included. (In Dorico Elements 4, which is coming soon, you will be able to edit items graphically in Engrave mode, but still not in Dorico SE 4.)

Do you mean the fact that the “(2nd time only)” text is colliding with the staff above in galley view? If so, this is only a problem in galley view, where Dorico doesn’t move staves further apart automatically. If you switch to page view you’ll see it’s OK. If you want to make the staves a bit further apart in general in galley view, there’s an option to do that on the Vertical Spacing page of Layout Options.

1 Like
3

Alternatively, if you mean you want a repeat barline to indicate that the phrase preceding the barline goes around more than twice, you can do that.

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4

Cool. That did, however, generate a “Play X Times” text that I’d rather not have. I’ve looked for ways to hide that text but to no avail.

5

Assuming you’re using Dorico Pro, go to the Repeat Count section of the Repeat Markers page of Engraving Options, and you can disable them there. You can also hide them for an individual end repeat barline by setting the Count location property to Neither.

6

Hi Daniel,
Aren’t there ways to simply select something you don’t want to be seen in the score and just toggle the visibility? If not, is this something that we can expect to see in a future version? Thanks,

7

No indeed. And the reason is logical: Dorico is designed around semantic notation, the idea that as much as possible everything on the page has a meaning that can be interpreted for playback and export and reformatting.

We do have arbitrary staff text – and that you can hide, along a few other types of things that may need to operate without being seen on the page. But it is expected that notations in general should be visible. (Of course many aspects of playback can be adjusted without affecting the score.)

8

He already answered that question, but also gave you a possibility how to hide them generally.