hi there,
Dorico always seems a little arbitrary about playback – sometimes when I select a note, it’ll play back the whole score; other times it’ll play back just that staff.
Sometimes I’ll select a note and press P and only that staff will play; then I’ll stop playback, hit P one more time and the whole score will play.
Is there any reason behind this? What am I missing?
thanks!
For the first scenario you’re describing: might look like just one note, but you also have another element selected as well, like a slur. If there are multiple elements selected, P plays only that staff.
I typically press an up or down arrow if I’m not sure. It changes selection to just one item, and P plays everything them.
For the second: never heard of that.
What you are missing : if you select one note (only one, and no slur…) Dorico will play all instruments from that note when you press p. If other stuff or multiple notes are selected, you engage solo mode. You can make Dorico play the instruments you want this way 
One way you can be sure that the whole ensemble will play back is to do Alt+P to move the playhead to the position of the first selected item, then hit Space.
Another way I often use is to select a bar line before I press “P”
Right. But that’s a 2-step process.
The thing is, working on a large score all zoomed out, it’s actually pretty hard to select just one note.
If I’m working with a harp part, for instance, I’m mostly working with chords.
If I"m working with a violin part, I’m mostly working with slurs.
The likelihood of me hitting multiple notes is over 70% in either case.
Is it possible to assign perhaps a different playback shortcut for playback of solo versus playback of tutti?
(For example P for playback, Control-P (seems unassigned on Mac) for solo playback).
Alternatively, I propose that you reverse the behaviour - or at least give us the option to do so in settings.
Which is to say ---- if only one note is selected, that will play tutti.
But if more than one note is selected, play solo.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Again, it’s quite easy to click, then hit an up or down arrow, which will select only one item.
If you reverse the functionality, you stand just as good a chance of getting the wrong playback, since you may well select only one element by accident when you click.
I find that when I’m working with a full orchestral score zoomed out to full page height (I have an external display in a vertical rotation), the chance of me clicking a chord in a harp part is 90%; the chances of me hitting note in the violins and the slur it’s attached to is also about 80%. I would still vote for having an option of having a shortcut for solo vs. tutti playback, and/or for reversing the current behaviour or at least to have the option.
It doesn’t hurt to have options, does it?