The anacrusis bar is used just to get the (visual) different time signature.
There are other ways, but it’s usually the easiest, and makes sure all the normal alignment/spacing things happen.
Thanks again!
Before I forget: do either of you use Dorico in connection with Cubase? Is there any integration between the two? For example, can they be somehow ‘linked’, so that an action in one is automatically created in the other?
Down that path lies madness.
Notation software is not a DAW, a DAW is not notation software.
The fundamental mismatch is that in a DAW, time always moves forward, so it really can’t cope with things like repeats.
Yes, that has always been the reality . . . I was hoping against hope.
I used to use the Score editor in Cubase (still do, occasionally), and – if I remember correctly, it did playback repeats (but my memory may not be that reliable anymore!).
Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that Dorico handles nested tuplets very nicely, so, for instance, if you’ve got some sort of polymetric stuff going on with e.g. a 7/8 bar against a 4/4 bar (using tuplets), there’s no limit to then using further, visible or invisible, tuplets within any of those measures.
The Cubase vs Dorico thing is tricky, though. Fundamentally in Dorico the notation is king and the piano roll view is a visual overlay, whereas in Cubase (and other DAWs) the piano roll is king and any notation is a visual overlay.
Thanks, pianoLeo – that’s good to know!
BTW – tho’ this may be easy or irrelevant stuff for you guys: my website – www.thinkingmusic.ca – has numerous (free) analyses of jazz and classical harmony (and other things), if you’re interested (a way of reciprocating your kindness here today!).
Thanks again!
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I just want to clarify two things here. I am sure that if a DAW can manage to loop during recording that during playback it can be made to respond to notated markings that prescribe moving to a different bar of the music. And I presume that some or all do this already.
I believe @pianoleo’s point in this thread that the way in which MIDI editors and notation editors relate in Cubase is different to how they relate in Dorico is an important one. However my suggestion to overcome these differences - instead of DAWs and music notation apps continuing to function as separate worlds - and as part of making the creation of apps which are a combination of the two viable (and PREFERABLE!) - all apps could instead have PARTS - or some word that is neither track nor stave - with each part containing potentially any one or more or all of the following components - audio, MIDI, and notation, - with these different components being potentially separate but potentially linked. This doesn’t stop a music notation app showing the notated components of parts by default - or the DAW from showing audio or MIDI - or both - by default. So for example when recording monophonic audio the app could be told to automatically use the audio data to create MIDI data (alongside - not instead of - the audio) - and to also do its best to create notation from the audio (lengthening note values) or not. And partial dependencies could exist - such as all pitch changes in the MIDI data affecting the notation but not all rhythm changes - and all rhythm changes in the notation affecting the MIDI data - or if someone cares less about notation - they could choose the reverse. This ensuring that the user can have whatever priorities they wish. Rather than discuss this suggestion here - and change the original intention of this thread - I am about to include this idea in a new thread which I will soon post in which I suggest that as part of moving towards unity that a universal file format - which includes audio, MIDI and music notation - be created.
Hi pianoleo,
I’m reaching out to you because you state it is easy to organize this but I am still finding my way with Dorico 3.5 pro and want to organize my score with a 3/4 and 6/8 hemiola, but something seems to be locking the staves so that when I change the meter for one staff, all staves show that meter. It seems that something is locking the staves regarding meter (I’ve tried setting properties as “local” but that doesn’t seem to apply to meter… I’ve tried the Youtube clue Independent polymetric time signatures in Dorico 3.5 - YouTube of highlighting one note on each stave and pressing shift M…but I get the same result for all staves._
Any chance you’d have a moment to provide some guidance? Roz
Normally, time signatures apply to all players/instruments at a time. If you want to enter a different TS on a certain staff, hold the option key on mac, or the alt key on windows, when pressing return after entering the TS in the popover panel.
AHA! Thankyou! - Holding the alt key down was the magic clue! Thanks for responding so fast, I can de-stress now:)
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Sorry about the bump.
A slight gotcha with the local meter for polyrhythms that align: Cannot get it to work within divisi. Specifically, if I have e.g. 6/4 against 6/8 in different instruments, everything lines up correctly just using local meter, and time signatures are displayed in the correct places. (Actually, I have 7/4 against 7/8 but let’s stick with a 6 numerator in this case - same result). If, however, I have 6/4 against 6/8 in a divisi section, the bar lines, spacing, and beaming is still correct, but it will keep displaying the upper time signature - 6/4 (or no time signature, if the no other signature changes in this measure) - for both divisions.
On the surface, to this (admittedly optimistic) software developer, it looks like it could just be a slight oversight in the functionality. Or it could be that the shared time signature in divisi is hard to get around.
That said, Dorico’s handling of polyrhythm is already way beyond what I’d expect! 
(First time I’ve had real use for it)
Any ideas/suggestions about how to get around the incorrect signature? Hiding it will hide all the other 6/4 signatures (including in other instruments) too. So, any better way than hiding it, adding a 6/8 in its place and then adding 6/4 back manually on all the other staves? (the actual project is a full modern orchestral score).
Example: Here, violins I.2 are set locally to 6/8, in exactly the same way as the violas.
It’s a bit hacky, but if you can precede your actual divisi with a pseudo one slightly earlier, the local meter becomes possible at the desired position.
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That looks brilliant (although I’m not sure why it works, I can see it does) - bit hacky, sure - but much less hacky than my own idea. Will try it out later on the actual score Thanks!
ETA: Works perfectly in the actual score too, with no side effects. 