Hi, I just recently got a Dorico because I’ve been annoyed for a long time with MuseScore, which stopped correctly interpreting and playing dynamics markers with version 4. I’m getting familiar with Dorico and, with the help of the AI, am getting through it quite successfully. But there’s one thing I’m not sure about. Dorico doesn’t play portato well, so my tracks don’t sound right in it. I don’t know how to get it to play portato correctly. I found how to set the length for stacato, tenuto or marcato, but for portato I don’t know how to do it and the default setting is completely wrong. Please advise, thank you.
Which instruments and sample libraries are you using? Ultimately, it will depend on what the sample library supports.
You can use any VST-based library, just as you would with a DAW, so the sky’s the limit – it’s not a limitation of Dorico per se.
Many people use Noteperformer, which is a library designed to produce phrasing from notation software.
Oooooooohh, careful now. You’ll find a lot more reliable help from the real people here on this forum, and the ones who make all the videos and Help pages.
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The target instruments are Pa5X and Kronos, either factory libraries or libraries from WavesArt or KApro premium. But that’s probably not important. I use the notation program to create the midi files I use in those instruments. I need a simple thing to make the portamento have the correct note length, like staccato and co.
Don’t worry, I keep things simple. How to change the name of the instrument, how to change the color of a note, things like that. I know what I want to do, I just don’t know how to deploy it in Dorico, and AI is the fastest way to find out. If the AI doesn’t know, the manual will tell me. Except for the portamento, I’ve always been successful.
Portamento is not the same as Portato.
So what MIDI signals trigger portato for those? A Key Switch? Have you told Dorico to send that KS?
“You say Portato, and I say Potato. Let’s call the whole thing off.”
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Ah, but was portato meant or portament… oh?
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I do find the definition of portato to be a bit nebulous.
Here is a dodgy line from Wikipedia:
" Portato is defined by some authorities as “the same as portamento”.[6]"
As a string player, portato is simply the subtle separation of notes under a slur.
Portamento is sliding between notes (partial glissando), which was very fashionable in the early 1900s.
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The option should be under Playback Options > Timing > Note Duration > Tenuto.
Paolo
I don’t think that is necessarily correct. A library may have a specific portato articulation (which would need to be triggered by the expression map). Also portato might be notated as staccato under a slur.
And here I though portamento was the red thing they stuck in the hole of a pitted green olive. 
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What AI, may I ask?
If I had to guess, probably ChatGPT. Everyone loves to talk about it these days.
That’s a portabello.
No, a portabello is what dock workers install on the dock to blow sailing ships out to sea.
(Sorry, it’s late: I’m gone!)
Hmmmm, this thread is rapidly heading toward the portapotty!
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Perhaps it a sign that we should all be studying partimenti, to uncover whether it is portamento or portato that makes a good potato.
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That setting is only needed when a library doesn’t have a dedicated articulation. In this case, there isn’t.
Paolo
Yes, it’s my mistake.
The discussion here has developed in a particular direction that I do not understand. It may also be national customs and different musical education in each country. Let me quote a paragraph from a Czech music textbook:
Staccato means shortly, separated; the notes in a melody are played shortly, with dashes between them. Staccato is marked with a dot above or below the note, sharp staccato is marked with a wedge. A staccato that is not too sharp is indicated by a horizontal line above or below the staccato dot. The midpoint between legato and staccato is also indicated by the terms non legato and, in instrumental music, portamento (portato, portando), which may also be indicated by horizontal commas or dots below the arc. In singing, portamento means something quite different, it is similar to glissando.
So what do I see under the term portato. To me, portato is a designation of a length of notes that are played in such a way that they clearly separate the notes, but are not played as short as staccato. For a quarter note, this corresponds to about 70 to 75% of its length. And that’s the output I need in a midi file.