Posssibly a feature request (of sorts)

to get playback from a specific point, I have to select a note or rest on a specific beat.

if I just click in a measure, it will solo that staff.

there are scores where there is so much material on the page, and items are relatively visually small, that it actually gets difficult to click on only one single items at the specific point we want.

Might it be possible to have one whole measure selected and still get full playback of all instruments?

maybe to assure the capability of having solo playback of a staff one could have to select two bars of music?

So select one entire bar, everyone plays back from that point.

Select two whole bars (or material that crosses a barline?) and you get ONLY that single staff playing back.

this would certainly make getting playback easier for me. I don’t know if others have a faster way around this particular issue. If so, I’m all ears.

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+1 for this request.

The task of ā€œclicking somewhere and have full playback from thereā€ could be made a bit easier, as there are some obstacles that can prevent this:

  • The hit area of a single note is (of course) quite small.
  • You want to click a note, but the note is one of many tied notes, so the click does not register at all.
  • You want to click a note, but since you are in Page View and condensing is on, the note is not clickable. (While the one in the next staff, which looks exactly the same, is…)

Maybe we could get a modifier for the ā€œpā€ shortcut that will always play the full orchestra?

Thanks :slight_smile:

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I often use the click a bar to solo that instrument technique, so I personally would not want that behavior to change. It’s just much faster than selecting two bars, or some other region. @Estigy’s suggestion of a modifier for P seems like a good idea though. Add some modifier key for playback and always get the full ensemble regardless of what’s selected.

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Yeah, I also would not want to change the current state.

As a mnemonic I’d use this:
Smaller-case ā€œpā€ for listening to the small ensembles, upper-case ā€œPā€ (Shift+p) for the big ensemble :smiley:

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the modifier suggestion doesn’t fix the problem with having to click a tiny spot that can be difficult to hit at times, or (as Estigy mentions) impossible to hit from write mode when a score is condensed.

the problem is being able to start playback from a specific measure.
even with a shift-p or just p choice for playback, one would still need to be able to actually select a spot from which to start.

For example, in my 2nd symphony, it’s very difficult for me to begin playback while looking at my woodwinds/brass, because those instruments are all condensed, meaning none of them can be used as a ā€œselectā€ point to begin playback. I have to scroll to the bottom of the score to the harp or strings, whichever happens to be showing at that particular spot, to select a note, then hit play and rescroll up through my page while playback has already begin.

I’m actually fine with condensed staves not being editable.
But it would still be practical to be able to select a note, even if you can’t actually affect that note in any way while in Write mode.

maybe select a note from a condensed staff and have it change to some other colour, which indicates that it cannot be edited? but at least allows you to begin playback from that point?

If you want full playback from a particular measure, why not click the barline in front of that measure and then press p?

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You can click on the bar line and play from there. It also needs an accurate click but at least you don’t have to scroll down first.

Generally the solo playback behaviour relies on you having selected multiple different types of items on the same staves (to accommodate the situation where you’ve selected two notes or a chord, for example).

You can also click in the ruler of the Key Editor or in Play mode to move the playhead, or even double-click in the same places to start playback from the mouse pointer position.

There’s additionally a key command to move the playhead to the earliest selected item, and then you can start playback from there with or without anything still selected.

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precisely, it takes a precise click.
this is simply not always possible.
I have a slight shake to my hand on some days, and find it very difficult to click on thin or small items.
I would just like a slightly easier, less finicky way of selecting where playback would start.

Lillie: the key editor takes up screen real estate.
Play mode is not my score, it’s a DAW.

I’m using a scoring program, and pretty much only working from page view (write mode).
I like to see the notes I’ve written.

I mean, I can live with it if no one feels that Dorico needs any sort of improvement on this point.
But I was just making a suggestion that would, at least in my case, make life a bit easier.

Those who want solo payback of one staff have it easy… it’s VERY easy to select everything in a bar, simply by being less than accurate. Click anywhere in a blank space or hit a beam, or select two notes that happen to be really close to each other…

I never (or almost never) need to solo a single staff.
So I find it frustrating to have to be ultra precise in selecting a single item to select where my playback will start.
I’d love to be able to just click in the blank space of a bar and get playback from that bar.

Not sure if this is what you need, but assuming you’re using a mouse to select the note, what if you had a hover feature where a circular area of magnification of that area enlarged the area several times, as if a small virtual magnifying glass is over the area then you can easily see where and what you’re clicking. ( i noticed this feature on my ipad, though it wasn’t in a music program)

I agree with the clicking small notes issue for sure. I don’t know the best solution, but some way of specifying the bar… maybe some way of specifying rehearsal marks or hit point? There could be like a list as there already is of hit points in a right pane, and you click a ā€œplay fromā€button next to them? Or a generic play from nearest rehearsal mark? Play from nearest bar line? I was gonna say play from nearest bar, but that could be misinterpreted by some of my friends. :slight_smile:

Make a bar selection using the system track (alt-T)

clicking on the system track does not begin playback at that point.

Finale has a setting to start playback from the leftmost measure.
left

I’m not sure if a setting like that would help here or not, but I find it pretty convenient. As I’m usually working more or less in the center of the screen, it not only plays back the section I’m working on but gives a little lead-in for context. It may be a nice feature to have in Dorico as you then wouldn’t have to worry about clicking on anything at all. Playback could just start from the left of the screen if nothing was selected. (Or the shortcut for leftmost measure playback was invoked.)

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…so you could click in the bar (everything is selected in that bar), then press right arrow or left arrow (just one note will be selected), and press P to enjoy your playback (of all staves). (It is just one click more, that would correspond to a shortcut with modifier).

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Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought you wanted ā€œto have one whole measure selected and still get full playback of all instrumentsā€?

The quickest way is to select that bar in the system track (you do have to click the selection box in the system track to make the selection) then hit P and all instruments will play.

I completely agree with this. Playback from Selected is cumbersome because it requires precise selection.

I would much rather have a separate, draggable Playhead Cursor which I can position in the score at my whim, and then hit a single command to Play From Playhead Cursor. This would not rely on Selection, and the Playhead Cursor would be easier to grab and drag (vs. clicking a specific, graphically-small element of the score).

To workaround this, I often add lots of Rehearsal Marks in the draft score, because these are easier to click, to make a Selection, and then use Play From Selected. (Much later on in score cleanup, I delete these extra Rehearsal Marks.) But this is still a workaround.

Often I like to start Playback from a location which is not currently on the screen. So, using the System Track workaround to select a bar in order to Playback From Selected, would first require the extra step of scrolling around to that page in order to locate that bar. Again, cumbersome.

Another workaround might be to use the Jump Bar, ex. Jump To Bar (ā€œb44ā€) or Jump To Rehearsal Mark (ā€œrcā€), to play from that new navigation point. But Jump to Bar isn’t a selection, so it doesn’t work to start Playback there; although, Jump to Rehearsal Mark does make a selection, so it does work (strange difference, isn’t it?).

I guess I am too used to the ease of playback from Finale.
This is one aspect of Dorico I feel could use some improvement.

ā€œit’s only one click moreā€ isn’t a solution when it’s already two clicks more than it should be.

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One way that I find useful is as follows: I have ā€˜Play’ and ā€˜Start or Stop Playback from last start position’ on two keys, next to each other - I actually use c & v for whatever reason as I’ve reassigned most default key commands. If you select a bar full of notes and hit ā€˜Play’, in my case ā€˜c’, then you will of course hear that instrument only, but I only have to hit ā€˜v’ (in my case) to stop playback and then immediately hit ā€˜v’ again for ā€˜play from last start position’ and this will play EVERYTHING, even if only the one bar is selected. I can keep hitting ā€˜v’ to stop and replay from the same position as many times as I want using this method (even if I’ve changed the note selection, or if the note selection has disappeared) and because the keys that I use are next to each other, it’s very efficient. Selecting condensed music is of course not possible this way, but even if you select a bar line, you can keep replaying from that spot with the same key command.