I’m inputting a whole chain of triplet sixteenths that need to be slurred together in groups of three. Because the notes are so close together in Write Mode, when I try to grab them with the marquee tool I either select just one or two of the notes or else the entire chain of notes is activated (they’re beamed together in large groups of 4 or more triplets)-- I can’t get just the three I want even at 800% magnification. I know that I can just put a slur on the beginning of each group and then go to Engrave Mode and use the handles to move the right end of the slur to the third note (and, by the way, is there a command to snap the slur to the new note head destination?), but the piece has dozens of these figures and that’s a lot of editing. Is there something I’m missing about slur input?
Hard to suggest without an image. Can you click on the first sixteenth and then CTRL-click the third before pressing “S”?
Depending on where you are in the workflow, of course, but I once exported an xml and entered all slurs in Staffpad with the pen, then exported back 
Another possibility is to enter the slur during note input. To start a slur press s, enter three notes, (the slur length will be automatically adjusted), and the finish the slur with shift+s.
Thanks for this.
We really need a hardcopy manual for a program this complex. Even though I have used SCORE for over 20 years, I still need to keep the 350 page reference guide on my desk, and I expect Dorico will be no different even after (or especially after) I master it.
But if you had a hardcopy manual, it would be out of date in two weeks…
Is this a way of telling us that there will not be a manual?
Even a hardcopy guide to basic entry – i.e. things that are not at all likely to be changed – would be of help.
In this time and age, surely, the manual need not be hardcopy, but I think it’s a fair request that it should be fairly comprehensive and uptodate. So far I’ve certainly learned more about how to use Dorico by reading posts on this forum (and getting fast replies to “stupid” questions) than by consulting the documentation (or the video tutorials)
The bottom line is, in order to learn new software fast these days, nothing beats ample experience, enough time and good memory
So now and than I’ve got an hour spare time to investigate Dorico. I hate to say it, but every time I get frustrated. I read the steinberg.help page, I watch the video’s, I search the forum, but I don’t get a good grip on the basic concepts of the program. An example, the last 45 minutes I tried to figure out how to input a title that shows up in the full score and in the parts and I couldn’t do it (it has to be something very simple…but how). I’m a very, very experienced Sibelius user and so far with Dorico I feel so, so stupid. I think it’s really great software, but a lot of the concepts are so different, that I don’t know when I’m going to make the switch. I understand that a hardcopy manual at this stage would be insane, but I second the request above for comprehensive documentation.
@Douwe Eisenga
The tokens you find, alter, or add in your layouts in Engrave mode will be replaced by what you type into File > Project Info boxes or (in the case of Flow info) other locations.
The diagram below should give you an idea of the connections (and some of the tokens). The attached zipped spreadsheet file should list the tokens Daniel has mentioned so far. The tokens are at the end of the list.
doricoKeyCommands161025.zip (7.4 KB)
Thanks Derrek!!
I strongly urge creating a manual. I agree that hard copy is a bad idea—doesn’t support changes—but a manual that can be accessed from within Dorico, or even posted online for regular access is, in my view, absolutely necessary.
I have been a Sibelius user for ten years, and I work with it every week, meaning I’m very familiar with how to do the stuff I need to do. And yet I STILL constantly look stuff up in the excellent pdf manual available in Sibelius’ Help menu.
There need to be set-by-step directions on how to do things. One of my biggest frustrations with the Dorico Help system is that all too often it tells you what a given area will allow you to do without telling you how to do it. There are way too few of what Dorico calls Procedures (step-by-step instructions.)
A particular example is that in a brass quintet I’ve just scored, I have both Bb and C trumpet parts. I know from the Help system that I can create a score that doesn’t include the Bb parts, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to do it—there’s no Procedure page for that one.
I certainly realize creating a new app like Dorico is a massive amount of work with finite resources; but it really seems to me that telling us how to use it is a very high priority. It’s not in anyone’s best interests, least of all Steinberg’s, to have a bunch of frustrated users out there, and these forums make it clear that that’s the case.
I personally am way more frustrated about that than about missing features or bugs. My focus right now is not using it for my daily work—I’m still using Sibelius for that for the moment—it’s learning how to use Dorico so I can make the switch once the application is more complete.
Please give us a detailed, step-by-step manual ASAP.
I notice the Cubase manual(s) use PDF (but I realize Cubase is a more mature product than Dorico).
It would be nice if the Dorico Development Team could use document-management software to produce a PDF-like manual that could be read straight through but also contained (redundant) internal links to related topics.
I also recommend that in addition to step-by-step instructions the manual contain illustrations (annotated where appropriate) that reflect the excellent visual approached the Team has borrowed from the Behind Bars approach to illustrate the various notation Options in Dorico itself.
More on this topic at
Probably best to continue this discussion of manuals there.
Dorico is very new software that will undergo frequent changes and I appreciate the practicality of producing an electronic manual considering how readily it will be able to be updated and also accessed from within Dorico. However, I hope the electronic manual will also be available in pdf format so those who are more comfortable with a hard copy can print one out at home.