I’m trying to record some music in cut time. I know how to adjust the metronome tempo but I can’t seem to see how to change the metronome setting to be the half-note unit of beat in cut time. Do I simply need to think of it in 4/4 only faster? How would I record in 6/8 or 9/8?
By default, in 2/2 Dorico will play one click per half note beat. In 6/8, it’ll play a strong click on the dotted quarter beat, and a weaker click on each of the eighth subdivisions. You can change the click settings on the Click page of Library > Playback Options.
Thank you, Daniel. I discovered that – I guess my question is why doesn’t the note that’s showing in the metronome tempo adjustment dialog change with the meter. And why doesn’t the metronome beat relate 1-to-1 with the unit of beat indicated in the meter?
Or am I not doing something correctly?
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I’m using Dorico 5.latest, Windows11home.
I assume you’re talking about the lower panel and the option that shows up when I enter a tempo and then select. That’s the only place I can see what you’re showing me.
However when I select the half-note there the tempo indication (as you can see in the picture I’m attaching here) shows up clearly as half=140 but the metronome indication is still showing quarter note. And it remains a quarter note after I click on something else.
Because you’ve turned on “Fixed Tempo mode”, which ignores all tempo marks. Click on the quarter note icon in the transport. When it’s blue, it will respond to the tempo in the score. (As in my image above.)
I finally got the same result you did – I was expecting that note value to change as soon as I set things as you suggested in the first pictures you sent. The quarter note finally changed to a half note after I started playback.
So I guess that if I want to record at a different tempo from that which is set (that’s what started my confusion earlier yesterday) I need to edit the tempo marking in the score to the slower speed (my keyboard skills aren’t all that great) and not try to adjust the tempo using the tempo slider in the upper right.
However, now my question is “Why does setting a fixed tempo result in only the quarter note showing?” Why doesn’t Dorico continue to show the unit of beat that I’ve chosen? As soon as I try to change the recording tempo using the fixed-tempo slider it resorts to showing me the quarter note.
Regardless, at least now I know how to change things to get the depicted note value to change.
Thank you for sticking with me to resolve that question.
Because the point of the fixed tempo thing is to playback your score at an entirely different, fixed tempo, regardless of what is in the score. And that tempo is measured in quarter notes, because it doesn’t care what’s in the score.
I’ve gathered that but it doesn’t make sense to me.
Why would anybody want to playback using the quarter note as the unit of beat when the music is not in a meter with the quarter note as the unit of beat? Don’t people want to be able to easily change the tempo for playback or recording, using the unit of beat, without having to edit the tempo indications which might already be in the score and without have to think in terms of a different meter from what’s in the score? How does that help if a piece of music has multiple tempo changes in a section that the engraver wants to be able to record at a steady tempo for convenience’s sake?
I realize I may be in the minority in being confused by this, and I’ve figured out a general workaround.
I appreciate everybody’s responses. Thank you!
TBH, I never use it.
I set the tempo in the score as I want it. Entering note-by-note is faster than playing along, though if you’re making it up, you might want to do real time.