ritardando playback options

[Jazzisfaction]

sorry, if the topic already exists - I couldn’t find it.

Are there similar playback options for ‘ritardando’ like in Sibelius?

• faster at the beginning - regularly - faster at the end?

Or is this not possible in Dorico?
Whenever I try to change the ritardando speed in Play-Mode, my whole ritardando is erased…

[David_Tee]

I’m not aware of any settings or popover text to enable you to get what you want, but if you edit the Time Track in Play mode - it sounds like you’re trying to do that - you can shape it however you want.

If you try and change the rit. line that Dorico has already drawn, you will be indicating a different tempo other than the one that’s drawn which is why what you saw before you changed it is being erased (including the text indicator which you will need to re-enter using Shift-X). If you’re happy with the final tempo Dorico had, make a note of its position and value (you can get the value by clicking on the final point with the Object Selection Tool). Then it’s entirely up to you how you draw your way down to that point. Personally I use the line tool - the draw tool is for step (sudden) changes - and I set the grid resolution as high as it will go.

[Derrek]

When Peer first outlined the challenge he is facing, my thought was that he was really looking for two ritards, perhaps with the second one hidden. Certainly what you have outlined, David, is another way of creating the same thing.

I have to admit I still have problems manipulating the tempo lines in Play, probably due to my inexperience working with those tools.

[David_Tee]

@Derrek

When Peer first outlined the challenge he is facing, my thought was that he was really looking for two ritards, perhaps with the second one hidden. Certainly what you have outlined, David, is another way of creating the same thing.

I have to admit I still have problems manipulating the tempo lines in Play, probably due to my inexperience working with those tools.

Yours would certainly have the advantage of having the text retained and I would think that what Peer has described is more accuarately two rits.

I enjoy working with the Time Track, it’s one of those tools that brings quite a bit more life to the music. There’s obviously more that can be done to improve it - if I remember correctly more tools are coming at some point - but what’s already there makes a big difference and it’s quick to work with. My tip for working with tempo lines is to make the track nice and wide (Shift-H, Shift-G narrows it).

[Derrek]

I’ll try your widening approach. I was trying to simulate a pausa (comma), which Dorico may eventually implement in playback. I was able to slow that last sixteenth of the measure drastically, but I would probably need to cut the volume drastically there as well to give a realistic effect. Lillie has said (IIRC) that she uses the tempo track for such adjustments ; perhaps she will elaborate if she has time in her busy routine.

[Lillie_Harris]

Gosh I’m flattered that you associate that with me - I cannot claim any credit for it though, I’m fairly sure it’s an idea I picked up from this forum. It’s almost certainly easier if the pause coincides with rests, but if you have notes held right to the end of the pause’s duration, I guess you could adjust the played duration of those notes in Play mode as well so they stop sounding a bit earlier than normal?

Basically what I do is input points in the Time track at the start and end of the ‘pause region’ first, then put another two just inside those two, then drag the inner two down to a tempo like 20bpm. You might want to be quite zoomed in width-ways with a small rhythmic grid resolution in order to have the smallest gaps possible between the points, especially if your pause is over a single quaver (eighth). Then through trial-and-improvement: playback, listen, adjust as required.

[Jazzisfaction]

@David Tee

@Derrek

When Peer first outlined the challenge he is facing, my thought was that he was really looking for two ritards, perhaps with the second one hidden. Certainly what you have outlined, David, is another way of creating the same thing.

I have to admit I still have problems manipulating the tempo lines in Play, probably due to my inexperience working with those tools.

Yours would certainly have the advantage of having the text retained and I would think that what Peer has described is more accuarately two rits.

I enjoy working with the Time Track, it’s one of those tools that brings quite a bit more life to the music. There’s obviously more that can be done to improve it - if I remember correctly more tools are coming at some point - but what’s already there makes a big difference and it’s quick to work with. My tip for working with tempo lines is to make the track nice and wide (Shift-H, Shift-G narrows it).

Yes, that’s the problem - you’ll loose the text. The same if you make adjustments in the dynamic curve: you loose the text…the automation curves are great, but it would be fantastic if the text could somehow ‘survive’.

[Jazzisfaction]

@Derrek

I’ll try your widening approach. I was trying to simulate a pausa (comma), which Dorico may eventually implement in playback. I was able to slow that last sixteenth of the measure drastically, but I would probably need to cut the volume drastically there as well to give a realistic effect. Lillie has said (IIRC) that she uses the tempo track for such adjustments ; perhaps she will elaborate if she has time in her busy routine.

I know it’s quite a workaround, but what I do: I proceed within the last note in 16ths (or even 32ths) - at the very last chance I enter a ‘pppp’ dynamic and hide it and I enter a new metronome mark at the same spot (something like quarter notes = 20 or half notes = 20), which I’m hiding, too. That works fine…and after the comma, I re-enter my old tempo and hide the tempo-marking again…like I said: quite a workaround…

[Derrek]

Thanks. I’ll try that next time I need that effect (unless Dorico develops active playback of caesurae and pausi (pardon my attempts at plural Latin/Italian) first.