Setting tempo for a score

Dorico
1

How do you set tempo?

I’ve looked in Dorico help which takes you to some hints about rubato etc, and tinkered in the menu at the right side that comes up when you hit what looks like the set tempo marking thing

I can live without the actual marking (i.e. pencil it onto a printed score) but it would be nice if every time I opened a score it wasn’t necessary to reset the tempo down from 120

This has to be an easy one that I just haven’t located in help or first steps

1 Like
2

not sure what help page you are looking at, but your answer should be right here with the tempo popover -

https://www.steinberg.help/r/dorico-pro/5.1/en/dorico/topics/write_mode/write_mode_notations_input/write_mode_tempo_popover_r.html

I usually just type in shift+ t, q = bpm (whatever number I want), or whatever other relevant beat takes the pulse.

3

Thanks

In playback it still goes to the default 120

Am I missing a step?

Initially I thought it was funny that there were no tempos lower than andante but discovered the slower-faster slider above that opens up those options

Not a complaint here but for a Dorico novice none of this is obvious either in software or documentation. The tempo menu on the right is the only obvious starting point

Another minor thing but the C Major key signature is sitting on top of the tempo marking

I’m assuming the key signature thing can be eliminated somehow

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4

you need to make sure the tempo icon is set to a solid blue color like so (disabling the slider effectively) -

Screenshot 2024-07-06 at 3.39.57 PM

The slider is there so you can adjust playback on the fly if needed for various playback only purposes. I do agree this could use a tad UI clarity, even hovering over it does not offer an explanation the way many other buttons do.

The up and down arrow icon is perhaps a little misleading too because it seems to actually suggest the opposite (variable slider). I think it’s usually enabled in the blue position by default for new projects, I rarely use the slider mode myself.

For the C major thing I believe you are probably referring to the signposts, which are on by default (I am hoping one day they will introduce a preference to disable this by default).

Nonetheless just go to view > signposts > hide signposts and it will disappear.

5

Unless you are using Dorico ipad, popovers are the quickest and easiest way to start new projects:

  1. Set a time signature… shift-M 4/4
  2. Add some space for notes … shift-B 64
  3. Set a key… shift-K Bbm
  4. Set a tempo… shift-T Andante q=72

(With Pro) you can save all these as Custom Project Templates.

What you are seeing is a signpost -it does not print. C major has no accidentals, so Dorico helpfully reminds you that the key is C major (or A minor). You can hide it using view>signposts

6

Thanks

All that gives me something to read. Big part of this coming in as a novice is a linguistic challenge, re all of the softwares have their own lingua franca and very little of which is standardized. It’s tough to know even what to search for

I used various versions of “setting tempo” and was still coming up empty handed

I’m guessing that the tempo marking on the score doesn’t get interpreted/played?

7

It does get played, unless you override it somehow.
Using a tempo expression (via the SHIFT + T popover) is the fastest way to set a tempo with MM mark.

8

See my post above about the blue icon, you can toggle this behavior as I mentioned :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

after posting that I figured out that there’s a delay between changing the tempo on the page that doesn’t go to the playback until you actually start the playback

thanks for the help it is much appreciated

10

I’m able to change the tempo but even thought I save the file, when I reopen it, the tempo defaults to 120.