Snippets and Flows

Dorico
#1

Hello,
I have another basic question, to help me understand how Dorica can be useful in writing music.
I used to try to write using Sibelius 7.5, and among its features was the use of Snippets. These were essentially a place where ideas, phrases, anything which might prove useful in writing a piece of music could be stored and retrieved. It proved a useful reference place for ideas which could be used later.

Which brings me to Dorico Pro. Is there an equivalent (or better) place for similar ideas in Dorico. I originally thought of Flows, but these can only be set up by using a new project - or am I wrong. Can the flows be stored (like snippets), to be imported into a piece of music at a later date. ?

#2

You can import/export flows from/to any project

#3

You can create a flow called Snippets and a Layout (called Snippets?) that accesses only the Snippets flow (using whatever instruments you wish to include). You can then remove the Snippets flow from your other layouts so that they will omit the music in Snippets when you play from those layouts.

snippets.dorico (2.1 MB)

1 Like
#4

Thank you for your reply, but it doesnā€™t answer the question : can I write /compose a flow without having set up a project to put it in ? What format is a flow in - a few note ideas (as I remember a snippet was in Sibelius 7.5) , where is it saved - in a project or in a special file ? Is a flow tied into the general idea of a project, or can I compose one without reference to any flow ?
Sorry for the questions - I cannot quite work out what a flow is - particularly is it a standalone element, or is it always part of some project ?

#5

Thanl you for your reply : how do I create a flow without first making a project ?

#6

A flow must live in a project, but you can export flows as individual projects and you can import flows from other projects.

Flow is an intentionally ambiguous term; a flow could be a movement, a song, a ā€œsnippetā€, whatever you want. Itā€™s a discrete chunk of music.

#7

Thank you for your reply : If I understand it, I can create a project called anything I want, and can then use it as a source place for many flows, which could be any musical ā€˜snippetā€™ or anyother name I want to use, and can build up many flows within this project purely as a resource for ideas, musical elements etc, whatever I want to put in it.

Is there a limit as to how many of these elements I can put into this project ? Would I have to stick to a specific configuration of instruments etc., or could I just put in notes in a form which could be used in different musical ideas ? (An example would be a theme not designed for any instrument in particular, and this could be exported out of the project to be used in various instrumental project elsewhere) . By exporting this or any flow, would it be removed from the project, or could it be copied instead ?

Sorry for the questions - I am still trying to find my way in Dorico

#8

Thereā€™s no real limit to the number of flows a project can contain, though managing flows can get harder if you go over ~100. Dorico doesnā€™t really handle music that isnā€™t assigned to some sort of an instrument, but thereā€™s nothing to stop you from cutting and pasting from one instrument to another, or changing an instrument in Setup mode.

Exporting flows from projects doesnā€™t remove them from the original project. You can import one or more flows from a project; when you go File > Import Flows and give it a source file, Dorico will present you with a sort of contents page of the source file, and you just tick the flows you want.