I tried out the new pitch before duration feature in Dorico 3.5 today and I think it’s really good! Here are two of my suggestions how note duration input could be further improved:
- Consistently remember last used note duration in “duration before pitch mode” (the old input mode)
In my experience Dorico is not consistent in remembering the last selected note duration when alternating between input and edit modes. For example, if I just entered an eighth note, press Esc, then press Enter again, in this case Dorico remembers that eighth notes were set. However, if I move the cursor around a bit, over a rest or something like that, the note duration display seems to revert to showing the duration of whatever is selected, and then when I press Enter again to input another note, it always defaults back to inputting quarter notes. I think it would work much better if the menu simply remembered the last note duration that was selected, no matter if you switch to edit mode, move around the music with the cursor, etc. It would be even better if this was configurable as an option, either allow Dorico to remember last input or allow the user to select the default value.
- Select the last entered notes in "pitch before duration mod"e (the new input mode)
One thing I got into a habit of doing in the old mode is to enter a note, say a quarter note, then use the alter duration keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+Shift+Left/Right) to change the duration of the note I just entered. This is quite handy because it allows me to quickly change it to let’s say a dotted quarter note. The new mode doesn’t allow this, because the last set of entered notes are no longer selected (orange), and the keyboard shortcut doesn’t take affect. It is quite a hassle to go to edit mode, select the last note/chord, change it, and go back, so I think it would be really useful if the behaviour of keeping the last input notes selected would be kept consistent between the two modes.
Thanks a lot, and keep up the good work!