After hearing lots of good things about Dorico and watching lots of positive videos on YouTube, I’m looking at cross grading from Sibelius to Dorico. The only small thing Sibelius has over Dorico for me at the moment is that the iPad app is included in the Sibelius subscription price (but in all honesty I’m not sure how much I’d actually use it). I’m planning on using SE to familiarise myself with the Dorico workflow.
I was wondering if there were any rumours floating around as to when we can expect Dorico 4 to launch? I don’t particularly want to buy 3.5 Pro for a new version to be released a short while after.
If you have not already downloaded the 30-day demo, do that before you download SE; and opt for the Dorico Pro version. Once you have that you can (by holding the CTRL/CMD or ALT/OPT key down while you load the program try out all the other variants (SE, Elements) before you buy.
(And who knows? By the time the 30 days are up, perhaps you would be within the window where buying Dorico 3.5 would allow you a free upgrade to version 4. No idea whether that would be the case, but it might be.)
Welcome to the forum @JackLythaby - I’m glad to hear you’re interested in trying Dorico! I’d second the recommendations above to try the 30-day free trial of Pro, and beyond that if you’re still uncertain, keep a copy of Dorico SE should you wish to continue giving Dorico a go.
We published a First Steps guide this year aimed at introducing new users to key bits of functionality and philosophy - it might be a useful thing to work through as part of your trial. You can find the materials here.
I’ve downloaded the free trial and am doing an arrangement to get used it.
Might take a look at purchasing during the sale in time for when I go back to University!
While the annual subscription price for Dorico for iPad is very inexpensive, you can subscribe for single months. Maybe you need it while out for a course, or for holidays, and want Dorico with you. It’s the price of a beer for a whole month of Dorico.
Nothing below Dorico Pro is worth trialing. The lack of an Engrave Page in Elements makes it less useful than Notion and MuseScore, or the “Elements” SKU of Sibelius. It’s going to confuse you if you use a lower-end SKU, because you’re going to be wondering why you can’t move that crescendo marker up, or why you literally cannot fix things that are running together.
Sibelius for iPad supports the Apple Pencil, which is a huge advantage in usability/workflow. I am not sure why Steinberg would release an app in 2021 without Pencil Support.