Transposing does not allow intervals

Dorico
1

Hi, I just tried to transpose my arrangement 4 half steps (major third) down, but -surprise- Dorico 5.1(.10 - I updated but same problem) won’t let me do this (German localization, but I’m sure you’ll understand anyway):

Any ideas what is happening here? Oh and just in case you might ask: If I let Dorico do the math with the right part of the window, it calculates correctly but will still only select a MINOR third if I click apply.

I found this happens on Windows in Dorico 5.1, too, but it seems to depend on the project and its state (I worked around the problem doing the transposition in two steps, continued to work and tried again later - no problems then). I deleted all players with notes and info and attach the project…
Transposition problem.dorico (975.0 KB)
I tried it on Dorico 4 and 3.5 (both Mac), too, same problem.

PS: BTW why should I select an interval still if I change to the number of octave divisions? I’d expect to just enter a -4 here and hit enter.

2

I don’t think Dorico likes a key of Bbb major.

1 Like
4

Db major in the last section needs to be transposed a diminished fourth down, not a third. That is why.

1 Like
5

Thanks for your answers!
Well, it seems you are right this works as intended, I tried some different keys and it continues to narrow down the list of possible intervals. I don’t think this behaviour make sense, though:

  1. These problems depend on the transposition perspective of each instrument (it would be Gb for Eb-instruments, not really a problem)…
  2. I thought that’s what the checkboxes to simplify keys and accidentals are for as well as the “division”/steps mode - both of these should take care of problems like that.
  3. And besides that, it should not be a problem theoretically… Dorico has no problems to show G# major, so why does it bother for Bbb in this case? The behaviour to just deny the existence of the interval does not make sense at all at last.

Dorico is making things complicated here without any practical benefit, I think… transposing pieces up and down isn’t something unusual… !?

6

If you have a piece with sections of different tonality, it is best to transpose each section separately.

7

This seems to be the only reliable possibility, yes.
Has anybody ideas why I should select a (diatonic) interval to transpose in the divisions section? I’d expect just a list of 1 - (divisions-1) and the direction…

8

eg. Aug4 and Dim5 are the same number of divisions, but yield different note spellings.

9

“Diatonic” is offered as a choice when it is still possible with the selection. But it’s probably never what you want unless you’re composing contrapuntally …