Two arpeggio ornament feature requests

Dorico
1

I frequently use the arpeggio wiggle ornament for various musical uses in a piece, none of which are “one-size-fits-all.”

  1. Bottom panel to contain local timing override from the playback options menu.
    This would allow for a more humanized expressive playback with the ability to create slight variations, but also some instruments (and tempi) require a different pace of arpeggiation. Some instruments can roll chords very quickly, whereas I find other instruments it can sound too quick.

  2. Ability to hide arpeggio ornaments, especially where it’s implied.
    In particular double-stops on solo string instruments come to mind – in order to make them sound realistic a chord across several strings will by its nature have to be rolled. Typically double-stops are not marked with an arpeggio wiggle ornament (unless a specific direction is requested) but I have to add it for playback to sound roughly equivalent to how it would actually sound. It would be nice to be able to hide these after the fact since they are not necessary for the actual printed score. Other cases could be not necessarily implied, such as harp, piano, guitar, and tuned percussion instruments – but you may want to occasionally roll the chord for playback variation and humanization.

Regarding both of these, I’m fully well aware of workarounds, which I already do. I know that I can manually adjust the timing in the key editor (played durations). And I am aware for the second one that I could create a separate playback staff with ornaments, and hide it from the printed score.

My request is made in awareness of these methods, but to simplify and speed up my workflow without the need of added steps. Thank you!

1 Like
2

I’ve had to use the squiggle line in string writing to specify the difference between a clearly “strummed” (arpeggiated) multi-stop, and an “as fast and together as you can play it” multi-stop.

With a simple note at the beginning of a score, it avoid LOTS of wasted time during rehearsals clearing up which chords are clearly enunciated as arpeggiated and which are not.

3

Yes, my book on orchestration advises this when needed for clarity. There’s a use case for both scenarios. I play cello (albeit not a pro) and when playing in my adult chamber ensemble group, my stand partner and I will discuss dividing the chord if it makes musical sense for various reasons. But oftentimes for solo pieces when you see a 3 or 4 note chord, it is immediately and commonly understood as a multi-stop which will have to be rolled from the bottom up, unless otherwise specified.

4

there’ a slightly more subtle point to this…
some 4-note chords CAN be played rapidly (depending on the context), with a minimal amount of arpeggiation. If it’s an orchestral tutti you may not even hear that arpeggiation at all within the texture.

I had originally taken to writing the two lower chords as grace notes, slurred to the upper two notes (for 4-note chords), when specifying that the chord should be absolutely broken up as a pronounced arpeggio, but was asked to simply write them out as solid chords as this actually makes them more difficult to read (yes, for high level professionals who actually get minimal rehearsal time.)

Which lead to using the squiggle line (what a wonderful technical term :wink: ) to specify precisely when and where chords were played as much strummed rather than as a single struck chord (or even permitting the divisi of the chord by the section… though if I want a divisi I’d much rather write that divisi into the score myself. I hate leaving this sort of detail to the performers. Remember, the more “talking” about how to play something, the less actual playing is going on.)