Two small-ish Feature Requests for Play Mode and the Piano Roll

Dorico
1

These requests are based on the already improved Play Mode in the Dorico app (which looks absolutely fantastic by the way!).

  • An option to display the note names on the Midi Notes in the Piano Roll. This is a minor thing, but makes reading notes and harmonies much, much easier than trying to figure them out using the backdrop of the Piano Roll.

  • Maybe this will work in the Desktop version already, but I haven’t found a way in the iOS app: the ability to select and view multiple tracks in Play Mode/the Piano Roll at once. I find the Piano Roll to be a MUCH better and faster way of checking voicings and investigating for clashing notes than notation, especially when working with transposing instruments. Also for using 3rd party sample libraries with Dorico, this would be very useful for Midi editing.

Thanks, can’t wait for Dorico 4! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

2

Thanks for the feedback. We don’t intend to make it possible to show multiple tracks in the same piano roll – I can understand that you would like to be able to see notes from multiple tracks, but editing with multiple tracks selected would be tricky!

3

Hey Daniel!
That’s a pity, I’d already be happy if you could just view and not edit them. Or only edit the one that’s in focus/active, while the others are just a visual backdrop. I think in Cubase it’s called “Edit Active Part only”. But I can see where you’re coming from.
Thanks for the quick reply!

4

I had this overlapping tracks display in my first baby-sequencer, EZVision, in the early 1990s. It even offered customizable colors for 16 tracks. When I graduated to Vision I was surprised it did not have the same. I have not used a sequencer since that has it. (But my sequencer experience is 20 years out of date now.)

5

I don’t fault the team for not wanting to deal with it, but some sort of “master piano roll” with multiple parts on it would indeed be useful at times. I have melodyne studio, and one of the things that upgrading to the top tier affords you is the ability to edit multiple tracks at once. It is extremely handy, at least in that workflow, so I can see why users would want it in Dorico too. Staggering (or indeed, aligning) entrances, cut offs, etc. are a breeze.

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