Unorthodox key signatures

Dorico
1

Here’s a can of worms for sure. Is it possible in Dorico 5 to create key signatures that mix sharps and flats? Such as Eb and F#. Such things occur in some of Bartok’s scores. It’s possible in Finale, albeit extremely confusing, but I learned how to do it.

I ask because I work with a fair bit of middle eastern music that uses such scales frequently. I could use a common-practice key signature (or a key-less one) with accidentals, but ideally I’d like to create a custom key sig.

2

Yes, you can, and it’s actually quite straightforward—especially compared to Finale (at least in my experience). Here’s a video showing how I do it:

  1. Open the Key Signatures panel and click the Edit button under the Tonality System section (in the video, I pressed the Duplicate button, which also works, but you should use the Edit button if you want to add your key signature to the current tonality system).
  2. In the right panel, you can create a custom key signature by adding any accidental to any note.
  3. Once you confirm, your newly created key signature will appear under the Custom Key Signatures section.

Best,
Arnau

3 Likes
3

Wow I’ll try that tomorrow. It sure looks easier than the hoops that Finale makes you go through.

4

Sadly can’t make this work as per your video. The only accidental I get at your 18 sec. mark is a natural. Tried changing fonts and such to no avail, no sharps or flats appear. I must be missing something fundamental.

5

I think you’ve probably created a wholly new Tonality System, whereas the video above starts by duplicating the existing (12-EDO) tonality system, so it will start with all the “normal” accidentals.