Sorry to be a pain but Discourse is not designed to be a file upload platform. There would be no way to browse or search keywords nicely etc. but I wont go on. Discourse can make use of cloud storage services such as Amazon S3 for pool storage of large objects, but it is not configured by default and you’d have to ask Steinberg to set it up - and pay for it (not free).
I run several Discourse servers and I have had nothing but trouble with enabling this storage, but I am self hosted. I think the Enterprise cloud version of Discourse probably supports this functionality much better - and has commercial support from Discourse. I don’t know what type of Discourse this forum runs on, commercial or self hosted.
Fabrizio, I understand what you say. We all use Dorico in our own way.
Just to be clear, I was not suggesting that we would all have to post fully engraved works - just “.dorico” files.
My original idea was based on helping others with useful suggestions/examples - to be extracted by the reader not necessarily the poster.
As far as sifting through the ‘trash’ goes, I think most of us can form some idea of ‘worth’ within just a few tens of seconds of playing the piece - if it doesn’t grab you within that time, you’re very unlikely to spend another few tens of seconds on it. What you might miss as a result is entirely down to you (the reader/user) not the poster.
That said, the possibility of finding the gem that works for you would probably be worth the effort.
As I’ve said before, I am no expert at setting up or running such a service, so I’m probably asking for the Moon. I’ve always believed that “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”.
Very best wishes to all contributors to this thread.
Well I do have expertise in this area. And it’s worth asking, but Discourse can’t do what you want nicely. It’s a discussion forum with a mailing list function also, not a good database store or file browser and searcher. It’s a bit like asking a racing yacht to also do duty as a deep sea trawler. Not the right tool for the job.
Did you have a look here? It’s got nice display, filters, search, very good download functions, and all the features you would expect of a file repository.
I may be wrong but I think that is the sort of thing you are after. But can’t be done on this technology platform without bending it past its limits.
Andro, please point me to where the OP (or in fact any other contributor to this thread) suggested that such a facility should be provided at forums.steinberg.net.
Well maybe me and @eye1 and @dko22 seem to think that’s what the OP meant. I suppose we are all wrong. Note that I did offer to make a website that could do this, but with all the bashing of contemporary music in which I am heavily involved I think I have lost the feeling for it.
So, not just me possibly getting this wrong.
I apologise if my pointing out this is not the technical platform for it has caused any offence - but at least people now know that.
I don’t want to labour the point here but I did say that personally, I don’t expect at all that Discourse should host files – my only interest is simply for a forum sub-thread for folk to post links to their work. Whether it be audio files or scores for analysis/assistance is neither here nor there. I realise this may be different from what the OP suggested, in which case so be it.
On the issue of contemporary music, any original work any of us write is contemporary music by definition so I don’t know how anyone could bash it. We all have our preferences about what is good contemporary music – and I did make the point that I was unconvinced by the example scores on the Score Follower site – but that’s just one opinion.
As the OP (starting to pick up the abbreviated lingo!) I think I should say “let’s finish - let it go”.
I had no idea that a simple question could so quickly reduce to a “discussion” about “platforms”, and so on.
To me, music composition is a thing of joy, not a source of argument and competition.
I actually think this is a pretty good idea. As already discussed, Discourse is obviously not the ideal format for it, but still could be useful I think. Since there were so few gigs and live performances, I had started a thread during quarantine where people posted what they had been writing (not even gonna link to it here, let it die) and I definitely enjoyed hearing what others were doing with Dorico. A few thoughts:
“I would also look for it to contain Dorico scores, rather than sound files” I think trying to insist on this requirement would be tricky. Most pro composers/arrangers won’t post a Dorico file, and many professional copyists won’t either as they are protective of their settings. There certainly would be font formatting issues too. Limiting it to Dorico files would likely limit it to amateurs using Dorico defaults in terms of new work. That’s not necessarily bad if amateurs are looking for feedback, but may limit the instructional value.
Most of us learned to write by studying scores, creating score reductions, etc. There certainly could be a useful thread where some public domain scores engraved with Dorico could be posted for study. @Stephen_Taylor generously posted his Dorico files for the Rite of Spring a couple of years ago. There’s certainly nothing stopping anyone from taking a public domain score off IMSLP, engraving it with Dorico, and posting it here or elsewhere.
"As we all know, we sometimes hear something - a phrase, harmony, counterpoint, or whatever - and wonder, “how did he/she achieve that?” Maybe instead of full scores, there could be an orchestration study aspect to the thread. A user could post Dorico file of just a passage that exhibits an interesting technique or device along with analysis of it.
“I’m just putting this out there as an idea.” Instead of a discussion (this is post 32 LOL) about the possibility of such a thread, start one! If it’s useful and interesting, people will join in. You could start by posting something original or something public domain that you find interesting.
Thanks @FredGUnn! Awhile ago I posted an idea for a “Dorico Depot” where folks could upload either original scores or engravings, and I still think it’s a good idea. The repository on musescore.com has lots of terrific files (with xml that you can open in Dorico), but I could understand Steinberg not wishing to host something like that on their own server, with possible copyright issues. I don’t know how Musescore deals with that.
Dorico does actually ship with some sample scores, including a piano piece of mine, “Green Trees Are Bending,” a Coldplay song, Segun Akinola’s “Dorico Prelude” and others (on Mac, these can be found in Users/Shared/Dorico Example Projects).
As @Andro said, this forum wouldn’t really work well for that.
I assume a third-party site like that couldn’t have the name “Dorico” in it, for trademark reasons.
Hosting would be a monthly cost. Someone would have to maintain the site, as well as foot the bill. How would that cost be recouped? Ask for donations from the community? That can be very hit-or-miss. And advertisements are the scourge of humanity.
Some moderation would be essential to keep it from becoming a wiki-disaster like CPDL.
I would be interested in helping with it, but not at my own cost!
I’ll admit, I’ve downloaded a few XML files off there before, but it seems like a copyright nightmare. I have no idea how they deal with that either, but I assume Steinberg and Yamaha’s lawyers would be pretty skittish about opening themselves up to any potential liability like that.
Yep, there was a bit of a dust-up a few years ago over this very thing. I guarantee Steinberg has zero interest in getting involved in that sort of thing.
@Michel_Edward could probably offer some useful information on the in’s and out’s of this idea, as he has moderated a (not the same but slightly) similar web site with his friend Ron.
