Weird dynamics input behavior

Dorico
,
1

Hello,

I am struggling to understand the way Dorico manages dynamics signs. Maybe things have been already explained somewhere, but let me show you a very simple situation, when even a series of “problems” happen. I know that dynamics are being linked when copying them to another staves. I know I can disable it. But… Can anyone after watching the attached video explain, what’s going on there, please?

  1. Why inserting new dynamic sign links it to the dynamics sign placed before? Why does Dorico make changes to the staves with linked dynamics but no music (or other music) in them?

  2. Why copying and pasting the bars didn’t link the dynamics neither across staves nor with the preceding one?

  3. What’s going on when I am trying to change the diminuendo to end with piano?

Dorico behaves more or less logically and intuitively in general, but this kind of mystery often drives me crazy, because it is extremely slowing down when I can’t understand (and often neither predict) what’s happening when inserting dynamics.

Thank you!

I can’t attach and/or embed the video in the post nor insert link (what?), so here it is:
https://cerveny-vps.cz/nextcloud/index.php/s/8N5ZcZDCMZZaaXL

2

Welcome to the forum, Lukas. As a brand new poster to the forum, you have to build up your “trust level” before you can post attachments and links. I’ve edited your post to make your link complete (I’m a moderator/admin on the forum here). I’ll take a look at the video itself now.

3

Thanks for making the video.

If a group of dynamics is linked to another staff, then Dorico will always make corresponding changes to the linked dynamics on other staves, even if there is no music there yet. Dorico can’t predict the future. Perhaps the very next thing you’re about to do is add some more music in those bars, in which case those dynamics might make sense. Or perhaps you really do want to write dynamics over rests. I think in those sorts of situations it’s better for Dorico to behave somewhat predictably and to do what you ask rather than deciding for itself that it will break the links on its own in order to add the dynamics to only some of the staves.

The second point, where the pasted mf > dynamics don’t become linked to the original one, looks like a bug, though it’s not one I can reproduce after a quick try here.

The third point, however, is something we know about and plan to improve in future. Adding dynamics to an existing group, or replacing one of the dynamics in an existing group, is indeed sometimes unpredictable, and the specific case you show here is on our backlog to be addressed in a future version.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience caused in the meantime.

4

Thank you very much for such a quick reply! I forget to mention that I unlinked the decrescendo sign after the first try (when Dorico added the dynamics to empty staves) - I did it outside the view of the screen capture. To me it looks like it linked the new dynamics to that decrescendo sign and that broke the linking feature when copying to other staves. Whatever stays behind it, it feels a bit inconsistent…

I am looking forward to the dynamics input being reviewed and improved. At this moment it is sometimes faster to delete all the dynamics and input them again after making some changes.

Let me mention one more thing. Another kind of issue is there can exist multiple dynamics signs “stacked” on top of each other, but it is invisible until you delete the sign and it looks like nothing has happened (or cresc. changes to dim. magically) or until you examine the dynamics in the playback editor. Please make Dorico shout at me, when I am placing crescendo on top of diminuendo, rather then letting them fight each other in the background.