What are your thoughts on Dorico as a Notation Software?

Dorico
24

I am happy as a clam in Dorico-- much happier than I ever was in Sibelius (which I rather liked) and certainly Finale, which I hated top to bottom, start to finish; I never grew to like their working model, even after purchasing and working in multiple versions. Eventually I switched to the oft-maligned Sib 7 which didn’t bother me at all (I liked the ribbon, but I didn’t have old Sibelius working habits to overcome). Similarly, once I switched to Dorico I was happier than ever, and suffice it to say: the quality of engraving I’m able to achieve in my scores far outshines most things I see these days, including many professionally published editions. In fact, for many things, I prefer to make my own editions (public domain works) than find professionally published editions. I’m not going to re-do the Well Tempered Clavier or anything large like that just for the sake of it, but certainly smaller scale vocal works are worth my time as are many individual keyboard works. I think it’s fair to say that my choir is rather spoiled at this point, as they haven’t had to look at ugly editions for a good long while and I think it will be a shock to them at whatever point another director comes in behind me.

I recently encouraged a colleague of mine to switch and he just told me the other day that he purchased Dorico with the most recent sale and he “loves it and it’s so much better” than what he used to use (Finale, I believe).

2 Likes
25

I used to use Finale – which I learnt originally without a manual. Some features I only worked out after several years. (Like: you can’t enter notes in SpeedyEntry without a MIDI keyboard, until you turn off the “Use MIDI Keyboard” switch.)
I tried using Sibelius occasionally, also without a manual, priding myself on my ability to look around the menus and toolbars and press stuff till something happened. I didn’t get very far at all.

I certainly got a lot further with Dorico, without a manual, in a shorter time, than either of them.

26

In some ways it’s not a fair comparison for me between Finale and Dorico. The former I learned only partially “correctly” over the course of 20 years, gradually adding hacks, shortcuts, and sometimes realizing I had been doing something the wrong way for a decade.

With Dorico, I was determined to build a good foundation from the start, so I was very methodical about learning the program. And I was dedicated. Bottom line: it has paid off, in spades.