What is the "Time" track in Play mode?

What is the purpose of the “Time” track in Play Mode?

I couldn’t find anything in the online manual in the “Play Mode” section, and the forum search gave me no results because it said the terms are too common.

Time track in Dorico.png
Thanks!

Bob

The time track can be used to alter the tempo, particularly useful when matching music to video hit points.

But I’m not sure how completely implemented it is–or I haven’t found out how to use it yet. I do not seem to be able to create new handles to drag, nor can I delete existing handles that seem superfluous. I admit, however, I have only used it once and have not searched out any documentation on the time track; so the instructions may be there, and all I need is to RTFM. :confused:

As a quick start: use the pencil tools to create individual tempo changes, or draw a freehand tempo profile, or use the line tool to create a gradual change. Once you have tempo changes in then you can use the arrow tool to select and move them.

Do these changes only affect playback and not the score?

Is there any documentation?

Thanks!

If you have a tempo marking in the score, eg ‘q=120’ then dragging it up or down will change the displayed value in the score. I think if you use the pencil tool to draw then those are not displayed in the score (they appear as signposts). Similarly, linear changes are only shown as signposts.

The manual is still being updated for the huge amount of new content for version 2.0, but the Version History does have some detail: http://download.steinberg.net/downloads_software/Dorico_Pro_2_and_Dorico_Elements_2/2.1/Dorico_2.1_Version_History.pdf - see page 36 and 42

Okay, I found the pencil & eraser tools in the left margin. Those are a great help. I will check the doc link given ("found in “Automation,” p. 42).
Many thanks!

It’s cool to see this DAW-like feature in Dorico, even though it’s not something I currently need. I imagine it’s great for film composers. Thank for the info, Paul.

Paul, can the Time track be expanded visually? (i.e. made to take up more vertical space.)

Also, can you change the note duration of the tempo value in Play mode?

Does Dorico have a feature like Finale’s Tempo Tap? This has been incredibly indispensable for me to record in gradual tempo changes!

There is a new command to increase the height, bound to shift-H I think (and shift-G to squash). There’s wish a small resize handle on the leftmost column, though it is hard to spot.

You can’t currently change the beat unit though.

Dan: no tap tempo yet, but we hope to at some point.