A long time Sibelius user for jazz music, I’m eager to get a Dorico license for many reasons. But I’m waiting for the coming version since chords are essential for me.
Dorico download seems to be around 10 GB while my ASDL link is by far too slow (2Mb/s at best) to reasonably download such a large amount. And this slowness won’t change before a while.
So my problem is that while planning to order the Dorico DVD box before the crossgrade period terminates, will that box contain the version with chords ? if not, I won’t be able to use it for my music unless I run a large unfeasible download.
Put another way, when will the DVD box deliver Dorico with chords ?
When you install Dorico from the DVD-ROM, it always goes and grabs the latest available version of Dorico from the web anyway, i.e. an Internet connection is required for installation. The download is around 200MB and consists of just the Dorico application: all of the sound content, VST plug-ins etc. are all installed using the contents of the DVD-ROM. We did it this way so that the version of Dorico you can buy from a music shop will always be up-to-date.
So you can order Dorico now, safe in the knowledge that you will be able to download the update with chords in a few weeks.
Another point is : I use two computers, a laptop connected to the Internet, and a big music dedicated machine which is never connected to the Internet. I use Sibelius on both, mostly the big machine, and occasionnaly on the laptop to perform small task while on the road or things like that
Is it required to connect the big machine to the Internet to install Dorico on it, when I have Dorico installed on the laptop ?
If you download the update on your laptop, you should be able to transfer the downloaded file to the “big machine” no problem. That said, the licensing is set up such that you can only have Dorico on one computer, not two like Sibelius. To run on two machines you will need to also purchase the eLicenser USB dongle. You can then pop that dongle into whatever computer you are using and you shouldn’t have any issues (except remembering to move the dongle to the right computer). This is a sore point for many people so I’d suggest searching the forum if you have other questions about licensing since it has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere. FWIW, I have a dongle and I don’t find it that big of a deal, especially since I’m primarily on my iMac and less-often on my laptop. I imagine it would be the same for you.
If you buy the boxed version of Dorico, an empty USB-eLicenser is included in the box and you can use that to house your Dorico license so that you can use the program on multiple computers.
What Daniel says works perfectly for me. I bought the boxed version with the USB-eLicenser and I just plug in the dongle to whatever computer I am in front of. (I put the dongle on a lanyard because it is pretty small). I am a teacher, and I teach at 2 different schools, so I run Dorico on whichever school I am at, plus a laptop for use at home and on the road. I keep all my files on a Dropbox account so I’m always using the latest files for my music projects.
