Why isn't Dorico letting me put chords on a bass part?

Dorico
1

I’m just trying to put chord symbols on a bass part of a score for a client and Dorico will not seem to do it. I type the chord symbol into the popover of the bass part and it just goes blank when hit “enter”. Why?

When I view the bass part on it’s own and try the same thing, the chord symbol does not take. Why?

2

Double-check that you have chord symbols showing for the bass.

3

The usual situation where figured bass does not show is when you use a grand staff (piano for instance) and uou hide the top staff. For some programming reason, the figured bass is attached to the top staff and gets hidden along with the staff. Do you really use a Bass instrument, or are you in that exact situation I just described?

4

Thanks. Following that link worked, though I should note:
It clearly states in the link that chord symbols are turned on by default for rhythm sections instruments, including the bass. This is not the case here, as I have never touched this setting before.
Now I shall see if this exports properly in an XML.

5

I have to say that I also find it strange that I can’t just add chord symbols to any instrument that I want just by using the popover. I understand the interest of having the ease of all the chord symbols matching, but I should be able to override this by adding chord symbols manually to any instrument. There are many use cases for showing different players different symbols.

6

Typically Dorico will automatically turn on chord symbols for any given player as soon as you start trying to put chord symbols on that staff. What are you typing into the popover? Dorico’s quite picky about what’s typed into it, and will reject anything it doesn’t recognise. See the documentation here: Chord symbols popover

There’s functionality for local chord symbols, should you wish to show different players different chords, but by default Dorico operates on the basis that typically you’ll want to show players the same chord symbols (excepting transposing instruments, for whom it’ll automatically transpose).

7

I was typing “Dm” into an electric bass part.