I’m a recent convert to Dorico. Below are some things on my wish list that relate to note entry and editing . Some of these may be things that others have suggested as well; some may also be things that Dorico already has but I haven’t found yet – please feel free to point them out to me if that’s the case.
I’d like to be able to apply changes like time sig, key sig, and note spacing to a selected range of measures. At the moment, if I have a piece in 4/4 and want to make 5 measures in the middle 2/4, I need to put in two separate changes (to 2/4 and back to 4/4); I’d rather just select all 5 measures and put in the 2/4 change, and have Dorico automatically revert to 4/4 in the following measure. This does seem to work already for clefs.
It would be nice to have an easy and consistent way to insert glyphs into text areas. I’m thinking specifically of flat and sharp signs in instrument names or other text areas, but I’m sure there are other use cases as well.
During note entry, hitting the space bar moves the caret forward one unit by the currently selected duration value; it would be nice if something like Shift+Space moved it back one unit by the same amount. I know that the caret can be moved around with the arrow keys, but that’s dependent on the grid and often takes several keystrokes; moving it by the selected unit is handy. (I don’t see an assignable command in Key Commands for moving the caret backwards.)
Separate note input options for playing notes during input and selection. When doing pitch before duration, I’d rather not hear the pitch twice (on selection and then on input).
Better consistency of results with different note input methods. In figuring out my working method in Dorico, I played around with some of the note input options (specifically pitch vs. duration and position of dots/articulations/accidentals), and I found that some things that worked well with one method gave different results for a different method. For example, with dot before note it’s easy to enter a series of tied dotted half notes in 3/4, but with dot after note it’s complicated. There are lots of discussions about this, and I don’t want to relitigate here (please) the philosophy of Dorico’s underlying data structures and how they affect program operation. My point is just that I think I should be able to get equivalent results with comparable keystrokes with different note input options.
When Dorico ignores an invalid instruction (like typing random text into the tempo popover), I wish it would also beep to let me know I did something wrong.
I don’t even come from Finale and I totally agree with that! I find it distracting and confusing to hear the note twice. Hearing it after input is not necessary (or should be a menu preference if anyone does like this).
I personally find it to be very consistent and logical, and I’m pretty sure the team has actually worked very hard to create a consistent system, so it’s definitely not random. However, if you have more specific ideas in mind that could be helpful to share, rather than “make it more consistent” which is a little vague (just a suggestion, not trying to pick a fight!).
Agree some kind of feedback here could be nice. When it disappears sometimes it’s confusing, like ok… did you do that thing or not? Giving me the silent treatment I see?
That’s by bar, and we have that on Win as well. What I’m looking for is by grid unitedit: sorry, not grid unit, currently selected duration value. There’s an Advance Caret action which is mapped to Space but I don’t see an analogous action for moving backwards.
WRT note input methods, I think the example I gave about a series of dotted half notes in 3/4 is a good starting example. I should be able to do that with comparable keystrokes whether I’m entering dots before or after notes.
Apologies, when you said one unit I wasn’t sure, thought you meant by bar. Which you’re correct, that is how space works, and there does not appear to be an analog for that in reverse.
#6 they will never do. That goes back to Sibelius days. The application can’t know how loud your speakers are set, for instance. It’s too disturbing. I agree the lack of any feedback is not good UI, but a beep would be worse.
Oh, that’s interesting. What about a regular system alert, like any window when you try to do something not possible the system alert is activated? On mac it’s just a little bottle ping type sound. Users are used to this on a regular basis throughout the day so I don’t think that’s like a loud sound blasting out of the speakers or anything. And also presumably in a music program, as long as the notification is not louder than the instrument levels, I think it would be sensible.
