Dorico

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Mark

Dorico

Post by Mark »

I have used both Sibelius and Finale and like most hate both of them. Does anyone have experience with Dorico?

https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/dorico/start.html
scottw
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Re: Dorico

Post by scottw »

I have never even heard of it. I was never willing to take all the time and energy needed to master Finale. After Sibelius and Encore, I began using MuseScore and I really like it so much better--and it's free. Does everything I will ever need and makes sense, too.
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Re: Dorico

Post by Craig F »

It has a huge amount of potential. The layout engine is very powerful but, it isn’t ready for prime time yet.

Its biggest weakness is repeat structures. You can’t automatically create Codas and Segnos. Those symbols have to be copy/pasted from another program. They did add basic support for second endings in version 1.1. Eventually, it is supposed to automatically handle ties/slurs/tuplets that cross over into second endings. It doesn’t look like that will make it into version 1.x. It also has no support for playback of repeats.

Also missing are cues and percussion notation. These are the focus of version 1.2. I would suggest waiting until version 1.2 comes out, then try the 30 day trial.
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swillafew
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Re: Dorico

Post by swillafew »

Can't say anything about Dorico, but I started with Finale back in the 1.0 days. Now we have Sibelius 8 and the wife is sticking with Finale. Stuff that drove me crazy years ago has been fixed up pretty well. The layout was the worst part for me, and Sibelius has made it so that even a person like me (a musician) can make a pretty good layout.
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Re: Dorico

Post by Craig F »

Just a heads up. Version 1.2 is now available. Give it a shot. The output it generates is far superior to Finale or Sibelius.
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dwerden
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Re: Dorico

Post by dwerden »

FWIW, I've been following discussion on this elsewhere, but I have NOT downloaded a copy yet. I'm not at a stage where experimentation is fun - I just want something that works.

It sounds like a very innovative product so far, and one with a lot of potential. Steinberg is a good company and I'm watching Dorico with interest.

In the 1980's I was a beta tester for Steinberg, Sonus, and Dr. T's, and I was a user of Finale toward the end of that time. Steinberg's product was terrific at integrating its MIDI and printing capabilities and was FAST. At that time it could not compare to Finale's final output, but it would take about 10x as long to get Finale looking really good back then.

I own Finale and Sibelius now. Because Cimarron Music does my final output for publication, all I really need is output that is neat and semi-professional-looking. Sibelius (for me) is much better at letting my input the notes/etc. and then printing it they way a musician expects to see it. It's also easier when I don't do any work with it for a few months and then have to pick it up again. Finale is tougher to figure out after some time off (speaking from a little while ago before I owned Sibelius).

But I could be convinced to get Dorico if they keep progressing and if it fits my model (easy input and very decent output).
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Craig F
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Re: Dorico

Post by Craig F »

Update:

Steinberg has just released Dorico 2.2. The updates have been coming fast and furious. The 2.2 update is massive and adds much needed features and workflow improvements. You can get a 30 day trial even if you already had an earlier one. Give it a go.

There are also some nice tutorials on Youtube which I would recommend if you are going to evaluate it.
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MaryAnn
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Re: Dorico

Post by MaryAnn »

I see a pro version and an elements version. I don't want to download a trial, so I'm hoping someone will tell me the difference. I have been a Finale user, have not done anything for years, and when I've gotten updates they were full of bugs and they changed so many things it was almost like starting over in some ways. I don't do lyrics, I don't do jazz; all I do is pretty basic chamber music with the occasional band or orchestral score. Percussion in my latest Finale turned out to be impossible for my patience level to figure out. So I'm curious about Dorico.
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Re: Dorico

Post by Craig F »

Dorico Elements would not be suitable for Orchestral work. It is limited to 12 instruments and it doesn't do Divisi or Ossias. It also doesn't have Engrave Mode which allows for a lot of customization of the layout.

If you have Finale, you can get a crossgrade to Pro for $280.
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