I bought Dorico when it came out, and have been learning it, on and off. Generally, I’ve stopped when I encounter a problem, confirm with John Barron or Daniel Spreadbury that my problem is something not yet addressed. Then, when an update comes out (there have been 3 or 4 free updates — this one was paid), I take it up again. Rinse and repeat.
There is nothing Dorico does that Finale can’t do. I began with Finale at 1.0, so I know its DNA, and can usually guess what to do to solve whatever needs solving. That said, there are some remarkable things about Dorico, and it may indeed by my go-to program. But not yet. The font is beautiful. The default notation and layout choices — all of which can be overridden — are almost all really smart ones. So, generally speaking, out of the box, things look great. The program is stable and launches quickly. You get only one computer-based license, and if you want to move from computer to computer regularly, you need to put the license on a dongle. You don’t need a dongle if you can use it on only one computer. Things that are faster in Dorico: The new divisi, which is quite good. The same method can handle ossias. Also pianos adding and dropping staves. Quick to implement, easy to use, easy to edit. Pedalling (piano and vibes) of any style is amazingly easy to use. Note spacing algorithms are quite good. I find only a very few things I need to fix. General layout control — what goes where on what page — is a bit hard to learn, but once you have it, the control you have is astonishing. Cross-measure beaming is a snap. This (and other things) arise from Dorico not thinking in terms of measures, but flows of notes. It knows the rules — but you can change or insert meter changes at any time — or work without meter — and Dorico rebeams properly. And, of course, things can be overridden. Keyboard shortcuts are customizable — all of them. So I changed them to match my Finale habits, and had to learn very few (to match the Dorico conception for things like tuplets, dynamics, and a few other things). I find I was able, after doing a short piece or two, to get my speed up to my Finale speed. Every user wants different things. For me, the last two deal-breakers are: You can’t have two (or more) instruments on a single staff and then break them out into separate parts in the parts layout. I’m shocked that this is still so, given that they clearly want to sell to people doing large ensemble composing/arranging. I HAVE to assume this will be fixed soon, but it seriously isn’t there — and there is no easy workaround (other than separate files). Playback doesn’t read trills nor string harmonics (tremolos are fine). I am led to believe that NotePerformer is as good as Garritan? I don’t know this first hand, but that’s what people say (actually, they say it is better). That’s now being integrated (though a separate purchase), so, generally speaking, playback should be good. They provide a way to use Garritan, but it is not simple to do, and I’ve not figured out how to get Garritan to work as well as is does with Finale. Dorico people acknowledge that the problems with all of this are on their end. I paid for the first version because I want to support their efforts and continuing development. I believe Steinberg was forcing them to release this to prove they were going to start to recoup their investment. I bought the upgrade because I want to continue supporting them, and every release so far has been a big step forward. They are getting close. The other reason I paid up is that I got a great deal — academic cross-grade — on the initial purchase. On the upgrade, they had shown that they have committed themselves to fix things continuously, acknowledge the shortcomings, and release multiple, substantial improvements for free for a good long time (about a year?). They also have fabulous communication — especially Daniel Spreadbury and John Barron, both of whom are looped completely into the development of the program, both of whom are completely honest (and humble), and both of whom seem to respond within minutes to queries that come in 24/7. My two cents, David Froom _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
