Post #2 - February 28, 2025
Dorico vs. Finale
I wanted to share some thoughts about my experiences using the music notation program, Dorico, for these past few months. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was a Finale user for over 20 years. So much of these thoughts are a comparison of my experiences with these two programs.
Installation
The installation process for Dorico was not smooth. I do not know if my user setup on my computer contributed to my issues. I have three accounts on my computer, one admin and two users. I initially tried installing multiple times using my personal user profile and the admin account. To get the sound libraries to work, I had to run as administrator. Due to an unrelated startup issue I had a couple months later, I had to restore my computer back to factory setup and start over. When I installed that time, I had better luck. Some of the sound libraries still do not load, but I installed NotePerformer, which I had bought for Finale. NotePerformer loads properly, so I have been using that sound library instead.
Tool Selection
The hardest thing for me to get used to is the actual "Select" tool (Arrow icon). For proofreading, I often use this to start playback from a particular point or to play back a selection of parts rather than the whole score. For example, yesterday I had a tie over a barline/key change and forgot to place an accidental in front of a note that was flat in the old key, but natural in the new key - this is something easily missed while looking at the score, but easily found on playback. After finishing playback, I often forget to unselect the "Select" tool before selecting a new note duration. In Dorico, if you select a new duration while a note is selected, you change that note's duration. For me, that is often an error. It is even worse if multiple notes are selected. Luckily, ctrl-z (undo) is my best friend.
Note Durations - The Keypad
Speaking of note durations, the default key setup on the keypad is one number off between Finale and Dorico. For 20+ years, 4 was an 8th note, 5 a quarter note, 6 a half note, and so on. In Dorico, 5 is an 8th note, 6 a quarter note, 7 a half, etc. I know I can probably change the default key layout, but I would rather use the program as it is. This is just something that else that slows me down for now.
Note Entry
This seems to be much faster in Dorico. In Finale, you have to specify rests. In Dorico, you can move the cursor in Note Input to the middle of the measure and enter notes which fills in rests prior to your input. In Finale, if you had a note tied over a barline, you would need to select your duration for the remainder of the measure, select the tie tool, enter the note, deselect the tie tool, select the duration for remainder of the note, and enter the note again. In Dorico, if I want an 8th note tied to a dotted quarter across a barline, I can move the cursor to where the 8th note starts, select a half note, and enter the note. Finale would not accept the note entry in the same situation. In Dorico, if I do need to manually enter a tie over a barline (for example an 8th note tied to a half note), I need to remember to select the tie tool before entering the half note - in Dorico the tie ties to the previous note while Finale ties to the next note. I also like that you can press "s" to start a slur in note entry, but to stop the slur you need to press "shift-s", which seemed a little counter-intuitive to me (I would think pressing "s" a second time would toggle the slur off, but instead it starts a second, overlapping slur).
Score and Part Layout
Hands down, Dorico wins here. If I was working on a Big Band chart in Finale, I would need to set aside an evening or two to tweak the score and parts for collision avoidance and other visual tweaks (for example, the placement of dynamics, chord symbols, etc.). I recently wrote a piece for full orchestra (which I will probably write another post about soon). I think I spent less than a half hour proofing all of the parts. I really do not remember changing anything significant. It just works. I may have moved some measures to avoid a part having one line of music on a new page. Occasionally Dorico will even place just one of two measures on a line at the end of a piece, but shortens the staff width, instead of Finale taking a whole page width for a whole note (which I know how to adjust, but I sometimes see on other people's work).
Closing Thoughts
Obviously this is not a complete review of Dorico. In a future post I will explore some of the other tweaks I made to my score and parts in Dorico, more a matter of personal preferences rather than program deficiencies.
