I’m not anywhere near switching, but I’ve been following Dorico’s development with more than a little interest. Such informative posts like this one are quite useful and much appreciated - thanks for such a detailed, well-thought-out, well-stated comparison and review.
Doug > On May 31, 2018, at 11:18 AM, dfr...@smcm.edu wrote: > > 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 _______________________________________________ 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
