I agree with everything David has said, especially "Dorico is not for
everybody." Certainly there are some rough spots and missing pieces
that are deal breakers for some people today. My personal deal-breakers
were addressed in 2.0, but others have different needs. And even if
Dorico could do 100% of what everybody could ever want, that doesn't
mean everybody should convert. That is very much a personal decision
and I am not here to pump Dorico or to attack Finale. My only purpose
is to give something of a 'Dispatch from the battlefront" in case others
are thinking about moving at some stage and don't want to take the time
to work through the 30-day demo right now. And really, 30 days is not
nearly enough to understand or appreciate any product like this.
I would like to amplify David's comments about the 5 modes (Setup,
Write, Engrave, Play and Print). To me, this is a very coherent way of
looking at things. It is conceptually similar to Finale's decision to
require you to work in a particular tool (articulations, speedy entry,
expressions, lyrics, etc.) at any moment. It is just that Dorico
divided it along different dimensions. While in Write mode, you can do
all the note entry, articulations, expressions and so on. In Engrave
mode, you tweak the layout (only if necessary, and often, little is
necessary). And while in Engrave mode, you cannot change notes by
accident. Personally I had no difficulty grasping that work flow. The
difficulty is in remembering all the things you can do in Write mode.
A subtle, but to me, very revealing aspect of this era of technology is
that it is practically real time. You can switch between the 5 modes
instantaneously -- even while playback is underway. You can change
window zoom and vertical scroll while playback is underway. Perhaps
this does not make a big difference in productivity, but I think it
represents a major advancement -- almost like going from DOS commands to
a GUI.
Similarly, most of the appearance-related things are controlled by rules
(aka preferences). They are extraordinarily numerous. I think Dorico
has broken new ground in organizing vast numbers of options.
Practically all of the options are displayed in panels that have useful
graphical representations of what the option does. And here's a key
point that may not immediately be apparent. These preferences windows
are "MODELESS". That is a technical term that simply means you can
leave the options window open while you are editing your score. Let's
say you have two or three monitors. You can open some preferences on
your secondary monitor while the score is open on your primary monitor.
You can make changes in the options and observe how this changes the
look of the score instantly. This is one of those points of elegance
that gives a real feeling of empowerment while using the program.
Likwwise, Play mode is quite similar to what most DAWs deliver today --
albeit a small fraction of "full DAW capability". A key point is that
you can contour the sound in Play mode, with your changes happening
interactively -- just like with full DAWs.
The message here is that this really is a clean slate approach using
technologies from 2018. It isn't fair to either Finale or Dorico to try
to do a point-by-point comparison. Dorico is an altogether different
experience.
On 7/3/2018 1:53 PM, David H. Bailey wrote:
Thanks, Craig, for this great review.
Regarding the playback of D.S., D.C., Fine, Coda, etc. -- when I first
started working with Sibelius (version 2.11) it couldn't handle
playback of those either. But eventually it came (I can't recall if
it was with version 3, 4 or 5). Since Daniel Spreadbury was leading
the development on Sibelius and is leading the development in Dorico I
have faith that the playback of such things will happen soon in Dorico
as well.
There are still two major aspects about Dorico that people who haven't
investigated it yet need to be aware of in my opinion since they might
be deal-breakers for some people:
1) Very strict anti-piracy! Product activation takes place in either
of two ways -- by use of a USB dongle (costs extra) which can then be
moved from computer to computer so it can be installed on as many
computers as the user wants but only one installation at a time can be
used; or by use of the e-licenser software, whereby you activate the
installation on a particular computer using software. Then when you
want to use the program on a different computer you have to
de-activate it on the first computer and then activate it on the
different computer. That all entails being connected to the internet,
whereas the USB dongle doesn't. Both systems are a pain in the butt,
but I can say that should a computer crash and need something major
replaced like a motherboard, the Steinberg web-site is fast and easy
to navigate to re-enable the software activation.
2) Very different approach to work-flow. Dorico works in five modes:
Setup, where you define the instruments (called Players) and get the
score order as you wish; Write, where you enter the music without
regard for page layout or other engraving issues; Engrave, where you
worry about layout issues, spacing, etc., to get the printed page to
look as you wish; Play, where you control the playback, selecting the
playback device, volume, etc.; Print, where you actually print the
music. In both Finale and Sibelius the "write" and "engrave" and
"print" modes are always active, and it's only a couple of menu/ribbon
clicks to alter the setup, and playback is constantly available. It's
a major (in my opinion) change in workflow (at least for me) and I've
not quite been able to wrap my head around it and so I haven't done
much with Dorico (I have Dorico Pro 2 installed).
One fantastic major point in favor of everybody making the leap to
Dorico regardless of other issues is the continued and rapid
development of the product and the superb support through the
Steinberg forums. I bought Dorico during the initial release, taking
advantage of good pricing for cross-grade from Finale (yes I can still
use Finale just fine) and there were many updates released before
version 1.1 and then more interim updates before version 1.2, all free
of charge. And I made the investment (a fair price I felt) to upgrade
to version 2, which for the full version is called Dorico Pro 2 (they
have a lower priced, less-capable version also).
Daniel and other senior development team members maintain a presence
there and offer help while fielding questions about what the future
holds, as well as handling complaints. And they do it with grace and
intelligence, just as Daniel used to do on the Sibelius yahoogroup
back when he was the senior developer for Sibelius. They will ask
people to send a Dorico project to them via e-mail so they can open it
up and see what the problem is. Then they will either resolve the
issue or explain why at this point in time it can't be resolved. And
they actually read the questions and answer appropriately -- I can't
remember the last time I contacted tech support at Finale and had them
actually read my question the first time so I need to repeat it and
repeat it until they finally say "Oh, that's what you're asking about
-- sorry, can't help you." I don't own any other Steinberg product so
I can't tell if this great attitude of actually helping the users is a
corporate-wide thing or if it's just because Daniel is such a nice and
helpful guy, but at least the Dorico development team is wonderful.
But Dorico is not for everybody -- they have a trial version which
people who are curious should download and install before making the
purchase. It seems that for many people who take the time to make a
serious effort to learn Dorico, like Craig has done (I haven't had
that kind of time yet but I'm hoping to make that sort of effort this
Summer), the leap to the new workflow and new concepts is very
manageable.
David H. Bailey
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