We have today released Dorico 6.2.40, a free update for Dorico Pro 6, Dorico Elements 6, and Dorico SE 6, with a corresponding update for Dorico for iPad. This release brings substantial improvements to MusicXML import, alongside a collection of useful engraving and workflow refinements, and more than 80 fixes. If you are bringing existing music from Finale or Sibelius into Dorico, this update is particularly worth your attention.
Bringing existing music into Dorico
Over recent months, we have been working with the people preparing several major musical theatre projects on both sides of the Atlantic, bringing large-scale works originally prepared in Finale and Sibelius into Dorico. Publishers are also transferring material from Sibelius into Dorico as they prepare new, revised and expanded editions.
These projects provide a demanding test of MusicXML interchange. A musical theatre score might include extensive instrument changes, different chord symbols for different members of the rhythm section, elaborate percussion notation, and a mixture of musical and rehearsal instructions. A publication may depend on carefully distinguished text styles, particular conventions for fingerings, and an established arrangement of titles and other information on the page. Preserving more of these details can save a considerable amount of work after import.
The improvements in Dorico 6.2.40 have been driven by the practical problems encountered in these projects. However, the changes apply to everybody importing MusicXML files: whether you’re transferring an entire catalogue or revisiting a single piece, you’ll benefit from the same work.
Text handling has received particular attention. Dorico now preserves more of the original font choices, sizes and formatting, including changes within a single instruction, and does a better job of recognising tempos, dynamics and playing techniques. Instructions retain more of their complete wording while becoming native Dorico items where possible, so that their musical meaning is available for playback and further editing.
There are substantial improvements to page layout, too. Dorico makes more use of the exported margins, spacing and indentation, and can reconstruct titles, subtitles, dedications and other page credits in page templates. Consistent running headers and footers can also be recognised. Where a compressed MusicXML file includes separate information about linked instrumental parts, Dorico can use that information to configure its part layouts.
For musical theatre projects in particular, another important improvement is the handling of instrument changes. A part that switches between several instruments can now become a single Dorico player holding those instruments, with the music assigned appropriately. Dorico also works harder to recognise instrument-change instructions, avoiding duplicate imported text where it can supply its own automatic labels.
Percussion identification and the handling of voices and tuplets have also been improved. And if, for example, the guitar and keyboard parts use different chord symbols, a new option allows you to import each instrument’s chord symbols independently. You can find Import chord symbols as local to individual instruments, switched off by default, in the Import section of the MusicXML page of Preferences.
MusicXML inevitably has limitations, and the information supplied by different exporters varies considerably. Nevertheless, these changes should provide a much better starting point for the work that follows.
Recovering from rhythmic errors
One particularly frustrating problem when importing MusicXML, especially from Finale, has been the effect of inconsistent rhythmic information. A problematic duration or tuplet could prevent the remaining music in a voice or part from being imported, leaving a substantial passage missing after the original error.
Dorico 6.2.40 is much more resilient when it encounters these problems. It attempts to recover from invalid durations and inconsistent tuplet information, preserve the music that can be represented, and resume importing at a reliable bar boundary, if one can be established. This includes handling some of the hidden playback information in Finale exports that can otherwise interfere with the written rhythms.
There are limits to what can be recovered: some notes may still have to be omitted, and checking the imported project against the original is imperative. Dorico now adds comments identifying passages that have been repaired or omitted, and warnings where subsequent music may be missing or misplaced. These comments make it easier to find the affected area and understand where further checking and restoration are required. A difficult file may still need attention, but much more of the surrounding music can now survive the import.
We are grateful to everybody who has shared scores, examples and feedback with us. The detailed work involved in these conversion projects has helped us make improvements that will benefit a much wider community of musicians preparing existing music for its next performance or publication.
Working with imported text
Once a score has been imported, you may want to bring its text into line with your own house style without losing the individual formatting within each instruction.
To help with this, Edit > Notations > Text > Change Paragraph Style now includes a Preserve existing formatting option, switched on by default. This retains local formatting and character styles, together with alignment and line-spacing overrides. Font sizes applied directly to text retain their point size when you change to a paragraph style with a different default size. If you want the text to take on the new style throughout, switch the option off. This also provides a way to remove existing overrides by reapplying the current paragraph style.
Engraving and workflow improvements
Beyond MusicXML, there are several smaller improvements that we hope will prove useful in everyday work:
- Key signatures can now use the cut-out information in music fonts to tuck accidentals closer together, particularly improving the spacing of cancellation naturals.
- A new Follow secondary brackets choice for barline joins allows joins to follow sub-bracket groupings.
- When a lyric continues onto a new system with only an extender line, you can now drag that line to adjust the vertical position of the whole line of lyrics.
- Guitar playing techniques can be positioned independently relative to staff notation and tablature for the same instrument.
- Splitting a flow now preserves the prevailing bracket and barline changes at the start of the new flow.
MusicXML export has also been improved, including support for cues, more faithful handling of divisi and extra staves, and better representation of text-based gradual dynamics.
Other improvements and fixes
Dorico for iPad now handles projects in iCloud Drive more reliably, checking for newer versions when opening a project and when returning to the app. There are also fixes for playback, selections, lyrics, chord symbols, percussion and many other areas.
For comprehensive details of all the improvements and fixes, please consult the Dorico 6.2.40 Version History PDF.
Installing the update
Dorico 6.2.40 is a free update for existing Dorico Pro 6, Dorico Elements 6 and Dorico SE 6 users. If you are currently running Dorico Pro 5 or Dorico Elements 5 or earlier, you can buy an update to Dorico Pro 6 or Dorico Elements 6 from the Steinberg online shop.
Assuming you already have Dorico 6 installed, you can update to Dorico 6.2.40 free of charge. First, quit Dorico and any other Steinberg application that you are running on your computer. We recommend that you run Steinberg Download Assistant, which will automatically update Steinberg Activation Manager to the latest version, along with any other elements of the Steinberg run-time environment (including Steinberg Library Manager, MediaBay, and on Windows the Steinberg Built-in ASIO Driver) that may be outdated on your computer.
Once Steinberg Download Manager has finished updating any required components, go to My Products in the left-hand list, where you will find Dorico Pro 6, Dorico Elements 6, or Dorico SE 6, depending on which product you have installed. Select this, and on the right-hand side you will see Dorico 6.2.40 Application Installer. Click the Install button immediately to the right. This will download and run the Dorico 6.2.40 installer.
If for any reason you cannot use Steinberg Download Assistant, you can find all the installers you require here.
If you already have Dorico for iPad installed, it will probably update automatically, but if you need to update it manually, you can do so following these steps provided by Apple.
What’s next
It’s been a longer than usual interval since our last update, Dorico 6.2.30, at the end of June. We’ve been hard at work, not only on these important improvements, but also on several other exciting projects. It won’t be so very long before we’ll be able to share more news with you. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing how you get on with the update. Please come and share your feedback on the Dorico forum.