Dorico 5.1.51 update now available

Updated 7 August 2024: We have today released a hotfix that brings Dorico to version 5.1.51, fixing a handful of bugs reported in last week's release. Check out the updated Version History PDF for more details.

We are pleased to announce the availability of another maintenance release for Dorico 5 across macOS, Windows, and iPadOS, bringing the application to version 5.1.50. The focus is squarely on fixing bugs – and nearly 50 have been squashed in this release – but it wouldn't be a Dorico update without bringing a few new goodies to the table. For example, we've improved the way the Chords track works in Play mode, which finally makes it possible to enable playback of chord symbols in Dorico for iPad. This update also brings engraving improvements for barlines, bar numbers, hairpins, instrument changes, and multi-bar rests. Let's take a closer look.

Chord symbol playback

One of the most common requests we've received concerning Dorico for iPad since its release (whisper it, but can you believe it is three years ago this week that Dorico made its debut in the App Store?) is to enable playback of chord symbols in our mobile version. We've made some changes to the way chord symbol playback works in Dorico 5.1.50 that now make it possible in Dorico for iPad as well.

In previous versions of Dorico for macOS and Windows, when you enabled chord symbol playback, Dorico would not allocate a new sound: it would instead expect you to either manually load a sound, or point the Chords track at one of the existing endpoints. This wasn't ideal for several reasons, chief among them the fact that enabling chord symbol playback by clicking the speaker icon in the track header would most of the time not result in any actual playback of chord symbols!

Things are better now in Dorico 5.1.50: when you activate chord symbol playback, Dorico automatically loads an additional piano sound and assigns the chord track to that new sound. If you want to change the sound, you can select the Chords track in the track overview, then open the relevant VST plug-in window and load a new sound in there.

On iPad, when you select the Chords track, you will see the familiar patch selector in the Routing section of the Track Inspector panel, allowing you to choose any of the available sounds for chord symbol playback.

Instrument changes

We have made some improvements to the placement of instrument change warnings and labels in this update. Previously, when changing from one instrument to another, the warning label (which says, for example, "to Cor Anglais") would always be snapped forwards to the first barline after the last note on the original instrument; likewise, the instrument change label itself at the entry of the new instrument (which is boxed by default) would always be snapped backwards to the barline at the start of the bar containing the first note played on the new instrument.

Dorico 5.1.50 introduces new settings in the Layout Options dialog to make instrument change warnings instead appear on the rest immediately following the last note in the original instrument, and to make instrument change labels appear directly above the first note played by the new instrument. By default, in new projects, warnings appear on the first rest following the last note on the original instrument, while labels will appear (as before) at the barline preceding the entry of the new instrument.

We've also introduced a new option to allow you to determine what should appear when a player has to change instrument with a short gap: if there is a gap of fewer than four quarters (crotchets) between the last note on the old instrument and the first note on the new one, Dorico now allows you to choose whether the warning or the label should appear.

Bar numbers

When bar numbers are shown centered or left-aligned on the barline (rather than at the start of the system, or centered in the middle of the bar), you can now specify whether they should be positioned inside dynamics, bringing them closer to the barline, or outside dynamics, allowing the dynamics to be positioned closer to the staff.

Instrumental parts for commercial music and film sessions often show bar numbers at every barline, usually in a relatively small size, and tucked in as close as possible to the barline. Having bar numbers shown on every bar, and ideally in a consistent position at every barline, allows players to find their place as quickly as possible, and in a studio environment, time is money.

In previous versions of Dorico, bar numbers were always positioned inside dynamics when below the staff, and always outside dynamics when above the staff. Now you can control this using a new option on the Bar Numbers page of Layout Options.

Other improvements

As always, you can read about all the improvements in this update in the Dorico 5.1.50 Version History PDF, but here are a few more highlights from this release:

You can now create double thick barlines via the Shift+B popover
You can choose whether 5/4 should be grouped as irregular compound (3+2) or irregular simple (1+1+1+1+1) by default
You can configure whether and by how much slurs should skim the vertical stems of sharps
Dorico will now always show hairpins, even if they end up shorter than the minimum length defined in Engraving options, so it's easier to find them and adjust the rhythmic spacing if required
In new projects, Dorico now always spaces single bar rests as regular bar rests rather than as multi-bar rests, regardless of whether they show the 1 bar count
New commands have been added to the View > Signposts submenu to allow you to check or uncheck the items for all signpost types in a single operation

And there are dozens of bug fixes, including improving navigation in the Flows panel in Setup mode when your project has more than 100 flows, dramatically improved note input and editing performance when using massive expression maps (like Articulate Maps from Symphonic Riot), and many more.

Installing the update

Dorico 5.1.50 is a free update for existing Dorico Pro 5, Dorico Elements 5 and Dorico SE 5 users. If you are currently running Dorico Pro 4 or Dorico Elements 4 or earlier, you can buy an update to Dorico Pro 5 or Dorico Elements 5 from the Steinberg online shop.

Assuming you already have Dorico 5 installed, you can update to Dorico 5.1.50 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 eLicenser Control Center, Steinberg Library Manager, and MediaBay) that may be outdated on your computer.

Once Steinberg Download Manager has finished updating any required components, go to My Product Downloads in the left-hand list, where you will find Dorico Pro 5, Dorico Elements 5, or Dorico SE 5, depending on which product you have installed. Select this, and on the right-hand side you will see Dorico 5.1.50 Application Installer. Click the Install button immediately to the right. This will download and run the Dorico 5.1.50 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

As always, we are hard at work on new features and improvements to help make your work with Dorico more productive and more enjoyable. Please keep an eye on the blog and on our social media channels for more news about what we're working on, coming soon.