Dorico 5.1.60, released on October 8, added a function to help correct layout collapse when importing MusicXML, as well as a function to achieve Finale's “Speedy Entry” (without using a MIDI keyboard) in Dorico.
The former was detailed in another article “Will Dorico 5.1.60 improve layout collapse when importing MusicXML?”. Here I will explain the specific settings for the latter method of achieving Finale's Speedy Entry.
[Table of Contents]
ーーー
1. What is “Speedy Entry” in Finale?
It has been said that most Finale users, especially professionals, use this Speedy Entry.
Speedy Entry can be done in two ways, with or without a MIDI keyboard, depending on the method of specifying pitches.
In the latter case, various pitches can be specified using only the up and down arrow keys on your computer, which allows faster and more accurate input than the seven-key CDEFGAB pitch specification method used by Dorico and many other music notation software*.
(Note: The drawback of this method of note entry is that it requires frequent octave corrections. This is not an issue with Finale's Speedy Entry, which allows you to enter intervals over an octave smoothly by holding down the same key.)
This was a particularly useful function in work environments where you cannot connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer, such as when writing music while traveling on a train.
In Dorico, the up and down arrow keys on your computer are basically used to move the caret up and down between staves, but in the newly released v5.1.60, you can now use them to specify pitches before input, just like in Finale.
(Back to Table of Contents)
2. How to set it up in Dorico
Below is a step-by-step explanation of how to set it up.
(1) Click the “>” icon to the left of “Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Note Input” to expand the item.
(※Preferences are in the Dorico menu on Mac, and in the Edit menu on Windows.)
(2) Select “Raise Shadow Notes by Step” in the left window, click the “Shortcuts…” button in the right window, press the up arrow key on your computer to make sure it appears on this button, and then click the “Add Keyboard Shortcut” button to the immediate right.
A warning message will be displayed, but click the “OK” button anyway. (※The key sequence that is removed from the “Move Up” command here will be reset in a later step.)
(3) Now you can use the up arrow key to execute “Raise Shadow Notes One Step”.
(4) Do the same for “Lower Shadow Notes by Step”.
(5) Select “Move Up” in the left menu. This is the command that moves the caret to the staff above, and the Dorico default up arrow key shortcut was deselected in (2) above.
(6) In the same way as before, specify “Option + Up Arrow” (“Alt + Up Arrow” on Windows) for this.
(7) Set “Move Down” in the same way.
(8) Depending on your preference, specify “Option + ⌘ + Up Arrow” (“Alt + Ctrl + Up Arrow” on Windows) for “Raise Shadow Notes by Octave”, which can now be specified as a keyboard shortcut in v5.1.60.
(9) Set “Lower Shadow Notes by Octave” in the same way. Setting these will make it even easier to move shadow notes by more than one octave.
The basic configurations are all set now, but I also recommend changing “Specify accidental, rhythm dot and articulations:” to “After inputting note” in “Preferences > Note Input and Editing > Note Input > Pitch and Duration”.
This will allow you to specify accidentals after note input, instead of before note input in Dorico's default settings, which will be closer to the specifications of Finale's Speedy Entry.
To use “Speedy Entry” with these settings, select the input measure, press “Shift + N” to switch to “Start Note Input” mode, and press “K” to switch to “Pitch Before Duration” mode.
This will enable pitch specification using the up and down arrow keys set above.
(Back to Table of Contents)
3. How to reset user-defined keyboard shortcuts
Note that keyboard shortcuts set by the user as shown above will not be reset even if you click the “Reset to factory settings” button at the bottom left of the dialog box.
In my own experiments, it seems that to reset this, you need to manually delete files on your hard disk. On a Mac, these files are as follows:
Macintosh HD > Users > (user name) > Library > Application Support > Steinberg > Dorico 5 > keycommands_ja.json
(This procedure may not be covered by technical support from the developer or distributor, so I recommend that you do so at your own risk.)
