Used Dorico for the first time. Someone sold me a licence in 2022. I upgraded to Dorico 4 and never used it until now. 😹 I saw features way back that are pertinent to my work, but right now I can't say that it's intuitive to use. I was frustrated with things I wanted. Some unnecessary steps waste time. I checked forums, and early posts suggested that Dorico polices how conventional notation should be. Not cool. But I need to future-proof my work. #ContemporaryClassical #ClassicalMusic #Composer
@grumpykittyboy Paper is more future proof
@SarahAndreaRoyce you would think so? But my family has been a victim of house fire not only once but twice. I lost all of my childhood memorabilia all the way until high school. That's why paper is the easiest to disappear. Also not mentioning that re-engraving all written scores of a lifetime into digital form will be insurmountable work. 😹
@grumpykittyboy Even digital data has to be stored physically. And where that is and how easily destroyed it is does not lay entirely in your control. Usually there are backups stored in remote locations - but that can be true for paper as well.
@SarahAndreaRoyce But digital distribution is the easiest access point nowadays more than relying on paper score distribution from remote places. It's not just about archiving. Publishers/distributors like Babelscores or the Canadian Music Centre (where I'm a member of) can take care both of distribution and archiving on my behalf into perpetuity. Besides, I won't publish scores handwritten on paper because my handwriting is bad. They need to be digitized anyway. Hence, digital future-proofing.
@SarahAndreaRoyce i guess it should be both paper and digital anyway. With paper future-proofing, there should be proper physical infrastructure, which I have access to. Digital future-proofing allows easier distribution and decentralization/redundancy.
Which programs have you used before? I used Finale for 20 years or so and never liked it. Dorico took some time to get used to, obviously, but now I do understand the logic and it is much smoother.

@Verkomponist I used Sibelius for the longest time. It felt intuitive because it's a point-and-click sandbox game. My Finale experience is short-lived. But my spatial scores are visually complex and Sibelius is too restrictive for that. The best advice I got for Dorico is to read the manual 😹 and understand its logic. Fair enough.

The earlier fanboying in the forums is a turn-off though. Too much "their way is the only way" vibe. That doesn't convince me since I already do well with Sibelius.