Considering switching from Musescore to Dorico

[jzucker]

After a couple years on the musescore bandwagon, I'm considering ditching it and switching to Dorico. Musescore is really great but version 4 has really taken a step backwards in terms of reliability and I find that I have to save after almost every measure to avoid losing data.

This is particularly an issue if you are importing musicxml from Finale — which ironically — is one of the touted use cases for using musescore.
I have downloaded the trial version of dorico and it's user interface is somewhat ugly but it seems more solid than musescore in terms of crashes and reliability.

Just wondering if anyone else has compared musescore and dorico?

[nyc chaz]

I was just laughing last week when users of MuseScore were locked out of using their paid libraries that were sitting on their hard drive.Seems like that issue has been resolved.The biggest advantage of MuseScore to me is that their libraries have expression maps built right in whereas in Dorico you have to configure expression maps for every 3rd party library you use which is time consuming.MuseScore is still working out a lot of kinks,i think Dorico is far superior at this point.

[Christian Miller]

Without wanting to jinx it I’ve not found stability issues with MS 4.

Dorico is highly recommended but also expensive compared to MS and apparently there’s a bit of learning curve. All the dorico bores say it’s much better when you’ve learned the new way. MS is probably stuck with a lot of legacy illogical choices from Sibelius which it seemed to be based on.


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[jzucker]

Without wanting to jinx it I’ve not found stability issues with MS 4.

Dorico is highly recommended but also expensive compared to MS and apparently there’s a bit of learning curve. All the dorico bores say it’s much better when you’ve learned the new way. MS is probably stuck with a lot of legacy illogical choices from Sibelius which it seemed to be based on.


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Most of the stability issues have to do with importing musicxml files. Are you doing that? I am converting finale musicxml files to musescore and it's a !@#$ disaster. I've reported bugs many times and they almost always get marked "cannot repro". After importing musicxml files, even ties across measures can crash.

[jzucker]

I was just laughing last week when users of MuseScore were locked out of using their paid libraries that were sitting on their hard drive.Seems like that issue has been resolved.The biggest advantage of MuseScore to me is that their libraries have expression maps built right in whereas in Dorico you have to configure expression maps for every 3rd party library you use which is time consuming.MuseScore is still working out a lot of kinks,i think Dorico is far superior at this point.

how is dorico "far superior"? Any details?

[GuyBoden]

I'm still using MuseScore 3.

[jzucker]

I'm still using MuseScore 3.

I honestly couldn't tell you one thing about v4

[nyc chaz]

how is dorico "far superior"? Any details?

Dorico is a more finished project with it's workflow and engraving feature.You've already experienced some of the problems with MuseStudio.As i said above,MuseScore biggest upside is that it is free and expression maps are built into their librariesTo get the most out of Musestudio however,you really need to purchase their 3rd party libraries which just doubled in price recently.I will say that the MuseStudio libraries sound very realistic on playback.

[jzucker]

Dorico is a more finished project with it's workflow and engraving feature.You've already experienced some of the problems with MuseStudio.As i said above,MuseScore biggest upside is that it is free and expression maps are built into their librariesTo get the most out of Musestudio however,you really need to purchase their 3rd party libraries which just doubled in price recently.I will say that the MuseStudio libraries sound very realistic on playback.

I'm not crazy about dorico's workflow and this one reason I have not upgraded thus far. I don't like having to go into a track view to control playback, and whether or not chords get played back.

I also think it's a huge mess that you can't select measures and Export the midi from them directly

[nyc chaz]

Every notation program out today has something that needs to be improved.I was excited about Staffpad but the handwriting recognition turned out to be a dud at least for me it did.I see these guys post online these elaborate orchestral pieces composed in Staffpad and color me dubious that they were entirely written in Staffpad.I think it's more likely done in another program and then imported into Staffpad where it has to be cleaned up.One of the things i like about Dorico is that you can use Noteperformer with it which is a really fine performing playback engine and a definite best buy in the software world.

[sgcim]

I was just on my way to listen to a big band chart I did on MS 4.53 when I saw this. I'm glad I read about the export problems, because a drummer wants to pay me to write a disco chart for his 13pc disco band, but we both had no idea how I could export my chart over to him
He couldn't grasp the fact that there are two MuseScores; one for sheet music, and the other for notation, so a friend brought a digital recorder, and he taped the big band playing it.

There are still some things about MS that are problematic:
1) They still don't have a good jazz guitar sound.
2) Their harmon mute sound doesn't sound like a real harmon mute, and it's the only mute available when I select "mute" from the sidebar. It also doesn't place the mute sign above the staff, and I wound up getting into a big fight with some trumpet players over placement of the mute sign.
3) I still have to go over every chart I write with a pen to make the jump and repeat signs noticeable for professional musicians to follow them

I just had a chart I wrote played last night of a Beatles tune done in a Steely Dan style, and the old sub that they got wouldn't read the Steve Gadd- like hits that I wrote in, and just played an8th notes hi-hat snare drum on 2 and 4 groove...LOL!
I yelled at him , "No, don't just play a rock beat, read the hits, like Steve Gadd (which I also penned in above the hits). He seemed to draw a blank on Gadd, and did his best to massacre my chart!