Dorico - Steinberg's bomb on Avid/Sibelius

[ElmerJFudd]

http://ww2.sonicftp.com/news/images/27044_713.jpg

 

https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/dorico.html?et_cid=15&et_lid=22&et_sub=Dorico

 

From Spreadbury's blog: http://blog.steinberg.net/2016/05/meet-dorico-coming-q4-2016/#more-396

 

Steinberg has announced details of its music notation software, Dorico, scheduled for release the fourth quarter of 2016. Here's the full story in their own words...

 

A few years ago Steinberg established an R&D center with a new development team in London, setting out to develop next-generation professional scoring software for composers, arrangers, engravers, copyists and educators. Now, Steinberg has provided an overview of the powerful feature set to be included in the initial major release of Dorico, the advanced music notation system.

 

With its perfect combination of power and simplicity, Dorico holds the key to unlock a whole new world of musical creativity. Its easy and straightforward single-window user interface comprises high-performance tools and versatile page layout options that place a clear focus on a smooth workflow.

 

Dorico provides the most flexible note input and editing functionality of any scoring application, including the ability to work entirely in open meter or to freely rebar existing music, while maintaining clear and unambiguous rhythmic notation at all times. Only Dorico allows composers to experiment freely with musical ideas, including seamlessly inserting music within an existing passage, or changing the durations of existing notes, and have correct notation produced automatically after every step. The application also provides unique capabilities for project management, allowing users to easily produce works with an unlimited number of staves and movements, sections or pieces within the same project. Dorico facilitates the creation of various score layouts with independent page size, staff size and system layout, powered by a desktop publishing-quality page layout engine.

 

Dorico's graphical output is intended to uphold the centuries-old craft of fine music engraving, with attention to even the smallest of details. Taking every subtlety into account, Dorico aims to fulfill the aesthetic demands of the most discerning engravers and publishers, providing extensive capabilities for graphical tweaking and editing.

 

Dorico's multi-threaded architecture makes the software smooth and responsive, even when working on large-scale projects. Building on Steinberg's award-winning audio engine, Dorico comes with a host of sumptuous VST instruments and effects, including HALion Sonic SE and the entire HALion Symphonic Orchestra library.

 

Steinberg's Product Marketing Manager, Daniel Spreadbury, commented: "After working on Dorico for more than three years, we are excited to finally announce its name and forthcoming availability. All of us on the Dorico team are dedicated to building the best, most beautiful and most useful tool for working with music notation, and we will continue to work hard over the next few months to refine the application before the first version is available for everybody to try for themselves. This is just the beginning of the journey, and we look forward to working with our user community to continue to shape Dorico into the ultimate tool for composing, arranging and publishing music."

 

"We are pleased that such a highly respected team of developers joined the Steinberg family. By combining our expertise we shall be able to provide an even wider range of powerful solutions for our customers," said Frank Simmerlein, marketing director for Steinberg.

 

Features at a glance

Next-generation 64-bit scoring software for OS X and Windows, designed by musicians for musicians

Beautiful engraved output with unrivaled attention to detail

Flexible note input and powerful editing, including ability to insert and change duration of existing notes

Streamlined, single-window interface puts every tool at your fingertips

Powerful score management features to handle multiple independent pieces of music within the same project

Unlimited number of staves and movements, sections, or pieces within the same project

Easily create layouts for full scores and instrumental parts with independent page size, staff size and system layout

Use your computer keyboard or MIDI keyboard to input music quickly and efficiently

Superior note spacing with optical kerning of adjacent elements, with tighter default spacing and no rhythmic distortion

Import and export in MusicXML, MIDI and graphics formats

Award-winning 32-bit floating-point Steinberg audio engine with flexible routing for virtual instrument and effect playback

Compatible with VST 3 virtual instruments and effects processors

Outstanding virtual instruments with more than 1,500 sounds, including HALion Sonic SE 2 workstation and complete HALion Symphonic Orchestra library

Suite of high-end VST effect processors, including channel strip modules (compressor, EQ, limiter) and convolution reverb

 

Pricing and Availability:

The full version of Dorico will be available from Steinberg resellers and through the Steinberg Online Shop in the fourth quarter of 2016 for 579 euros including VAT.

 

Educational pricing for qualifying teachers and students will be 349 euros including VAT.

 

A special time-limited crossgrade offer for qualifying Sibelius and Finale users will be available for 299 euros including VAT.

[Morizzle]

Cool! I hope they release a demo in time.

[stoken6]

This should be good.

 

I've known Spreadbury since Sibelius v1 (or earlier - Acorn days?) and he's a really good guy. He ran the Sibelius forums and was spot-on with every response. Imagine Weiser or Martin but with ossias and stemless notes.

 

His blog is worth reading, too. The account of the Steinberg product reeks of obsessive attention to detail.

 

Thanks for posting EJF

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[zephonic]

Yeay!

 

Dorico provides the most flexible note input and editing functionality of any scoring application, including the ability to work entirely in open meter or to freely rebar existing music, while maintaining clear and unambiguous rhythmic notation at all times. Only Dorico allows composers to experiment freely with musical ideas, including seamlessly inserting music within an existing passage, or changing the durations of existing notes, and have correct notation produced automatically after every step.

 

I'd love that.

 

But I wonder if they'll make something for the iPadPro/Surface? I still think stylus-based input is the way to go.

 

Either way, I'm gonna have to wait until the entry-level version comes out. US price for the full-fat version will most likely be ~$600 and that's a little steep.

 

oh, and Dorico sounds too much like Dork to me. 'sup widdat?

[zeronyne]

The feature-set looks good, but it will all come down to the user interface.

[ElmerJFudd]

True, I have no doubt that they have spent an incredible amount of time on the fonts and rendering engines. I think they're angle is going to be that the product produces a better quality hard/graphic copy.

 

I also suspect the guys on the development team had lots of ideas about UI and code improvements that just weren't possible to do in Sibelius since it would have required a rewrite from scratch.

 

And lastly, yes yes yes. Now that they have the desktop version close to release, they will need to quickly address tablet/stylus entry and hopefully cloud based sharing/saving/editing etc. for collaboration.

[Mark Schmieder]

Even the cross-grade is super-pricey, but maybe worth it.

 

Open meter, and the ability to rebar, is pretty critical to my work.

[Aidan]

Just a note of caution do anyone thinking of jumping in early - Daniel has more or less confirmed on FB that the first release of Dorico will NOT support chord symbols for lead sheets.

[ElmerJFudd]

Good to know, Aidan. I wonder why the rush to market at this time. We're headed into the doldrums of summer. Everyone has waited this long to see what they've been working on. Holiday sales rush perhaps. I don't think it would be so bad for them to wait until Q1 2017 to show a complete product at NAMM.

 

Regardless, it is exciting to see what they've come up with... nothing new these days for there to be point updates pretty rapidly. Looks like they aren't pushing a recurring rental model with it yet, which is nice for the time being.

[Sven Golly]

Good to know, Aidan. I wonder why the rush to market at this time.

 

Available Q4 2016.

[ElmerJFudd]

Good to know, Aidan. I wonder why the rush to market at this time. We're headed into the doldrums of summer. Everyone has waited this long to see what they've been working on. Holiday sales rush perhaps. I don't think it would be so bad for them to wait until Q1 2017 to show a complete product at NAMM.

 

Yes, Sven. Understood. I'm wondering why Q1 2017 isn't good enough to reveal at NAMM if a basic thing like chord charts isn't complete yet. I realize Q4 2016 is holiday shopping season. But we've waited this long since all the drama about the Sibelius London team being let go, and Steinberg's hiring of the employees, Spreadbury's subsequent blog, etc. etc.

 

 

[mate stubb]

Marketing folks get nervous when they don't have a product to sell.

 

If you don't have an actual shipping product, the next best thing in their minds is to sell vapor, and try to freeze buyers in the mean time.

[Sven Golly]

Okay, I'll bite.

 

1) If Avid, MakeMusic and Presonus have new versions on the way, announcing now puts Steinberg at the forefront of the consumer's thought. Case in point, this thread.

 

2) "a basic thing like chord charts" is only important for the beginner/intermediate user for the most part. From the copy you pasted in your original post:

 

Dorico's graphical output is intended to uphold the centuries-old craft of fine music engraving, with attention to even the smallest of details. Taking every subtlety into account, Dorico aims to fulfill the aesthetic demands of the most discerning engravers and publishers, providing extensive capabilities for graphical tweaking and editing.

 

That doesn't say "show me a tab guitar chord symbol above my staff" it says "let me transcribe my orchestral score." As always, YMMV.

 

But hey, I guess if they'd waited until NAMM, someone would've complained about that. Sometimes manufacturers just can't win around here.

[burningbusch]

For my needs, I've found these full version products to be overkill. The $100 versions, Sibelius First and PrintMusic, are more than enough for charts, horn transcriptions, piano scores, etc. Unless you do big time scoring or have very specific/unique needs, you're often wasting your money, IMO. Hell the annual upgrades are often $100 plus.

 

Busch.

[Bobadohshe]

2) "a basic thing like chord charts" is only important for the beginner/intermediate user for the most part. From the copy you pasted in your original post:

 

That doesn't say "show me a tab guitar chord symbol above my staff" it says "let me transcribe my orchestral score." As always, YMMV.

 

I know you said 'YMMV' but I think this warrants further comment. Chord symbol functionality is vitally important. From church musicians to guys in top 40 bands to big band arrangers and educators, they are boxing themselves in without prioritizing this. Hell even if they wanted to write figured bass they'd need em.

 

Furthermore, I think that chord symbol functionality is one area where they could really leapfrog Finale. Finale's chord symbol implementation has come a long way but is still sorely lacking in some basic areas (try smoothly changing fonts or easily respacing your chord symbols. Both possible and I've done it many times, but both a hassle).

[zephonic]

For my needs, I've found these full version products to be overkill. The $100 versions, Sibelius First and PrintMusic, are more than enough for charts, horn transcriptions, piano scores, etc. Unless you do big time scoring or have very specific/unique needs, you're often wasting your money, IMO. Hell the annual upgrades are often $100 plus.

 

+1

Still rocking Sibelius 6 First here, and I write a ton of charts with it. Unfortunately, it is not supported beyond Mavericks, so the clock is ticking.

 

[Tom Williams]

This should be good.

 

I've known Spreadbury since Sibelius v1 (or earlier - Acorn days?) and he's a really good guy. He ran the Sibelius forums and was spot-on with every response. Imagine Weiser or Martin but with ossias and stemless notes.

 

His blog is worth reading, too. The account of the Steinberg product reeks of obsessive attention to detail.

. . . ^^^^^This^^^^^

 

I looked at the blog a few months back, where he discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Finale and Sibelius (and 4 other lesser known packages) and what lessons he and the coding team learned from them. Absolutely amazing stuff.

 

That said, Printmusic was plenty for me for years. I only upgraded to Finale after they sent me an offer to do it for something like $100.

[ElmerJFudd]

I've been on Sibelius a very long time... it debuted at a time when opportunities for work requiring desktop notation software were just starting for me, so although I did use Finale briefly at uni, it wasn't long enough for me to ignore the buzz that surrounded the latest thing. I haven't really looked back.

 

But the entire notion that programmers that worked on the Sibelius I know and love had an opportunity to start from scratch and do it their way a second time... intriguing. I must know what they have built. http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc15/fabian365/f365%20smilies/smiley-stroking-chin.gif

[ElmerJFudd]

Steinberg's Dorico Scoring Program Aims To Be Gold Standard

Souped up notation software gets some major dev love 25/05/16

 

http://ww2.sonicftp.com/news/images/27085_834.jpg

 

For many, the loss of the team behind Sibelius was a powerfully emotional experience, when AVID let them go in a round of heavy job cuts. It was simply the only game in town for serious notation needs. Sibelius still exists, but the development has slowed significantly since the team were fired.

However, the team behind it have moved over to Steinberg and have been working on a totally new scoring and notation solution of their own, this is now nearly ready for unveiling.

Those of you who are fluent in music notation will be much more comfortable in working on score based editing and production of printed or PDF copies of music for actual musicians to play - especially for string arrangers and the like.

 

http://blog.steinberg.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/selections.gif

 

Write and Engrave Modes allow you to intelligently select tied notes (write mode) where Engrave mode allows you to select each element. Scores can be hand annotated and tweaked to be more meaningful to the musician, making it a very powerful tool for producing final printable scores.

The new Dorico announcement - yeah we're not sure why its called that either (actually, its the name of a 16th Century music engraver in Rome Valerio Dorico), sets out the intent of Steinberg to take control of the notation market - redefine the Gold Standard as they put it.

Next-generation 64-bit scoring software for OS X and Windows, designed by musicians for musicians

Beautiful engraved output with unrivaled attention to detail

Flexible note input and powerful editing, including ability to insert and change duration of existing notes

Streamlined, single window interface puts every tool at your fingertips

Powerful score management features to handle multiple independent pieces of music within the same project

Unlimited number of staves and movements, sections, or pieces within the same project

Easily create layouts for full scores, conductor scores and instrumental parts with independent page size, staff size and system layout

Use your computer keyboard or MIDI keyboard to input music quickly and efficiently

Superior note spacing with optical kerning of adjacent elements, with tighter default spacing and no rhythmic distortion

Import and export in MusicXML, MIDI and graphics formats

Award-winning 32-bit floating-point Steinberg audio engine with up to 192 kHz and flexible routing for virtual instrument and effect playback

Compatible with VST 3 virtual instruments and effects processors

Outstanding virtual instruments with more than 1,500 sounds, including HALion Sonic SE 2 workstation and complete HALion Symphonic Orchestra library

Suite of high-end VST effect processors, including channel strip modules (compressor, EQ, limiter) and convolution reverb

Available Q4 2016 at 579 with discount for educational users and a Finale/Sibelius crossgrade price of 379

 

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2016/05/25/sibelius-team-release-dorico-through-steinberg/

[Jazz+]

Sibelius 6 already goes far beyond what I will ever need. I sense a lot of marketing hoop la.

[ElmerJFudd]

Orchestral/Movie score work, the publishing/sheet music business, universities/conservatories is what they want. To replace Sibelius as the standard. For Steinberg it's about taking a dent out of Avid Pro Tools+Sibelius and for the dev team it's the middle finger to Avid. "We'll make a better application than the one you outsourced".

[stoken6]

+1. For the dev team, it's a grudge match. "This is what you missed out on".

 

Cheers, Mike.

[tfort]

I think Steinberg's initial target market are institutional customers- big music publishing houses, universities and the like, so chord symbols are not critical in version 1.0.

 

If you listen to Daniel Spreadbury, he understands how important chord symbols are for individuals and is on the record that they will be one of the first items on the agenda to be added in the first update:

 

http://www.soundnotion.tv/2016/05/soundnotion-234/

 

The Steinberg Forum's Dorico subforum is already quite active, and there is a lot of talk re. the importance of chord symbols there. Spreadbury has responded that it's a priority for the first update (see second link below).

https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=246

https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=246&t=97315

 

Personally, I think Dorico will take over the desktop market, but the tablet and web-based notation options have a couple of years to work like hell and establish themselves before Dorico will come into their spaces. MusicXML and SMuFL should allow some real progress on the notation front in the next few years.

[ElmerJFudd]

Exactly. And if the software becomes popular with their target audience it will trickle down to independent composers, students and semi-pro market pretty quickly. I'm not totally stoked at the idea of learning yet another piece of software, but I'll do it if there is enough reason to - better copies, better UI/workflow being the priority.

[ElmerJFudd]

Caught out in the wild:

 

[video:youtube]

[ElmerJFudd]

Shipping October 19th.

Hope there's a demo.

[ElmerJFudd]

Live stream launch event:

 

Link to Steinberg Dorico Event Info

 

On the evening of Tuesday 18 October from 7:30 PM (London time), we will be holding a special event at which Daniel Spreadbury will be giving a public introduction to Dorico in London.

 

The program includes:

 

A presentation of Dorico itself

The premiere of a short work for string quartet and piano that we have commissioned from Thomas Hewitt Jones, which will be performed by the composer and members of renowned chamber music group Ensemble Perpetuo.

A talk with Thomas how he has found using Dorico to put it together.

The event will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, and available to watch after the event as well. Make sure you like and follow Steinberg on Facebook and YouTube to receive notifications about the live streams.

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

I keep reading the product name as "Dorito."

[Ulf]

2) "a basic thing like chord charts" is only important for the beginner/intermediate user for the most part.

 

I don't get this? Almost all big modern arrangements includes not only strings, brass and percussion, but also a rhythm section where you'd be punched in the face if not offering also a chord chart.

[ElmerJFudd]

The Dorico team suggested a while back that they needed or wanted to launch and were working on the chord chart functionality but it wasn't going to make their launch date. To be added. I would presume in a .X update. But I'm honestly not sure. I'm eager to see what they've done with UI and workflow as well as how good hard copy looks. Keeping in mind that at least a few of the new dev team were guys that has been working for Sibelius division for Avid.