My Experience of Switching to Dorico from Sibelius
For the past few years as a professional, freelance composer, I’ve been an avid Sibelius fan. Pun intended.
However after hearing so much in the composing community about this up-and-coming competitor in the notation software scene, I couldn’t resist giving it a try.
So on a cold winter morning in December 2021, while on a vacation, I decided to try downloading the free trial of Dorico Pro 3.5 (now there’s a new Pro 4 update available) and try to experience the software as a new user, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Besides the confusing and convoluted download and installation process, which was covered masterfully by a video by Tantacrul, I gave Dorico the benefit of the doubt as it was an issue caused by the Steinberg team, rather than the developers for Dorico.
As with learning any new software, there is often a steep learning curve associated with getting accustomed to the UI and shortcuts. I was impressed with the abundance of free, online resources and documentation straight from Steinberg, which helped me learn the software quickly with their user-friendly guides on YouTube and their website.
Testing Out Dorico
My first real world test of Dorico’s capabilities was re-engraving an old piano piece I wrote a while back. I had the original score side-by-side Dorico and I copied everything as accurately as possible. This test was to see how intuitive and easy it was to input notes, dynamics, articulations, etc. Additionally, I found out how differently Dorico and Sibelius differ in small tasks, like inputting time signatures, tempo, and even note durations.
I found Dorico to be very efficient at performing these small tasks with their easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts.
I remember how convoluted it was to even add a metronome mark to Sibelius. There was too much friction to perform these little tasks, while with Dorico, I type Shift+T and input “q = 72” and it auto-aligns to the key signature perfectly.
While my first real-world test of Dorico’s feature’s was slow, I knew that I would be a power user once I learned the shortcuts and was more familiar with the UI.
I appreciated how Dorico separates a project into different headers, or modes: setup, write, engrave, and print.
Each section features their own menu and taskbar options that correspond to the stage of writing you’re at. For example, if I’m in engrave mode, I cannot edit the actual notes of the score, it’s more so for the look and layout of the score. This prevents small mistakes and accidental mistakes to make their way into your score, as I found was the case with my Sibelius experience.
On a side note, my NotePerformer 3 license that I originally purchased for Sibelius worked seamlessly with Dorico, so that was a plus.
Why Use Dorico Pro?
I chose to try the Dorico Pro 3.5 free trial as opposed to their lower tier options, Dorico Elements and SE, because I’m a concert composer that works with large orchestral or wind band scores that require a large amount of players. The bottom two tier levels set a cap to the number of players you can have in one project, so it was essential that I could test out the software in my normal workflow.
What Made Me Switch?
Like I mentioned, it was the ease-of-use, and intuitive UI that led me to switch. It was a quite drastic and impulsive decision to fully switch from Sibelius to Dorico, but I knew how much my workflow would improve a ton if I did. I was a stern Avid Sibelius user until I tried out Dorico, and their developers really wanted to provide the features that Sibelius didn’t have. I felt like Dorico was born out of the frustration of Avid’s slow moving development of their software.
What About Pricing?
I was quite indifferent about Sibelius’ subscription model, to be completely honest. I know there are many people who dislike the fact that they cannot “own” their software, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker to me. Dorico does not have a recurring monthly subscription (again, born out of people’s gripes with Sibelius), and they offer a one-time purchase for their software that includes discounts on future releases of their software. Like Sibelius, they offer education and/or crossgrade discounts if you switch from Sibelius or Finale. I was eligible for both, so I could a substantial discount on my one-time payment. It is nice to not have to worry about paying for my notation software on a monthly basis, and I seldom worry about my software not opening because of faulty registration errors.
Dorico’s Issues
While I don’t regret switching to Dorico fully, it’s not perfect by any means. I believe note-input was a lot more efficient on Sibelius. In addition, I felt like nearly every graphical element on my Sibelius score could be edited, altered, or adjusted, and I feel that I don’t have as much customizability with Dorico’s engrave mode.
Should You Switch to Dorico?
If you’ve been frustrated at all as a Sibelius or Finale user, or want an upgrade from free software, like MuseScore, then Dorico might be your next best option. I would recommend you to switch if you can easily learn new computer software and get past the steep learning curve.
I’d recommend download and playing with their free trial before making any decision.
You can find more information about Dorico on their website, or if you want to ask any specific questions, you can contact me here.
Cheers,
Carlos.
