Dorico - Compose Music

Dorico - Compose Music

By Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

Score: 4.66948
4.66948
From 829 Ratings

Description

Compose your own music for free with Dorico. Create beautiful music notation for up to eight instruments quickly and easily with the on-screen keyboard, drum pads and fretboard. Play back instantly with the included sounds and shape the performance with powerful MIDI editing tools. When your piece is finished, share it as PDF, audio or MusicXML, or print directly to your AirPrint-enabled printer. Perform using the built-in read mode, and annotate with your Apple Pencil. Dorico is the award-winning music notation and composition software from Steinberg for macOS, Windows, and iPadOS. It’s easy enough to learn and use that it is used by students in schools, and deep enough that it satisfies the needs of the most demanding professionals in the worlds of concert music, music for film and TV, and music publishing. Dorico for iPad is fully compatible with Dorico for macOS and Windows, so you can work on your projects on the move on your iPad and in your studio on your desktop or laptop computer, or share projects with musicians using Dorico on any platform. Dorico’s interface is split into four modes. In Setup mode, you can add and change instruments, create and reorder sections of music (called “flows”), and choose how your music will be formatted for your musicians into layouts. In Write mode, you can input and edit music and other notations using simple, well-organized toolboxes and panels. In Engrave mode (included if you buy a paid subscription to Dorico’s advanced features), you can make graphical tweaks to every item in your project. Finally, in Play mode, you have access to powerful sequencer-style MIDI editing tools, including piano roll and velocity editors. Dorico includes built-in virtual instruments and effects to allow you to play back your compositions, and you can also easily use any compatible Audio Unit plug-in or external MIDI device (with optional subscription or Lifetime Unlock in-app purchase), and tweak playback using the on-screen Mixer. Input music using an on-screen piano keyboard, or by connecting a MIDI keyboard to your iPad directly via USB or using a compatible USB-to-Lightning adaptor. If you have a Magic Keyboard or other external keyboard, you can make use of extensive keyboard shortcuts to work quickly and efficiently. Dorico is free to use, allowing you to write for ensembles of up to four players. Register with your free Steinberg ID to increase the player limit to eight, allowing you to write for ensembles like string or wind quartet, or SATB choir. If you want to take your composition and arranging to the next level, you can buy an optional subscription or Lifetime Unlock in-app purchase to access more features and power: write for ensembles of any number of players, and gain access to Engrave mode, allowing you to make graphical tweaks to individual items anywhere in your project. HIGHLIGHTS • Best automatic engraving of any software • Easy note input using on-screen keyboard, MIDI keyboard, or external keyboard • Intelligently adjusts notation as you write • Any number of movements or pieces in a single project • Automatic layout of instrumental parts • Expressive playback using included sounds and effects • Supports Audio Unit virtual instruments and effects processors • Sequencer-style piano roll MIDI editor • Sophisticated chord symbols, unpitched percussion and drum set notation • Unbarred music, tuplets across barlines, etc. all handled correctly — no workarounds • Transfer to and from other apps via MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, etc. For support, please visit www.dorico.com/forum If you like Dorico, please support us by rating this app in the App Store. Thank you!

Screenshots

Reviews

  • I love this app but it keeps kicking me out and erasing my songs

    3
    By Hegulators
    I got this app and I have written some piano solos on it, but I’ve been working on a band song and it keeps kicking me out. Then when I get back on the app the music is completely gone.
  • Powerful, exactly what I needed

    5
    By kblackthorne
    As I age, my eyes are getting weak. I needed to re-score some music, and pencil on manuscript paper wasn’t cutting it. I went searching, and found this software. I was able to input my score, bass clef and treble, with fingerings and lyrics, everything I needed. I could set playback, to see if I’d entered it correctly. I would need to pay, to add chord letter-markings, but I can input the chords themselves with the free version. (I may upgrade to the paid version at some point, but right now, the free version is powerful enough to meet my needs.)
  • Great App. Some Problems.

    3
    By Missile198
    Dorico is a great app if you want to write down some sheet music or if you want to make a simple tune, but it has glitches where sometimes on the digital keyboard on the bottom one of the key will glitch to where it stays down and you can’t press it again. Also sometimes when you close out one of your pieces it will delete it automatically. I most say though it doesn’t really do that anymore so maybe they fixed it. Overall a really good app except for those two apps.
  • Full-power Composing on iPad

    5
    By Kalin C.
    I use Dorico Pro on both desktop (Mac and PC) and the iPad, and I’ve found that the iPad version has nearly all of the same functionality. I have found it very easy to use touch and pen input, and the subtle interface differences still make sense to me. On top of it all, I discovered that my MIDI keyboard plugs in by USB (via the special Apple adapter that adds a full USB-A port), and works just as well as the desktop version. This allows all my different modes of interaction with the software to be available to me, along with touchscreen input. I think I will still be finishing scores on the version, but the iPad version is no slouch. I could probably complete full projects on here.
  • Great when it doesn’t crash, which is not often

    2
    By Michael Rivers
    I’ve been using Dorico on iPad since right after it was released, and it makes beautiful scores. The interface is customized for iPad and not hard to figure out. However, it crashes (either freezes with the app still open or hard-crashes to the desktop) in about a quarter of the scores I write. Over the years, the rate of crashing has remained the same. When I reopen the app after a crash, the score is completely missing — Dorico never thought to save my work. For years I have just put up with this, losing many hours of work to these crashes. I’ve posted on the forum and tried to attach the apps crash reports to no avail. These crashes have happened when I’m showing the app to my piano students, trying to get them interested in using it. They (rightly) have no patience for this kind of thing. Depending on my mood and tolerance for frustration, I still use it when I’m away from my PC and only have my iPad with me. I thought I should leave this review as a warning for anyone thinking of buying Dorico for iPad. There is a free version, so you might try it out and see if you want to throw your iPad through the window as often as I do when you lose all your work.
  • Good

    5
    By $lip
    Good
  • Crashed twice in the first five min

    1
    By furledeyebrowse
    Keeps freezing , havent even written music in I have newest model ipad air
  • Great app, but freezes and crashes often

    4
    By Jazingy
    The functionality of Dorico for iOS has been a game changer. I love the tools available in this software and have made this my notation software of choice. However, I have been experiencing frequent freezing and crashes since using the app. I haven’t yet nailed down what is causing this issue. When using the app normally, it will suddenly lag really badly. Next, the menu options will darken as if being pressed, but nothing will happen. This requires a restart every time, often reverting any progress since the last save. I have been extremely impressed by this software, but the freezing issue has caused a great deal of frustration in my work.
  • Great app, a few bugs

    4
    By Gabbotronix
    I am very happy with this app. Amazing notation software for the iPad that I have always been looking for. However, the app does crash sometimes, and while not deleting any files, is still pretty annoying. I’ve also been having this problem of when sometimes I add a 2nd part to a measure, it glitches out and adds other 2nd parts to every other measure in the file. I’m not quite sure if I am the one doing anything wrong, but it’s been very annoying.
  • Another Great Reason to Stay on iPad

    5
    By MattDBSings
    This most recent update of Dorico makes working on an iPad Pro with an external trackpad and keyboard so nice! They fixed the motion bugs and weird flashy bits from older versions and added great features from Dorico Pro to further flesh out this release. I switched from Finale on Windows to Dorico on iPad because of the promise of professional notation on a do-it-all device, and this app has not disappointed. I bought the one-time purchase for Dorico for iPad and I think it’s absolutely worth every pence. Thank you Daniel Spreadbury and the rest of the team at Steinberg who are working on this app, you’ve done an excellent job! I’d love to see some more options for tuplets in tempo equations, like duple eighth = quarter.

keyboard_arrow_up