Steinberg has released Dorico 6.2.20, a minor update to Dorico 6.2, arriving alongside the launch of its official support for Cantai, the vocal synthesis plug-in from Turing Opera Workshop and Edge Audio Labs. Cantai integration is the headlining feature of this release, with a handful of other improvements and more than 25 bug fixes rounding out the update.
We have much more on Cantai in a dedicated review by David MacDonald, and on Saturday we’ll have a new podcast episode featuring an interview with Cantai creator Richard deCosta.
The version history documentation for this release thoroughly documents the improvements as well as the bug fixes.
For now, here’s what’s new in Dorico 6.2.20.
Cantai support
Cantai — a vocal synthesis VST plug-in designed specifically for use in music notation software — launches its official support for Dorico today after a public beta period, and Dorico 6.2.20 deepens the preliminary integration that arrived in Dorico 6.0.22. Two notable improvements come with this release.
Automatic voice detection. When you assign an instance of Cantai to a specific voice part in the Track Inspector panel in Play mode, Dorico now sends a handshake to Cantai that allows it to automatically determine which voice part it’s assigned to — so you no longer need to perform this step manually. You do still need to choose which synthesized voice should be used for each part.
Lyrics in repeated sections. The handling of lyrics in repeated sections has been improved in passages where the same lyrics are sung on multiple passes.
Steinberg has provided a playback template for Cantai’s use within Dorico, made by Dorico’s international product specialist John Barron.
More information about getting started with Cantai in Dorico will be in David MacDonald’s article publishing tomorrow.
Other improvements
Filter for chord symbol regions. A new Edit > Filter > Chord Symbol Regions command lets you quickly filter chord symbol regions within a selection. Chord symbol regions are also now included when making a block selection with Shift+click.
Lyrics and Select More. In Engrave mode, Edit > Select More now selects only lyric text, not hyphens or extender lines — making it much easier to select a column of lyrics at the same rhythmic position and nudge them together without inadvertently moving their hyphens or extender lines along for the ride.
Cutting regions with the scissors tool. Chord symbol regions and MIDI trigger regions can now be split at the caret position using the scissors tool (shortcut U).
Searching for VST plug-ins. The hierarchical menu used to choose VST plug-ins in the VST and MIDI panel in Play mode and in the Mixer now includes a text filter field. Type the name (or part of the name) of the plug-in you want to load to quickly find and add it.
Bug fixes
The version history documentation documents more than 25 bug fixes, including several Cantai-specific fixes, along with corrections in the areas of chord symbols, cues, dynamics, lyrics, MusicXML import, proofreading, repeats, and the user interface.
Availability
Dorico 6.2.20 for Windows and Mac desktop is a free update for current registered users of Dorico Pro 6, Dorico Elements 6, and Dorico SE 6, and is available now via the Steinberg Download Assistant.
For full coverage of Dorico 6, please read our comprehensive review of Dorico 6 and the posts about Dorico 6.2.10, Dorico 6.2, Dorico 6.1, Dorico 6.0.22, and Dorico 6.0.10, and listen to our podcast episode featuring an interview with Daniel Spreadbury.
Dorico 6.2.20 for iPad is available in the App Store. If your device hasn’t already automatically downloaded and installed the update, you can find it in the Updates section of the App Store app on your iPad.
For the latest information about compatibility for Sibelius, Dorico, and MuseScore Studio, as well as links to the latest news and reviews about product releases, please see the Scoring Notes Product Guide.