Scripting—automating notation software with code and macros.
Dorico 5 is out with the inclusion of more SMuFL music fonts; speedier note input workflows; playback enhancements such as scrubbing, space and stage templates, pitch contour emphasis, MIDI trigger regions, and Groove Agent SE; an instrument editor; and a host of other worthwhile enhancements.
Finale has long been at its most powerful when combined with third-party tools. If you have basic coding skills and have ever wished you could automate Finale yourself, check out RGP Lua, a free plug-in that uses Lua scripts to interact with Finale documents.
Apple's Shortcuts, with its easy drag-and-drop interface, is the future of automation on all their platforms. Learn how to use it to automate actions in apps like Sibelius, Finale, and Dorico.
Sibelius 2021.9 brings updates in the areas of searching, the Keypad, ManuScript, and a handful of other areas, including features first seen on the iPad version.
Bob Zawalich takes us on a tour of a mega-plug-in library of routines that can be treated the same as commands in Sibelius, and gives an overview of the kinds of things these commands will enable you to do without having to go directly into ManuScript code.
Sibelius's Commands feature extends the program's capabilities in many ways. If you're willing to dig in a little more, there are some tools available for you to extend it even further by building powerful automations directly within Sibelius.
The Sibelius 2021.2 release continues the ongoing evolution of the Find in Ribbon function into an increasingly comprehensive launch bar, now called Command Search. This update also expands Sibelius's scripting and plug-in capabilities.
In Dorico, tuplets can cross barlines easily. Learn how to apply this feature, with an easy tweak, to properly render certain Renaissance notations that have been difficult to achieve with other software.
