09/20/2024
As with so many of my Finale-since-birth colleagues, I am jumping in to learn Dorico. I've only spent a few days (I'm giving myself a year to become proficient), but from what I see, it's pretty cool. Yes, things are in different places, and they're accomplished in different ways (sometimes the opposite of what I expect knowing FInale so well), but overall I see an organization to the program that really makes sense. If I was coming cold to notation software, I would likely find Dorico less daunting than coming to Finale (and I remember that horror as if it were yesterday, rather than the early 90s!). In fact, I feel like I've "put up with" Finale's quirks for so long that I don't even notice them. I think the cleaner and more streamlined way that Dorico handles some functions will likely win me over soon enough.
To all you Finale refugees, I would simply say, keep an open mind! Treat it as though you were learning a new DAW like Cubase or Logic, or a new video editor like Premiere or Final Cut. And above all, learn the terms and labels. Once you know where everything is, and especially what it's called, it gets much easier.
Having said all that, learning Note Entry is by far the biggest hurdle into the program. That's where I feel my 35+ years of Finale experience really paid off, and now I'm pretty much starting over. I'm being very patient with myself, and not comparing note-entry time with the same process in Finale (I wrote 7 big band charts in Finale with revisions in the last 2 weeks--that only happens when you REALLY know a program!).
Keep the faith--it gets better!
