# Is there a Reaper of Notation software?



## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

I've tried Musescore and Dorico SE but am struggling to adapt to their fixed shortcuts and idiosyncracies.

I love Reaper because EVERYTHING can be customised. 

Is there a notation software that's this flexible?


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## aaronventure (Dec 16, 2022)

JimDiGritz said:


> but am struggling to adapt to their fixed shortcuts


May I recommend Stream Deck XL?


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## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

aaronventure said:


> May I recommend Stream Deck XL?


Thanks Aaron, I really meant that in lots of software many of the shortcuts can't even be assigned let alone changed. In Reaper I can assign any Action or combination of Actions to any key shortcut. I can also edit what the mouse buttons and wheel do (including context specific scenarios like Double Click or Left Click Drag+Alt on a Media Item).

I've used software since the late 1980s and learning YET ANOTHER set of arbitrary ways of doing things is getting old!!

A classic example is when developers get Zoom with the Mousewheel the wrong way round.. (eg pull back the wheel zooms in... shudder). Fine, be weird if you like but please let me change it!!! 

Another is Undo/Redo. Microsoft has always used Ctrl+Z to undo and Ctrl+Y to Redo when 99% of the rest of the world uses Ctrl+Shift+Z to Redo. Fine, but let me change it!

In Musescore Middle mouse button enables Panning mode, unless you have a note or item selected (hard to see in a large score), THEN the MMB pan moves the note. No way to change it. In Musescore there is also no "reset the playhead and play again" option. I've had to bind 2 keys, one to set the playhead to the first measure and then another to play.


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## aaronventure (Dec 16, 2022)

JimDiGritz said:


> in lots of software many of the shortcuts can't even be assigned let alone changed


I feel ya. Stream Deck changed my life in this regard. Every new piece of software has its own set of shortcuts. You've held out way longer than me. It's just getting too much trying to remember all of it. Not even gonna mention the lack of shortcut consistency across e.g. Adobe's own portfolio, which is beyond insane. 

So I just map everything custom in Stream Deck and forget about it (and use Logitech peripherals where I can change what the middle mouse button and all the others do on a per-app basis).


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## Daniel S. (Dec 16, 2022)

Dorico is really pretty configurable. Have you looked, for example, at the *Key Commands* page in Preferences?


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## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

Daniel S. said:


> Dorico is really pretty configurable. Have you looked, for example, at the *Key Commands* page in Preferences?


Hi Daniel, no - to be fair I've only just started looking at Dorico!

I'm probably just being grumpy and stuck in my ways! Dorico *does *feel a lot smoother and more stable than any version of Musescore (which I've used a lot more) - not very surprising I guess.

I'm also leaning towards Dorico due to it (seemingly) more strictly adhering to the DAW/Piano Roll grid. 

As a PM I'm sure your team are dealing with a million and one things but I can safely say that a lot of people gravitate to Reaper because they can really align it to their use-case and workflow. Having said that, like Adobe in the graphics world, when you're the industry standard you can safely expect users to do it your way or not at all!!!


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## Daniel S. (Dec 16, 2022)

I'm always open to hearing feedback about things that cause you friction, so by all means share your experiences with me.


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## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

Daniel S. said:


> I'm always open to hearing feedback about things that cause you friction, so by all means share your experiences with me.


Thanks. I'm probably one of the least qualified people to suggest actual product enhancements to Dorico!!

All I will say is in my experience using complex software, I'm always pleasantly surprised to find comprehensive user configuration options. It often feels like developers are hard coding a lot of variables and not allowing users to modify them. To a non-developer this feels lazy and somewhat arrogant.


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## Daniel S. (Dec 16, 2022)

Dorico is probably configurable to a fault! There are literally thousands of options, particularly for how the music itself appears (though you are insulated from quite a few of those in Dorico SE, as the really gnarly stuff is only included in Dorico Pro).


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## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

Daniel S. said:


> Dorico is probably configurable to a fault! There are literally thousands of options, particularly for how the music itself appears (though you are insulated from quite a few of those in Dorico SE, as the really gnarly stuff is only included in Dorico Pro).


Ok. How do I combine multiple actions to a *single *keyboard shortcut?

eg 

Add a new Bass Clef staff
Copy all selected notes 
Paste all selected notes onto the new Clef
Drop all notes by -1 Octave

This kind of complex multi Action shortcut is trivial in Reaper (I know it's a DAW but you get the drift). I can even create a new custom menu icon to allow me to use it without remembering a shortcut.


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## Daniel S. (Dec 16, 2022)

That's really more of a macro than a single shortcut, in Dorico terms. You can record a simple macro and then replay it, but again, only in Dorico Pro, I'm afraid.


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## Ivan Duch (Dec 16, 2022)

It's a bit unrelated but one useful thing in Dorico is the jump bar. It's not as fast as a shortcut but it's a good compromise. You activate it with the key J and just write whatever function you're searching for, it even has autocomplete. It could be faster than a Stream Deck if you have to navigate menus within Stream Deck. 

It's ideal for stuff you don't use that often.

I personally use both Dorico and Reaper daily and have adapted to Dorico's workflow very well. I now prefer it to Reaper's when it comes to writing and midi editing.


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## d.healey (Dec 16, 2022)

Reaper's notation capabilities weren't too bad last time I used it a few years ago. Are you wanting a tool for composition, engraving, or something else?


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## JimDiGritz (Dec 16, 2022)

d.healey said:


> Reaper's notation capabilities weren't too bad last time I used it a few years ago. Are you wanting a tool for composition, engraving, or something else?


Thanks, this has been my go to so far. I'm just finding it a little finnicky - not sure I can describe it better! It feels like an afterthought, which considering the lack of notation updates in Reaper's otherwise constant update cycle, is probably true.

I'm spending a lot of time analysing scores and copying them into a notation program so that I can better hear the textures and sections in isolation. I'm also forcing myself to compose in notation rather than the Piano Roll.

An example is holding the Scroll Wheel on the mouse enables pan scroll mode in the MIDI Editor view, but doesn't work in Music Notation View.


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## d.healey (Dec 16, 2022)

I always liked Sibelius' input method and I was able to recreate this somewhat in Reaper, but I really only used Reaper's notation as another MIDI view rather than my main input.

I haven't tried Musescore 4 yet but I've been using MS since version 0.9 or something and I've always found it's input pretty good (coming from Sibelius). I like the step input either using qwerty keyboard or MIDI. It's more customisable than Reaper if you can write C++  but some kind of macro system would be very nice.


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