# Dorico is... laggy



## Awoo Composer (Jul 15, 2022)

I recently decided to give Dorico Elements a try since it is discounted in a sale, and while I do like the program's look and feel and it doesn't seem to be too difficult to use, I've noticed one very noticeable issue - it's laggy.

I am talking everything from initiating playback, to the sounds being delayed when I input a note, to trying to adjust several elements. (Ties and slurs, 8va/8vb markings) Compared to Musescore, I am rather underwhelmed in this regard. It's not like my PC is weak - it's got an i7-8700, 16GB of RAM and (I doubt it matters here, but) a Nvidia GTX 1080 as a GPU; is Dorico just naturally a slow program?


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## Denkii (Jul 15, 2022)

I only recently got into it, my PC is even beefier than yours but I totally share your impression.
It is quite slow.


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## Woodie1972 (Jul 15, 2022)

I use Dorico for several years now and although I encountered some issues, I would not say it is sluggish. My pc is pretty much the same configuration and runs Dorico fine.
First thing that comes to mind reading this is that your soundcard is not configured properly in the settings. Also choosing the wrong playback template might cause those issues.


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 15, 2022)

Woodie1972 said:


> I use Dorico for several years now and although I encountered some issues, I would not say it is sluggish. My pc is pretty much the same configuration and runs Dorico fine.
> First thing that comes to mind reading this is that your soundcard is not configured properly in the settings. Also choosing the wrong playback template might cause those issues.


I had a field day with the device setup, eventually I got it to work. I'm not sure about the playback template, right now I only have a single piano staff and haven't changed anything.


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## Woodie1972 (Jul 15, 2022)

Strange that it took you so long to get it working. Maybe check in your preferences if the right soundcard is active?
And only one piano should not be a problem.


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## JeffvR (Jul 15, 2022)

Same here. Same with Cubase... and a monster of a PC :/. But I'm used to the responsiveness of Reaper.


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## Woodie1972 (Jul 15, 2022)

Must be something in your setup; I never really liked Cubase, but it was spot on with responsiveness.


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 15, 2022)

I am demoing Sibelius as well as it's unreal how much quicker Sib is in terms of everything. Same audio driver same everything. I have no idea why Dorico is so laggy for me.


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## dyross (Jul 15, 2022)

@Awoo Composer the good folks at Dorico are incredibly responsive and helpful on their support forum: https://forums.steinberg.net/c/dorico/8


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## sinkd (Jul 15, 2022)

dyross said:


> @Awoo Composer the good folks at Dorico are incredibly responsive and helpful on their support forum: https://forums.steinberg.net/c/dorico/8


+1 for checking out the forum for advice.


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## joebaggan (Jul 15, 2022)

As Dorico has gotten bigger and more bloated over the past few years, unsurprisingly it has gotten slower.


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## ChrisHarrison (Jul 15, 2022)

I don’t have any issues on a 2016 MacBook Air with 16 gb ram. 

Something is fishy. I would reach out to Dorico. 

Dorico isn’t bloated. It’s the best!


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## ssnowe (Jul 15, 2022)

Try sending tracks to midi out as a test rather than using vst instruments - Is it still laggy?


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## Daniel S. (Jul 16, 2022)

joebaggan said:


> As Dorico has gotten bigger and more bloated over the past few years, unsurprisingly it has gotten slower.


Dorico isn't bloated. Yes, it grows in sophistication and capabilities with each major new version, but it is not bloated.

@Awoo Composer, if you would like to do *Help* > *Create Diagnostic Report* from within Dorico's menus and upload the resulting zip file here, or send it to me via email at d dot spreadbury at steinberg dot de, I can take a look and see if I can see anything obviously untoward going on.


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 16, 2022)

Daniel S. said:


> Dorico isn't bloated. Yes, it grows in sophistication and capabilities with each major new version, but it is not bloated.
> 
> @Awoo Composer, if you would like to do *Help* > *Create Diagnostic Report* from within Dorico's menus and upload the resulting zip file here, or send it to me via email at d dot spreadbury at steinberg dot de, I can take a look and see if I can see anything obviously untoward going on.


Made a private conversation with the diagnostics. Thanks for assisting!



ssnowe said:


> Try sending tracks to midi out as a test rather than using vst instruments - Is it still laggy?


I don't know how to do that


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## DaddyO (Jul 16, 2022)

How many high-profile vendors in this industry will respond with high-profile service like that? Can't think of any other. Kudos, Dorico team.


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## devonmyles (Jul 16, 2022)

Windows 10 here. Using a 2014 i7, 32 gig Ram and a Nvidia 2gig Graphics card.
1TB SSD internal and 3 external SSD's for libs and projects.
I use a UR22 Audio/Midi interface.
I've done all the usual audio tweeks recommended on various sites.

On this older system, Dorico 4 runs very nice indeed (as do both N12 and Wavelab 11).
Granted, I have not set up my Spitfire, VSL or Kontakt libraries as templates yet, but Dorico, with Note Performer, for me, is not sluggish or laggy. 
It's responsive and runs very smoothly.

I am amazed at the frequency of updates for Dorico 4. Top stuff and very much appreciated, Daniel.


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 16, 2022)

Huge shoutout to @Daniel S. I'd end up buying Dorico alone for that level of support. It's very rare to find any companies like that, so massive props to Steinberg for having the focus on customer outreach.

It looks like Dorico is running a bit smoother today, tweaked a bit of my audio settings and reduced the note playback delay some. This is my first professional notation program, and MuseScore was getting me a bit hung up and at $69 I might just end up picking up Dorico Elements (professional is way too much for me and I doubt I could make use of it all). 

Does anyone know if Dorico has the ability to recognize (and name) chords from notes? There were some nifty features in Sibelius for music theory beginners like myself that could serve as a nice learning tool.


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## Daniel S. (Jul 16, 2022)

Awoo Composer said:


> Does anyone know if Dorico has the ability to recognize (and name) chords from notes?


Yes: *Edit* > *Notations* > *Chord Symbols and Diagrams* > *Generate Chord Symbols From Notes*. (If memory serves this is included in Dorico Elements – I hope I'm right!)


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 16, 2022)

Daniel S. said:


> Yes: *Edit* > *Notations* > *Chord Symbols and Diagrams* > *Generate Chord Symbols From Notes*. (If memory serves this is included in Dorico Elements – I hope I'm right!)


Yup, sure is. Thanks!


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## ChrisHarrison (Jul 16, 2022)

Daniel S. Is the man


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## PaulieDC (Jul 16, 2022)

Awoo Composer said:


> I recently decided to give Dorico Elements a try since it is discounted in a sale, and while I do like the program's look and feel and it doesn't seem to be too difficult to use, I've noticed one very noticeable issue - it's laggy.
> 
> I am talking everything from initiating playback, to the sounds being delayed when I input a note, to trying to adjust several elements. (Ties and slurs, 8va/8vb markings) Compared to Musescore, I am rather underwhelmed in this regard. It's not like my PC is weak - it's got an i7-8700, 16GB of RAM and (I doubt it matters here, but) a Nvidia GTX 1080 as a GPU; is Dorico just naturally a slow program?


Just curious, and maybe you answered this, but which audio interface are you using?


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## Awoo Composer (Jul 17, 2022)

PaulieDC said:


> Just curious, and maybe you answered this, but which audio interface are you using?


I'm not using one. Which I know is less than ideal, but Daniel helped get the latency down a bit.


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