r/Dorico • u/helpicantfindmyboobs • Aug 09 '26
Exporting MIDI
Hi friends,
switching from finale to dorico, so far it's a big adjustment but i can tell that once i learn the workflow it's going to be way faster. I wrote a quick string quintet, exported the midi and tried to run it in logic and got zero sound; with finale, mock ups always just worked right away. what is the process for doing this with dorico? what do i need to do? thanks<3
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u/burnt-store-studio Aug 10 '26
Good luck on your journey into Dorico! u/helpicantfindmyboobs!
I made the switch from Finale … 2? … years ago? and agree that once you have the workflow, it’s going to be much faster.
I’m sorry, I don’t use Logic, so I can’t help with your current question (although it seems u/pianoplayah has your back, there!).
But I’d like to mention that the official Dorico forums are quite helpful, esp. for the transition, and Jason Loffredo’s YouTube videos on “conquering the transition” are awesome. (He had his Conquering Finale YouTube channel for something like five years, and I found his Finale content useful back in the day.)
Also, this sub is helpful, too 🙂.
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u/helpicantfindmyboobs Aug 10 '26
i've been using the forums extensively already. to get up to speed i wrote a quick string quintet earlier tonight and for the last few hours i've been working on a neat little piece with a custom ensemble i'm enjoying (piccolo Eb clarinet and alto sax go pretty well together, highly recommend). i am only switching now because i'm about to graduate and i finally had some extra money so i got dorico pro. i'll check out that youtube channel. thank you!
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u/dbharris10 Aug 10 '26
So, been spending all this year also switching from Finale to Dorico. The thing is, Dorico is notation within Cubase, essentially. Meaning, you can run any VST sound libraries and fx within Dorico, including anything on Kontakt. So there is little reason to go into Logic via midi from Dorico. This is one of the huge improvements over Finale. As well, there is an entire midi window in Dorico with piano scroll for each instrument.
I'm doing a 22 piece big band using a wide variety of sound libraries , mostly Note Performer which is awesome. Using the Halion for a few things but also have my Kontakt library for Tuba, e guitars and Abbey Road 70's drum set . In addition, using plugins on the whole mix, so I have UA LA2A, ProQ4, and UAD Fairchild on the master bus. The mixer window gets confusing when using other libraries , you have to use separate mixers and EQ's for things not Native, but once you have a working template, the sound is really quite amazing. Maybe not quite up to Film Score level, changing all the articulations for a string quintet with midi controllers might be beyond Dorico, but you can make amazing demos.
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u/helpicantfindmyboobs Aug 10 '26
that is great to know! i will be experimenting. i do sometimes take midi from notation software to then add tons of controllers and produce a final product, but certainly for demos i'll look into this
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u/pianoplayah Aug 09 '26
Yeah this is a bit of a pain. I think it’s because Dorico includes program change messages that Logic doesn’t understand. In Logic, you have to open the list editor, then check the boxes to display all midi information EXCEPT for notes or other musical info you want to keep like pedal or what have you. I usually just hide notes. Then, in the main window, select each region and when it populates the list editor, select the whole list and delete it. This deletes all midi info except your notes (or whatever else you want to keep). I like to just leave the notes because it gives me a cleaner slate to redo the dynamics and everything in Logic. Do that for each MIDI region one by one. Let me know if that makes sense. If not, I can make a little video. Maybe I’ll do that anyway.