Creating/Editing custom accidentals

Dorico Pro Help
Product
Dorico Pro
Version
5.1
ft:locale
en-US
Document type
Webhelp

You can create new and edit existing custom accidentals; for example, if your tonality system does not have equal divisions of the octave and so requires specific accidental glyphs to indicate the amount by which pitches are raised/lowered.

Prerequisite

If you want to create/edit accidentals for a custom tonality system, you have created that custom tonality system.

Procedure

  1. In Write mode, click Panels Panels button, then Key Signatures, Tonality Systems, and Accidentals Key Signatures, Tonality Systems, and Accidentals button in the Notations toolbox to show the Key Signatures, Tonality Systems, and Accidentals panel.
  2. In the Tonality System section, select the tonality system for which you want to create or edit custom accidentals from the menu.
  3. Click Edit Tonality System Edit Tonality System button to open the Edit Tonality System dialog.
  4. In the Accidentals section, open the Edit Accidental dialog in one of the following ways:

    • To create a new custom accidental, click New Accidental in the action bar.

    • To create a copy of an existing accidental, select it and click Duplicate Accidental in the action bar.

    • To edit an existing accidental, select it and click Edit Accidental in the action bar.

  5. Optional: Enter a name for the new custom accidental in the Name field. You can also edit the name of existing accidentals.
  6. Optional: If you created a new custom accidental, change the value in the Pitch delta value field to change the number of octave divisions by which it raises/lowers notes.
    Note

    • We do not recommend setting pitch deltas that are more than half of the total number of octave divisions.

    • You cannot change the pitch delta when editing the default accidentals in the default 12-EDO and 24-EDO tonality systems.

  7. Customize the appearance of the accidental.

    For example, you can add glyphs to your accidental using the options on the right, then arrange and resize them in the editor.

  8. Click OK to save your changes and close the Edit Accidental dialog.
  9. Optional: Repeat steps 4 to 8 for each custom accidental you want to create for the current tonality system.
  10. Click OK to save your changes and close the Edit Tonality System dialog.

After Completing This Task

You can arrange your custom accidentals into a custom key signature.