User manual

Table Of Contents
RELATED LINKS
Transport window on page 326
Swing playback
Swing is a style of performance where equally-notated notes are played in a regular pattern of
alternating longer and shorter notes, which commonly entails quavers being played as a quarter
note triplet followed by an eighth note triplet.
A phrase notated straight How the same phrase sounds with a 2:1 swing ratio
Swing playback allows you to hear the uneven rhythms you want whilst retaining their simplied
notation. In Dorico Elements, you can enable swing playback for your whole project, only for
certain sections, and only for individual instruments. You can also edit the default swing patterns
to customize the rhythmic feel you want in the Rhythmic Feel dialog.
Based on academic research into the rendering of swing by real musicians, swing patterns in
Dorico Elements are tempo-dependent by default. This means that the swing feels more
pronounced at lower tempos, and straighter at higher tempos. Rhythmic feels that produce the
same swing ratio at all tempos are also available in the Rhythmic Feel dialog.
NOTE
Dorico Elements currently only supports eighth note swing playback. 16th note swing playback is
planned for future versions.
RELATED LINKS
Enabling swing playback project-wide on page 320
Enabling swing playback for specic sections/players on page 321
Rhythmic Feel dialog on page 322
Swing ratios and rhythmic feels
Swing ratios express the strength of the swing, using beat units. For example, a swing ratio of 2:1
means the rst note in each pair is twice as long as the second, creating a triplet swing.
A swing ratio of 1:1 means the music is played straight, while a swing ratio of 5:1 means each
pair of notes is played as if they were sextuplets, with the rst note in the pair lasting ve
divisions and the second note lasting one.
Swing ratio 1:1
Swing ratio 5:1
The following rhythmic feels and swing ratios are provided by default in Dorico Elements:
Play mode
Swing playback
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