about custom key signature

please help me! I need to use a nonstandard key signature, is it possible in dorico ? Many thanks.

It is.

  1. Click on the the key signature button on the right-hand side.
  2. Under ‘tonality system’ click the little pencil to edit (assuming your custom key sig is still using the Western chromatic 12 note system)
  3. On the right hand side, under ‘key signatures’, click the plus sign.
  4. You can now add accidentals to your key signature and move them up and down using the arrows.
  5. Once you’re done, the new signature will appear in the key signatures menu under ‘custom key signatures’

thank you very, very much! you made me very happy.

Would i be right in thinking that this is the (best/only?) way to create a custom Key Signature such as one of the Church Modes?

And that if I no longer want it, it can safely be deleted without ‘harming’ Dorico’s defaults?

I do not want to edit/change/compromise ‘Equal Temperament (12-EDO)’; so wouldn’t I actually click the ‘+’ (add) under ‘Equal Temperament (12-EDO)’ first?

IOW how exactly do I non-destructively create, say, a Key Signature that I can use for Dorian etc?

TIA!

No, you would click the plus if you needed another number of subdivisions of the octave.
The church modes use the same number of EDOs, 12, as the modern tonality system (well…), so you’re quite right to create them within ‘Equal Temperament (12-EDO)’. As long as you don’t mess with the two columns on the left, I daresay you can’t compromise anything.
As for deleting a custom key signature, we can’t modify the built in key signatures, so I think you can safely delete whatever you created yourself. Why though? Unless you save them as default, custom key signatures live only in the project where you create (need) them. So be reassured, even if you manage to, you can only mess up one project at a time. :wink:

Thanks so much, fkretlow - that’s really helpful; just what I wanted to know!