Steinberg Dorico Elements 4: Upgrade from free Dorico SE $37.50 (USD)

[abacab]

Cyber Weeks 2022 Promotion https://www.steinberg.net/promotion/

Upgrade from the free Dorico SE to Dorico Elements 4 for $37.50 (USD). Download and activate the SE version and you are eligible for the upgrade. Dorico includes Halion Sonic SE for playback, as well as there is an optional playback template available for the free Spitfire BBCSO Discover library (as well as playback templates for BBCSO Core and Pro).

Get Dorico SE here: https://www.steinberg.net/dorico/se/

Compare Dorico versions: https://www.steinberg.net/dorico/compare-editions/

Playback templates for Dorico: https://blog.dorico.com/playback-templates/

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by abacab

[husker]

I have been using Notion (kind of using) for a couple of years, but its developtment has really struggled.  I had been eyeing a $50 Dorico license since Steinberg started this promotion - totally forgetting I had the free Dorico SE (never installed).  For $37.50, I took the plunge.  Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Jason Neudorf]

I'm not seeing the upgrade price on Steinberg's site (it's $56CAD there). $42USD on best service.

... ugh. This is country limited, and if I change my billing address to Florida, USA, I get the $37.50USD. Sigh.

[abacab]

42 minutes ago, Jason Neudorf said:

ugh. This is country limited, and if I change my billing address to Florida, USA, I get the $37.50USD. Sigh.

Sorry! The deal I posted was in USD, so that's a currency exchange rate issue. I updated my OP to add USD to the price.

I looked around at a few resellers and the direct discount at Steinberg was the lowest I could find. Music Software Deals shows the lowest at $42 (USD).

Edited November 20, 2022 by abacab

[abacab]

1 hour ago, husker said:

I have been using Notion (kind of using) for a couple of years, but its developtment has really struggled. 

Same here. It's been years since the latest version of Notion 6 was updated. I think that Dorico is way ahead of them at this point.

PreSonus is probably just happy to have a program to get song notation into and out of Studio One with no hassle, and that works fine ever since they added notation into Studio One (based on Notion). But it's been in stasis ever since.

[swijaya]

Just want to share my experiences here regarding buying/upgrading Dorico.

I have zero regrets of purchasing Dorico. But in regard to upgrading, especially from Elements to Pro, and even more if your home currency isn't EUR or USD, it could be more advantageous if you don't upgrade (particularly during this sale season).

Why? Because with roughly the same amount of money (more so if currency exchange is involved), you can get Pro from resellers (in particular: best service, which offers a very surprising sale price that I thought it could be a glitch/mistake) while still keeping your Elements.

Or, you can use the Avid promotion @cclarry posted a while back to get a year worth of Sibelius, and use that to crossgrade to Dorico Pro. This way, at least for a year, you have Sibelius, Dorico Elements, and Dorico Pro. After a year, you will still have 2 Dorico licenses.

Learned this after I upgraded my Elements 3.5 to Pro 4 at Steinberg's site (using EUR, which isn't my country's currency). Regretting doing this route very much. Hopefully others can have better deals than I, that would at least make me a little happier (for having a good feeling of doing something good to others).

 

For having Elements, yes, the cheapest way is to get SE first.

[abacab]

8 hours ago, swijaya said:

But in regard to upgrading, especially from Elements to Pro, and even more if your home currency isn't EUR or USD, it could be more advantageous if you don't upgrade (particularly during this sale season).

This post was about a deal for Elements. I wasn't suggesting that an upgrade to Pro was a deal.

8 hours ago, swijaya said:

For having Elements, yes, the cheapest way is to get SE first.

That's my point exactly!

[Yan Filiatrault]

9 hours ago, swijaya said:

Just want to share my experiences here regarding buying/upgrading Dorico.

I have zero regrets of purchasing Dorico. But in regard to upgrading, especially from Elements to Pro, and even more if your home currency isn't EUR or USD, it could be more advantageous if you don't upgrade (particularly during this sale season).

Why? Because with roughly the same amount of money (more so if currency exchange is involved), you can get Pro from resellers (in particular: best service, which offers a very surprising sale price that I thought it could be a glitch/mistake) while still keeping your Elements.

Or, you can use the Avid promotion @cclarry posted a while back to get a year worth of Sibelius, and use that to crossgrade to Dorico Pro. This way, at least for a year, you have Sibelius, Dorico Elements, and Dorico Pro. After a year, you will still have 2 Dorico licenses.

Learned this after I upgraded my Elements 3.5 to Pro 4 at Steinberg's site (using EUR, which isn't my country's currency). Regretting doing this route very much. Hopefully others can have better deals than I, that would at least make me a little happier (for having a good feeling of doing something good to others).

 

For having Elements, yes, the cheapest way is to get SE first.

Sweetwater is offering the crossgrade to Pro at 150$:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Dorico4PCg--steinberg-dorico-pro-4-crossgrade

[Vernon Barnes]

14 hours ago, abacab said:

Same here. It's been years since the latest version of Notion 6 was updated. I think that Dorico is way ahead of them at this point.

PreSonus is probably just happy to have a program to get song notation into and out of Studio One with no hassle, and that works fine ever since they added notation into Studio One (based on Notion). But it's been in stasis ever since.

Notion could do with an update but the Studio One integration is priceless for my work flow, particularly since the lyric improvement in S1 6.

I find adding the lyrics to guide MIDI track piano roĺl view in S1 intuitive, then being able to quickly produce a score with lyrics and the chords from S1's chord  track very useful.

[abacab]

1 hour ago, Vernon Barnes said:

Notion could do with an update but the Studio One integration is priceless for my work flow, particularly since the lyric improvement in S1 6.

I have Studio One & Notion, and would agree that if you primarily work in a DAW, this integration is great! And I am not encouraging anyone already using another notation program make the switch! Dorico is a standalone notation program with decent playback features, plus import/export for MIDI, audio (wave & MP3), and MusicXML.

I posted this deal because Dorico Elements at $37.50 offers quite a lot (no-brainer) for someone who wants to get started with notation! The biggest limitation is the 24 player limit vs. unlimited in Pro, but that shouldn't be a problem for most entry level user's projects. The free SE version only allows 2 players. The other differences vs. the Pro are some advanced tools that a beginner would likely have no use for.

And Dorico playback using the free BBCSO Discover library sounds very good. I wish that library was plug and play with playback templates in Notion!  Plus you can add other VST3 plugins as needed. The included default HALion Sonic SE covers the GM sound set and much more with 1500 sounds (2.5 GB library) and that's probably worth the cost by itself as it ships as a VST3 that can be used elsewhere as a plugin.

This is probably a great option for someone that is interested in taking a step up from the free Musescore (and Musescore is becoming a fine program itself).

Edited November 21, 2022 by abacab

[ZincT]

Thanks for the heads-up @abacab 👍🏻

I'm also a long-time Notion 6 user along with Studio One Pro, but this year I decided to give Cubase 12 Pro a proper go (Cakewalk crossgrade from a few years back plus updates) so I haven't upgraded to SO Pro 6 this time. 

I didn't even know about the free Dorico version so I will certainly give it a go and maybe upgrade to Elements.

Cheers!

 

[abacab]

1 hour ago, ZincT said:

I didn't even know about the free Dorico version so I will certainly give it a go and maybe upgrade to Elements

Dorico SE (free) only lets you edit and save with two players. But it will open larger scores with more players as read-only (demos), so you can get a feel for using it with a larger song. Elements works with up to 24 players.