NAMM 2026: An interview with John Barron

At the 2026 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology. In this conversation with John Barron, international product specialist at Steinberg, John reflects on Dorico’s current development phase, how its underlying design principles continue to guide day-to-day decisions, and where users should most clearly feel progress compared to a year ago. We also talk about under-the-radar features, user feedback, interoperability with broader music-production workflows, playback and realism, and how automation can support — rather than supplant — notational intent. Come back the next few weeks for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player. More about the 2026 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes: NAMM 2026: On the scene NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity NAMM 2026: John Barron opens the door to Dorico’s future NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: Getting into a Fender-bender with Chris Swaffer NAMM 2026: An avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak NAMM 2026: An interview with Sebastian Murgul