it looks like normal doubling isn't working if the '*' (repeat) character is used as the first note in the pair.
^s n17 ^d *+3 *+5
just plays the first note, but this works:
^s n17 ^d n17+3 *+5
on 3/17/22 __ ver 1.2.0.1
chess edit: fixed! ditto was foolishly trying to ditto commands. i didn't have to account for this with the previous ditto functionality and forgot about it. oops!