I’m trying to write something in an Allegro tempo for a classical sized orchestra, but the built in strings are very ‘laggy’ and their attack is not nice and crisp like you find in ‘classical’ (think Haydn) performances. The current basic sound is more suited to a hollywood/Mahler Adagietto sound.
I’m curious to know is there anything that can be done about this (within Dorico) without covering the notes with superfluous articulations? Adding lots of spiccato/staccato etc often lead to an exaggerated effect, either in playback or in a real performer’s part and is not ‘authentic’.
In general there’s no way to shape the attack of the string sounds in Dorico for iPad. On the desktop you have more options because you can get into the HALion Sonic interface and tweak some of the individual parameters of the sounds, but no such possibilities exist in Dorico for iPad. You might consider investigating the use of third-party AUv3 sounds (though you will need an active subscription or the Lifetime Unlock in-app purchase to be able to use third-party sounds in Dorico for iPad).
It seems odd that basic sound libraries can only provide a ‘lush’ string sound. It’s a perennial problem - I’ve owned several software notation programmes that offer playback, and strings are always disappointing in this way. I’ve seen others commenting in a similar manner over the years, yet the problem is always the same.