Let me start by saying that I write orchestral music in Dorico directly to the score using only my laptop. I do not use any midi input devices. I own all the SWAM instruments, but I have been successfully using NotePerformer to compose, but I keep being tantalized by the possibility of using my SWAM instruments, especially for chamber music and the string sections. Those areas are where I would most like to replace NotePerformer.
So I decided to try Claude out to see how far I could get. with a lot of back and forth, I got what seemed like it would be a very elaborate guide for all the SWAM instrument settings and a set of what seem like much more elaborate expression maps than I have seen so far. My immediate goal has been to use the results to update the string sections on an existing project, and compare the results to the NotePerformer version.
The guide that Claude gave me for setting the parameters by hand is straightforward enough that I would be willing to do that for all the instruments I use. Unfortunately, the expression maps he gave me are in XML though they were .doricolib files. Dorico says that they are the wrong file type. Claude admitted that I would have to type in all the expression map settings. I may just give up again and live with NotePerformer. It is a great package, that is for sure.
Is there any Dorico spec for expression map encoding that I can point Claude to? If I had both that and specs for instrument preset files on SWAM this experiment would be much easier!
I am also interested in having Claude generate expression maps for instruments (not necessarily SWAM). It may always be necessary to do some adjustments/tweaking of expression maps by hand, but I’m hoping that the bulk of the entry work can be done automatically.
I am giving up on trying to use my SWAM instruments in Dorico and living with NotePerformer. It is really the best instrument collection I have found to directly compose for orchestra in Dorico without using midi input at all.
For those who may want to continue the quest, I did manage to get Claude to give me a complete set of SWAM presets oriented to Dorico playback for all of the instruments and a set of 4 expression maps for each of the families of instruments. I was able to import and use them, and get a good ways down the road in refining them.
Where I got hung up, and am giving up, is that it seems that the difference in the way Dorico and Swam use velocity and expression ultimately seem to be irreconcilable. In the woodwinds, the dynamics and articulations were not able to get anywhere near the subtlety that NotePerformer manages. The attack used in the articulations was where it really became intractable.
I started by trying to get the string sections working and was pleased enough with the sound I got that I moved on to the woodwinds. It may be that the string sections would be worth going back to but I just want to get back to composing now.