Alternative sounds for the same playing technique

Dorico
1

Hi,

While building my extended VSL presets, I can see that the best results are achieved by alternating articulations for the same playing technique. For example, a staccato can be played by a Staccato, a Détaché Short, or a Martelé sound, depending on the context and the phrasing.

In Logic, you simply select the appropriate articulation for the Articulation Set list. In Dorico, one would need different playing techniques with a similar look (for example, different Staccato techniques, all looking the same in the score).

Or, is there a way to overlap the base sound indicated in the Expression Map, with an alternative playing technique not appearing in the score? Maybe something only appearing in the Play lanes?

Paolo

2

There’s no way to do this apart from using additional playing techniques at the moment. You can create a new playing technique and then hide it using the ‘Hidden’ property, which means it will only appear in the music as a signpost and will not print.

3

Thank you very much for your answer, Daniel. So, I see there are two concurrent solutions:

  • Hiding alternative playing techniques that don’t have to appear in the score. This is for micro-changes that are only reported as a directive at the beginning of a passage (like after a “simile”).

  • Creating multiple playing techniques appearing in the same way in the score, but sounding different. This is for repeated articulations, that have to correspond to slightly different sounds (like the example I did above).

Paolo