I’m sure it’s possible, but I only use Noteperformer myself, and don’t have any other sounds installed, so I can’t help you, I’m afraid.
Jesper
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Don’t be daft. You simply need to set up your sounds correctly.
Here’s a file that uses the HSO library and Dorico factory playback..
arco-pizz.dorico (2.1 MB)
It should play out of the box.
If it does not, then your set up is incorrect and you should post a diagnostic report (Do help>Create Diagnostic Report and upload the zip file that appears on your desktop) so one of the techs can help you.
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Thanks Janus. Your file does play pizz and Arco. In comparing your file to my project I see the you have “HSO violin solo” expression map loaded into the violin track. Is that what I’m missing? In my project I don’t see that expression map to choose. I’m attaching a screenshot of what I see when I click on the expression map box next to the violin.
If you cannot see the HSO… expression maps in that list, then you have not loaded a Playback Template that uses the HSO sound library.
So try… Play>Playback Template….
Then click the Show all Factory button. Does a list like this appear? (If not we have a different problem).
Here you can select any template that includes HSO (for Halion Symphony Orchestra) and Apply and Close.
That will scan through all the instruments in your score and set the appropriate sounds (and expression maps) for them using these libraries.
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This is what I see when I go to playback template. FWIW I just reinstalled Dorico and Reinstalled HSO and Iconica.
Clearly not successfully.
We need to go to stage 2 - create your diagnostics (as explained earlier) and upload the file here.
(Note: Iconica is a completely different product from Iconica Sketch and is not covered by the Dorico licence)
“Iconica is a completely different product from Iconica Sketch and is not covered by the Dorico licence)” Thank you for clarifying that. Earlier someone was urging me to install this and use it for pizz sounds and I was really confused….
I’m uploading my diagnostic here.
Dorico Diagnostics.zip (656.0 KB)
Paging @Ulf for assistance (If its not too late in Germany)
Even though you have a lot of virtual instruments and sample libraries, did you manage to install the newest version of Steinberg Download Assistant? If yes, then it is recommended to install all available sounds, but if you don’t want to do that, then install at least these:
Halion Sonic, Halion Sonic Selection, Iconica Sketch and Halion Symphonic Orchestra, Olympus Choir Micro.
Then you should see Iconica Sketch Playback Templates available. Select one of those and click “Apply and Close”:
When selecting pizz. and arco from the right-hand side, they work as they should:
I installed all that stuff and the templates aren’t showing up in Dorico.
I don’t understand this either.
The log files clearly show that you have all the necessary sound libraries installed and also that all the playback templates get loaded. Here’s what the latest log says:
2026-02-27 17:28:06.607 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+Iconica Sketch
2026-02-27 17:28:06.608 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: SE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.608 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+Iconica Sketch+GASE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.609 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: Silence
2026-02-27 17:28:06.609 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+HSO+Iconica Sketch+GASE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.610 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: Xound
2026-02-27 17:28:06.610 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.610 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+HSO+GASE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.611 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+GASE
2026-02-27 17:28:06.611 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+HSO+Iconica Sketch
2026-02-27 17:28:06.611 [info] Loading Playback Template Generator: HSSE+HSO
So from that perspective everything is fine.
But something else that I’ve noticed, your CPUs architecture is ARM, so you have a Mac with a new Apple Silicon chip. Dorico is not yet able to run natively on ARM but instead requires the Rosetta emulation mode. Do you start Dorico in Rosetta mode?
If unsure, go to the Dorico.app bundle, do a right click and choose Get Info. Somewhere in there should be an option to start in Rosetta mode. How’s that with you?
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hi Ulf. Thanks for this tip. I was not opening Dorico in Rosetta. I didn’t know I was supposed to be doing that. …. but I’m still having issues. I opened a new project and was able to get pizz sounds. But in the existing project I am working on I still can’t get pizz sounds. I am now able to find the HSO vst, but it’s not playing pizz sounds in my project and it is extremely quiet—almost inaudible. I’m going to try to schedule a call with some Dorico guy who responded to my Facebook post on the issue and maybe he can help me work this out. IT’s been a colossal and frustrating waste of time for something that I would expect to work out of the box.
In your existing project I would reapply the playback template ( Play > Playback Template ) that should fix up everything, also the volume of the pizz sounds.
If it does not, in the GUI of HALion on the left bottom are two controllers, one for pitch bend and the other to the right is an assignable controller. For many instruments this controller is assigned to control the volume. So if you crank this up manually, you can also boost the sound.
And one last word about the HSO vst. Actually yes, that one does exist, but you should not use it. HALion Sonic can also play all HSO sounds and it can do it even better, because more efficiently. the HSO vst can only play one instrument at a time, whereas HALion Sonic can do 16 instruments at the same time, thus it uses memory and cpu more efficiently than 16 single instances of HSO. Does that make sense to you?
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I am so confused. When I open my project I see this. Is this what I am supposed to be using? This whole rabbit hole started because someone on this thread told me not to use the General Midi sounds because they can’t do pizz. What sounds am I supposed to use to hear pizz sounds and why don’t those automatically load for me?
If you paid for your version of Dorico (Elements or Pro), you do not have access to the full range of sound sets you should have. Thus, you are still limited to GM sounds.
Hi Derrek. Someone from Dorico helped me solve this. I didn’t have the Choir and Indian Drum Vsts downloaded and for some reason this prevented me from seeing all of the playback templates. Once I download these VST libraries I was able to see all of the Playback templates necessary for string sounds like pizz.
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I wonder who that could have been… 
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