I am struggling to understand how to use personal VSTs in Dorico 5. Many previous posts talk about blocking/unblocking under Dorico>Preferences>VST Plug-ins but I see no option. This may be from previous versions of Dorico, but I also don’t see a VST slot to choose VSTs in Play. Is it the Routing? A simple or in depth explanation will likely be needed.
I use a MacBook Pro with Sonoma 14.6.1
Which version of Aria are you using? If you’re using the VST2 version of Aria, it’s likely been blocked as Dorico automatically blocks non-VST3 Plug-ins. (VST2 was sunsetted several years ago.) You can see what VSTs Dorico has blocked in the Preferences. From the menu: Edit → Preferences → VST Plug-ins → Allowed VST2 Plug-ins. If you see Aria has been blocked, you can unblock it by selecting it and clicking the “<” button.
If you’re using a VST3 version of Aria, something else is going on.
I have the newest version of Aria for MacBook which I think is VST3. Like I said, I also don’t see any allow option under preferences.
If you’re on a Mac, make sure you have the latest version of ARIA Player, which is Apple Silicon native, and VST3.
Finale 27.4 comes with version 2.039, which is slightly later than v2.026, which is the last version you can download separately from the MM Helpdesk.
Assuming you have one of these installed, then you should see the VSTs accessible in Play mode with on further action.
There are two separate VSTs: the Multi allows you to assign different outputs to each instrument slot in the plug-in. This lets you control each one separately in Dorico’s mixer.
If you only plan to use one sample instrument slot in each instance of ARIA, then you can use the ‘standard’ one.
Thank you your screenshot helped me. Simple fix, just could not locate.
Hi, I have Finale 27, but my Aria is “blocked” in Dorico
Are you on Windows or Mac? If you’ve installed Finale 27, you should have the latest version of ARIA, which includes VST3 plug-ins. VST2 plug-ins might be blocked, but the VST3 should still be available.
Try adding an instance of Aria in Play Mode (VST and MIDI tab). When you click the dropdown list you should see Garritan. Click that and ARIA Player should show…
Did you reboot Dorico?
That is also a problem. After I close Dorico, the program no longer starts - it only starts after I restart my PC.
(This is a probable cause, so it would be the first thing I would try)
If Dorico fails to launch, run Task Manager and find any instances of VSTAudioEngine.exe (right click and End Task) then do the same for the Dorico main program.
(It can take quite a few seconds for the audio engine to shut down when you close Dorico. And if you try to restart Dorico before the audio engine has completely closed, then Dorico will hang).
Thank you, it worked! But is this problem going to stay like this?
Aria showed up. But the instruments don’t play - do I have to set each instrument in Aria? The instruments seem to be set, but at the same time they don’t seem to be there.
Yes, Dorico can’t know which samples you want loaded, until you tell it.
Once you’ve set up a document with the Players you want; each with the VSTs you want; with the samples you want; and the expression map to control them: you can the save this as an “Endpoint”.
Endpoints are then used to create Playback Templates, which you can then select in that list that you’ve shown.
(In Finale, all this sort of information is provided when you use a Garritan library; but if you wanted to use any other library, it would be much more difficult to configure as your default.)
TBH, while I can understand some people wanting to use GPO5, the Finale default instruments are very basic, and you’ll be better off with pretty much any other library.
You may find this Tutorial of use. The workflow is similar for all 3rd party libraries.
(There may be a German version of this if you search)
Assigning Your Own Sounds to Instruments in Dorico | Play Mode in Dorico (youtube.com)
Thanks!
