Hi Folks,
I need to make a composition where the performers move to different positions on the stage.
Is it possible to automate instruments positions on the Stage Template?
If not, are there other solutions out there that can place something in a space and let you move it about and connect it in with Dorico? Last I looked at things like MIR Pro it wasn’t possible to automate placement, but perhaps that’s changed recently?
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!
With thanks 
You can move around instruments using automation in Fiedler Audio Spacelab Reverb. It is a bit like MIR Pro 3D in that it also uses multi impulse response but it does not feature real venues as ‚room‘ . I use it in combination with the Dolby Atmos Composer in Cubase or Logic or with the internal DAW Atmos renderer but I guess it also works on the Dorico stereo output channel.
You would have a SpaceLab stereo or mono beam insert on each instrument channel in Dorico and would see your full orchestra in the SpaceLab insert on the main ouput where you also define which parameters (incl. Instrument position) to automate. There are YouTube videos explaining all this on the Fiedler YT site.
What I am just not sure about is how to enter the position info in an automation lane in Dorico. In a DAW you playback in latch mode while moving the instrument with the mouse to record the positions but that is probably not possible in Dorico.
I’ll offer that dearReality got purchased by Sennheiser, and so it’s existing VR Pro is now legacy/free. (that I just bought for not cheap like 6 months ago, sigh.)Anyway, you can create a stage to the size you want and position players with automation, though it will be up to you to figure the scale factor for the midi CC. It would be your stage width / 128 for one, stage length / 128 for the other.
I feel the best solution for moving sounds around is IRCAM SPAT, which is available from Flux as as VST plugin called SPAT Revolution. It is sortof like MIR, but runs as a separate application that you have to manually start before your DAW and load the SPAT project, and then you can send audio to it from inserts and you need another copy of the plugin to get the audio return back.
You can do all sorts of crazy things with it, including reproduce the doppler effect from fast motion. You can have sound sources flying around the listener in rapid orbits etc. I would find it a bit strange to use with normal acoustic sounds because having a french horn player playing while flying orbits in midair at 100km/h around a concert hall is not realistic, but with electronic sounds it can create very interesting textures.
I checked and as I feared on first view the position automation data are not processed after recording. I did ask Thomas Fiedler to confirm that it is indeed not possible with Dorico.
Dorico doesn’t support VST automation lanes at the moment, but you can often map MIDI CC’s to VSTi parameters and automate with MIDI CC’s. Obviously this is limited to the MIDI CC resolution.
SPAT is controllable using OSC messages as well, so you could use OSC to move around the points. Obviously not inside Dorico though, you would have to start something to play OSC messages on a timer synched with the playback start.
If you have several fixed positions and do not need instruments to play while moving you could also use multiple players on different positions on the Dorico stage template with the same instrument and use a custom condensing group to get them on one staff.
Thanks everyone! These are great suggestions. I’ll investigate and update you with what I end up going with.