Hi Dan! Here’s some experimentation I did over the weekend. As this was the first Thanksgiving weekend in about 8 years I haven’t had at least 4 Nutcracker performances and 2 theater rehearsals (my daughter dances), I decided to test out woodwinds (and 2 French Horns) and upper strings with the first part of the Nutcracker Overture.
In all of the following, the Dorico file is completely unedited from the original, so obviously lots of articulations and dynamics are not played back the way we are used to hearing it. I’m also curious about which libraries produce the best sound with minimal tweaking. As I’m almost always writing (or copying) music that is intended for live performance, the mockup isn’t that important, but obviously getting better sound for no extra work is clearly preferable. All audio has a tiny bit of compression and if any additional reverb is added, it is with UAD Capitol Chambers. Any panning is done automatically with the library/template and not after the fact by me. Dorico mixer levels have been adjusted for rough levels, although obviously much more work would need to be done with levels.
Obviously more time, or a more experienced MIDI musician, would be able to coax more music out of this, but I was interested in testing what could be accomplished just using the stock music, rough levels, and Playback Templates and Expression Maps that were already available.
Nutcracker Overture - Halion
Nutcracker Overture - NotePerformer (no levels adjustment at all)
Nutcracker Overture - BBCSO Core (no additional reverb at all)
Nutcracker Overture - VSL Synchron-ized SE