I am brand new to Dorico Pro 5. I just downloaded it and also the pt plug-in for the BBC orchestra. When I choose playback template and choose the BBC orchestra, nothing changes. Obviously, I don’t know what I’m doing! Can anyone simply explain how I can get the BBC orchestra instruments onto my score? When I looked at an old Steinberg video, the instruments appeared on the right but that doesn’t happen with me. I’d appreciate any help.
Sorry to start with the obvious. Have you installed one of the Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra sound libraries?
Janus is starting at one end of the problem, and the best one, but starting at the other end - what instruments do you have in your project?
Dorico only loads what it needs based on the project.
I downloaded the BBCSO Discover PT file as instructed in the video and loaded it onto Dorico. When I go to the Play Template menu is shows up at the top of the screen. I choose it and hit Apply and Close but when I try to use it, and assign one of the instruments, I don’t know how to do it.
I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to assign or why.
In Setup mode, choose the instruments you want in your piece. The playback template will automatically load the correct instruments. That’s all you have to do. You don’t need to, or shouldn’t usually need to do anything in Play mode. (Once you have all your instruments assigned via setup mode, I would suggest re-loading the playback template to make sure you only have the instruments loaded that you need. If you change or delete an instrument in setup this step can help free up resources. You can usually see in the mixer if there are any unused instruments loaded).
Which Video?
I’ve reloaded the BBC Symphony Orchestra. I then went to Play and Playback Template and chose BBCSO (which was on the top) and hit apply and close. Then when I go to setup and choose an instrument, the only ones that show up are the standard ones that are in the Dorico library (like alpenhorn, etc.) I can’t find the BBC instruments.
Jess
There was a video on the site that showed how to download and use the BBC Symphony.
In Setup Mode you get to define players and instruments. How they playback is shown in Play Mode.
If you go to Play Mode and open the VST and MIDI rack tab you should see it has loaded Spitfire/BBCSO VSTs for each instrument.
Yes. I can see the instruments now, but the ones that are chosen are NOT from the BBC Symphony. I don’t know how they are chosen to play. Here is a screen shot. None of the instruments are playing correctly and some not at all. The glockenspiel is playing like a bassoon, the strings are not playing at all, the organ is also playing like a bassoon. The bassoon and flute are playing correctly, but they are not the BBC instruments!
Very confused.
Are you using the playback template for the version of BBCSO you have on your computer? I think I read that BBCSO Discover uses a different playback template than BBCSO Core and Pro although I don’t have any version of BBCSO and may recall incorrectly.
Have you tried:
In the very same screenshot you posted… clicking the slanted “e” button for each instrument, and the BBC SO player should pop up. Then in the BBC SO player, select the right instrument ie flute. You can audition the sound with the screen keyboard on the BBCSO player window to see whether the flute sounds correctly. Then close the BBCSO player, and then go to the next instrument in your screenshot.
(Just a quick note here, that I didn’t have to do the above when i setup BBCSO disc instruments, they mapped flawlessly in one click, except I used John’s attached dorico project template, and created my score from there. Maybe you should try that if all else fails). I did have issues with the unpitched percussion exp maps. see side note below):
SIDE NOTE: issue with unpitched percussions;
I had similar problem but only with the unpitched percussion maps. John’s template didn’t seem to work for BBCSO unpitched percussion… ie the percussion maps to wrong keys. The triangle plays bass drum and so on. In John’s exp maps, most of the instruments were set to key C3.
Instead, i found and had to load MarcLarcher’s unpitched percussion map (attached below cos i can’t find the the weblink now). Marc’s percussion map assigns keys(?) correctly… ie triangle to E4, tamtam to B3 etc
It works fine, but i have an annoying issue, for some reason, I have to reload marc’s perc. maps everytime i restart my project. Else, it reverts back to the (wrongly sounding) maps from John originally. Am I missing something. ? How do I permanently tie my percussion map settings to a particular project.? I tried the “lock” key to no avail.
This is MarcLarcher’s unpitched perc lib:
BBCSO Discover Unpitched Percussion.doricolib.zip (1.8 KB)
@Mike_Philcox OP is using these templates: from John
Screenshot of John’s BBCSO untuned perc map with all the perc instruments mostly set to “C3” note
and screenshot of MarcLarcher’s correctly assigned perc mapping.
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(@kelvynchin, in case you mean @MarcLarcher (with a “C” instead of “K”), I’ve looped him in.)
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I think it’s because you’re using a playback template that has John’s Endpoint as unpitched Percussion source? You should be able to override it and save as default with proper Endpoints
Hi Jess,
Dorico doesn’t add any extra instruments when you assign a playback template.
If you assign the standard instruments, Dorico will load the right VSTs and patches automatically for you.
If things are sounding wrong, try re-applying the playback template.
@Jess_Platt , can you post an example score here?
If it doesn’t work on another computer (where BBCSO normally works), then we can probably see what’s causing the problem in the document; and if it does work, then that suggests a setup issue at your end.
hi @MarcLarcher , thanks for replying. I’m not sure how to do what you describe yet, but lemme root around the settings and hopefully i can twiddle it correctly.
So…
click on endpoint setup → save endpoint config → then click yes on “overwrite”? Is that it? Should i save it as a different name, say, BBCSO Unpitched Percussion v2"?
I’d say it’s better to save as another name in case things do not turn out as wished!
I was referring to the playback template, the way it’s built up, but I admit I have not opened Dorico and checked out for myself…
That percussion map I don’t even remember I modified, so I suppose it didn’t take me long, and I have probably never used it — especially now with the BBCSO NPPE, that’s the only way I would use that library! 
@MarcLarcher ,
Good news is i’ve managed to fix it. Bad news is I can’t figure out what exactly I did that fixed it 
I did save the end point as “BBCSO Percussion v2” and fiddled around here and there, so anyways it’s fixed now on my project.
Your percussion map is solid. Thanks for that! I intend to get the BBCSO Core edition in the near future. Right now concentrating on getting up to speed with dorico
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