Best way to get quality dry audio out of dorico+noteperformer?

Dorico
1

Let me preface this by saying I have next to no experience with sound engineering, I have little time/incentive to learn (I compose/arrange for live instruments usually, but not this time), and I am new to Dorico (from Finale).

I am trying to extract audio from Dorico/Noteperformer for it to be mixed in with live recorded instruments by a sound engineer for a quality mock-up.

Strings are the main issue, as they will be the virtual sounds mixed with one live violinist for V1 and V2, and only virtual sounds for the rest of the string section. Harp and timpani will be 100% virtual library sounds. Reeds, brass, upright bass (when its not symphonic sound) and drums are going to be recorded live so no issue there.

So I am trying to get the driest possible exports to send to the sound engineer. I have spent the day trying to figure out various configurations and what I have learned is the following:

-Noteperformerā€™s built in sounds ainā€™t that great, especially when you take off all the reverb, but you CAN take off all the reverb.

-Iconica sketch has a decent sound bank but you CANā€™T take off the baked in reverb, so thatā€™s no good.

-All the engines one can choose from in the Noteperformer app have free trials BUT that is assuming you have already spent several hundred on the respective sound banks.

Is all that right? If so is my only option for dry audio exports the built in Noteperformer sound bank? The sound engineer has plenty of sound banks, surely ones that are supported by the various NPPE, but he doesnā€™t own Noteperformer or Dorico. Is there a (legal) way to combine his sound banks and my programs? I wouldnā€™t mind paying for say the BBC Orchestra Core engine but I canā€™t afford the sound banks for one time use.

Thanks for reading, and otherwise thanks for this forum, I have consulted it a lot in my transition from finale.

2

NPPEs are fantastic, and vastly better / more realistic in general (especially with strings).

NotePerformer sells engines which interface with libraries that allows you to take full advantage of them but in the most musical and balanced way possible, with minimal technical effort and knowledge. However, they are not a sample library developer and do not sell the sounds themselves. They are just a liason between those and Dorico.

If you do not wish to invest in one of these, I assume your sound engineer has a DAW? If you pass them midi files and musicXML from Dorico, they should be able to open that up in a DAW and reassign instruments accordingly to their own sample libraries. It will take some time and finesse, and they will probably have to re-build articulations / keyswitches since those are interpreted differently between the programs. But that is likely the easiest and fastest approach (assuming that they have access to libraries).

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Thanks for the reply!

NPPEs are vastly better you say, but better than what?

Yeah the sound engineer has a DAW and knows how to use it but he is doing this out of the kindness of his heart so his time is of the essence. But if we decide that the sound is too crappy with my audio exports, that is what will likely happen.

What does musicXML contain that the midi files donā€™t? That is, why would he need both?

4

Vastly better than NotePerformerā€™s native sounds*, which are entirely synthesized.

Whereas sample libraries are (most often) real samples of acoustic instruments - but they can be very hard to work with inside of Dorico on their own. So NPPE is the best of both worlds: the ease of writing with NP, but the acoustic realism of actual samples, all pre-balanced for you so you donā€™t have to fight with weird volume and latency issues all day.

*This is of course subjective. Sometimes I do a mix of both myself; I do find some of the native NP sounds to actually be pretty good and not noticeably synthetic. But Winds and Strings both especially benefit from the added realism you can get from NPPE. I find the native strings to be particularly strident and thin.

I am technically not sure, but I believe musicXML can bring it all in as one maybe - whereas midi might require importing as separate tracks. Someone else more knowledgeable about this might chime in. It takes merely an additional second and takes up a negligible amount of space so I always feel like why not provide a backup file option just in case the midi files provide issues, they could always have a backup as reference.

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Ok got it. Yeah the strings are not ideal, and that is the main thing I need it for.

The midi is exported as a file but explodes into individual tracks when I import it into Logic. I donā€™t know how much information is included as I am not a sound engineer. I will talk to the guy in the next few days and get his opinion.

Thanks again, most of the threads I read today included your advice in them :slight_smile:

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6

Donā€™t forget that Black Friday sales arenā€™t too far off. String Library + NP NPPEā€¦?

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Yeah, but like I said, this is for one project, and even with the sales we are talking multiple hundreds of euros, which where I live and with my salary is a lot of money. If I knew I would use them in the future Iā€™d gladly buy a full orchestra, but the way things have gone, I have never needed to do mock-ups other than to show people before a live performance/recording and I have no future mock-up projects either. I will check out what the black friday sales are though, thanks for indicating that.

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Understood. ā€œNew toysā€ + sale prices are easily tempting, but donā€™t always make good sense.

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9

Of course, the Garritan libraries are recorded entirely dry, with the intention that you add the reverb in afterwards.

Opinion is divided on whether they are still suitable.

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Once you export your NotePerformer tracks without any reverb and place them in a DAW, you can add your own audio processing to them which can make them really come to ā€˜lifeā€™.

I like to use EastWest ā€˜Spacesā€™ reverbs, because you can place the instruments into ā€˜frontā€™ and ā€˜backā€™ stage locations, and their choices of hall/stages/etc. really help put some of the ā€˜airā€™ back into the NotePerformer sounds.

Just one idea.

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