I am a Cubase beginner looking for the most efficient way to move a large orchestral project (37 tracks) from Dorico 6.2 to Cubase.
1. Workflow Questions
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The “Import Dorico Project” Command: Does this simply automate MIDI file imports, or does it offer deeper integration?
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Merging MIDI to Instrument Tracks: Is there a way to batch-merge imported MIDI data into pre-configured Instrument Tracks? I’ve tried dragging and dropping, but doing it one by one is tedious.
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Tempo & Metadata: When exporting MIDI from Dorico, does the import into Cubase automatically bring the tempo map and time signatures with it?
2. Current Troubleshooting (EastWest Opus & Art Conductor)
I’ve attempted a manual import (creating 37 tracks and dragging MIDI over), but I’m encountering inconsistent playback:
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Articulation Issues: Using Babylon Waves (Art Conductor), some tracks (Violas) work perfectly, while others (Cello/Bass) ignore keyswitches—for example, playing 16th-note spiccatos as sustains.
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Note Durations: Some string durations appear “wrong” or misinterpreted by Cubase upon playback, despite sounding correct in Dorico.
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Polyphony/Divisi: I discovered that improper Divisi setup in Dorico caused notes to clump together on a single MIDI track. I’ve noted this as a workflow fix on the Dorico side.
The Goal: Everything sounds perfect in Dorico. How do I replicate that playback accurately and efficiently in Cubase without a manual “one track at a time” overhaul?
It is not going to be a perfect transfer at the moment.
What I do personally is use Vienna Ensemble Pro (one giant instance) to host all my instruments, I do all the mixing in there. So Dorico only has the one VST loaded (VE Pro) and the downmix from the VE Pro output gets sent directly out the Dorico output.
That way when I transfer MIDI to Cubase and plug in the same VE Pro project and hook up the MIDI tracks into the same port/channel as before, everything will sound exactly the same. VE Pro then becomes basically a plug-in external mixer for Dorico and Cubase that I use instead of the Dorico and Cubase mixers.
I discovered that if you do the following (in this exact order). Your tracks will miraculously start playing back perfectly!
NOTE: You must got to Edit > Preferences > MIDI > MIDI File and uncheck ‘Ignore Master Track Events on Merge’ before your import your MIDI or the tempo track from Dorico will not get imported!
- Start with a template project with the same number of instrument tracks as for the MIDI you are going to import.
- Wire up each instrument track to the VST corresponding to the one used for the MIDI track coming from Dorico.
- Drag and drop the MIDI file exported from Dorico and align the first track with the first instrument track and measure 1, beat 1 release the mouse button to finish.
- Click on ‘Expression Map Setup’ under ‘Expression Map’ in the Inspector panel on the left side of the screen (I’m adding details for newbies like me).
- Click the big plus sign with the text ‘No Expression Map selected’ right below it.
- Click ‘OK’ when prompted to import key switches in the ‘Add Expression Map’ dialogue.
- Be sure to add any missing articulations and verify they get added, if needed to the Mutual Exclusion Groups if necessary (this happened automatically when I added any articulations to the ‘Sound Slots’ list box on the top half of the screen.
- If you don’t hear the correct articulation, go to the VST plugin and ensure you have used the correct keyswitch (e.g.: C4).
- Close out of the ‘Expression Map Setup’ dialogue box.
- Save the project (I don’t know if this part is necessary but it can’t hurt).
- Start playback at the first measure (I prefer to work one track at a time).
- Inevitably, unless by some miracle it’s working, you will hear incorrect articulations.
- Now, remove the expression map from the inspector; now, it should say ‘No Map’.
- Save the project.
- Start playback (you should now hear the correct playback or at least it worked for me and I have tried it on two tracks so far.
I think what is happening is that the applying of the expression map and then removing it somehow “unlocks” the MIDI notes that were imported to do exactly what they did in Dorico, or at least that’s my theory.
Updated: Some searching turned up that this is a bug. I sure hope they fix it soon because I’ve spent several hours trying to figure out why it wasn’t working. Also, it doesn’t make any sense to me that the default is to NOT merge the tempo track because I would think if you’re importing MIDI most of the time it will be because you’re creating a new project.
You don’t have to apply and remove a map. Just don’t assign one to begin with. The existing keyswitches in the MIDI will work and trigger the techniques. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, since even before they had the Dorico-based score editor in Cubase.
How nice would it be to have a ‘Import MIDI Project from Dorico” feature, just like current ‘Import Tracks From Project’
It may have worked for you but I’m here to tell you that’s what I had to do. I’m working on a Windows PC Windows 11. What system are you using?
A Windows PC with Windows 11.
The fact is that when you bring in MIDI into Cubase from Dorico, expression maps aren’t really used at all, because all the keyswitches are already there. So adding something that doesn’t do anything and then removing it again won’t do anything.
Actually Cubase 15 does have an ‘Import from Dorico’ project but all it does is automate the export of the MIDI and import into Cubase. You still have to do the manual work of merging it with instrument tracks.
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Okay I wish I’d taken a video because I’m here to tell you again despite what you’re saying that the first time I played two or three of the tracks before I did what I did they did not play correctly end of story.
Actually I think when I was reading on Gemini AI it was specifically related to the Opus player for East West.