Changing instruments doesn't remove articulation data

When working on certain projects I’ll change the instrument to the default Yamaha piano on the HALion Sonic SE pop-up (accessed through the play section). It seems, though, that articulation data (for the trumpet, at least) is programmed in by activating keys in the lowest octave of the keyboard (ie low Bb = staccato), and while this is out of range on trumpet, the piano does play these notes, making it impossible for me to use any articulations in my writing.

To recreate the bug:

  1. start a new project
  2. add a Bb trumpet
  3. go to the “play” section, click the “e” next to the trumpet under the “VST Instruments” panel
  4. change the instrument in the HALion Sonic SE pop-up window to the YAMAHA S90ES Piano
  5. write some staccato notes for trumpet
  6. play

I know it may seem a bit strange to change the instruments around like this, but when I’m doing jazz transcriptions it’s very useful for me to be able to write in the transposed key of the instrument while keeping the pure, clear sound of the piano (not to mention that jazz trumpet players go well beyond the range of the VST instrument).

My hope is that there will eventually be some under-the-hood changes to translate articulation data based on the VST instrument being used, but in the meanwhile any advice on a workaround for this would be appreciated.

Change the expression map…These are were you make instrument specific interpretations for various articulation marks. Particularly anything that uses ‘key switches’ or special continuous controller events.

  1. In Dorico’s “Play Tab”, click the gear icon beside the HALion Instance you wish to change.

  2. Use the drop down menu for the corresponding channel to change the expression map(s). If you like you can build your own expression map(s) under the “Play/Expression Maps” menu.

If you need to transpose HALion itself (I’m not seeing why you would need to do this, but if required) you can do this as well in the MIDI Tab of HALion.

  1. Click the “e” icon from Dorico’s “Play Tab”, beside the HALion instance that you wish to transpose.

  2. Click the instrument slot you wish to transpose.

  3. Click the MIDI Tab in HALion.

  4. Adjust the transpose field for the instrument you wish to transpose. It will shift the entire keyboard by half-steps.

If you want to save yourself steps in being able to easily/quickly swap back and forth between a Transposed and non-transposed instrument…make use of an extra slot in HALion (or even a new instance of HALion if you don’t have any empty ones avilable). You could then simply change the Instance/Channel in the Flow column of the Dorico Play Tab back and forth as needed.