It has been discussed a lot but I’m trying to narrow down things.
Isn’t it possible to add a function like “create costum playing technique”, a kind of specialized text that can be entered in the score and that appears in the “possible techniques list” in Edit Expression Maps. Then you could trigger any technique in extensive sound libraries like Vienna Instruments you want.
Probably I think too easy.
No, it’s not possible at the moment, but in the (not immediate) future I’m sure it will be possible to do this.
What I do in the meantime is borrow techniques that might seem unrelated for a given instrument, but will still work in terms of forcing various playback interpretations.
As an example:
You could use the snares on/off technique if you need an extra ‘sticky node’.
Where:
“legato” (notes living under slurs) just sends a CC68 event to engage the legato pedeal.
“legato+snares on” might store a different version of your legato that engages the pedal AND sets portamento.
Etc.
Note that some techniques are ‘sticky’. Examples are things like pizzicato, con sordino, snares on, etc. Such techniques will stay applied until you either counter them with an opposite technique (such as arco, sans sordino, snares off, etc.), or send a ‘natural’ technique to drop all the stickies.
Other types of techniques might be temporary. I.E. Staccato marks add a staccato node only for the duration of the note it goes with. Tenuto, marcato, slur marks, etc. All of these go away if a note isn’t specifically marked to apply it.
Also be aware that when building your expression maps, you can have combinations of techniques. To build them hold the ctrl/command key while selecting them one at a time (in the expression map editor).
Example:
staccato (a default staccato)
legato+staccato (a default staccato for notes living under slurs, but different from just staccato)
legato+staccato+spiccato (Another option)
legato+staccato+martele (Yet another combination of techniques that can force martele for notes living under slurs).
legato+staccato+snares on (Maybe you have different versions of sautellie, detache, and so forth that you’d like to force into the mix…if there are no more string techniques left in the list to do the job, borrow something from another instrument family. You can hide the technique from showing/printing by changing its alpha)
You can get a visual of what techniques are active for notes in the piano scroll editors of the play tab. These visual cues can really come in handy…