I regularly import midifiles that I produce in Cubase, and try to use the same names as appear in Dorico to save time on import, but even so, to get the best settings, after import I go through each instrument and “change” the instrument in Setup to Dorico equivalent instrument. I read some time ago that it is good idea to get the correct settings for the instrument. For example the Short names all appear as they should. However when I have more than one player things get difficult. If I change the first instrument player (let’s say French Horn 1) to French Horn on the instrument list, all is Ok, but when I proceed to the second player, Dorico swaps the numbers. I can cope when it’s just two players in a section, let’s say Violin I and II, but with 4 French Horns, I can never seem to get it right. I know it sounds a bit complicated, but this is the best way I have of explaining what is happening every time I get an orchestral midifile from Cubase into Dorico.
If you have Dorico 5, you can now renumber instruments so their automatic numbering reflects their order in the Players panel.
From your explanation, it sound like you rename the instrument after the import?
You can do all this in the import dialog. There‘s also the track memory which should help if you use allways the same midi track names
Thanks Lillie, That seems to do what I need!
Or not. Yesterday it did the trick, but today not. For example, I import 5 Violin Parts, 3 1st Violin parts and 2nd Violin Parts. On the midifile they are named Violin 1A, 1B,1C, 2A and 2B. I will be organising my Divisi parts later on in Dorico, but for now, I just want to organize the names so that they use default Dorico instruments. I do this using change instrument, and choosing Violin for each one. Whatever order I do this, Dorico always get the names the wrong way round after changing instrument. I can’t even understand the logic behind it’s choices. I tried the renumber instruments but it doesn’t get it right … There’s something I’m missing … the method?
Have you tried doing these instrument changes and renames with the player sort order set to “none”, as it looks like maybe Dorico is re-ordering the players based on assumptions relating to their type when they’re edited as part of the “change instrument” process?
See the tip at the end of this page: