Dorico 3.1 Mixer channels do not reflect instruments setup

Dorico
1

I am in the Dorico learning phase, having switched from Sibelius directly to Dorico 3.1. In the last couple of days I decided to practice SETUP, WRITE and PLAY through the transcription of a score more complex than the initial tests. The original score had much more instruments than my target of 12, so I made many duplications/movements/deletions in SETUP, to decide which instruments to pick. The score was completed in a reasonable time, considering the inevitable difficulty in transitioning from Sibelius: I consider this an encouraging start in Dorico adoption.

Nevertheless, I had problems in PLAY mode. I wanted to mute/unmute different combinations of instruments, in order to discover by hear possible transcription errors and faced the following issues:

  1. The mixer window was unreasonably wide (48 channels) since it used 3 instances of HSSE (one would have been enough to accomodate 12 instruments).
  2. Since there were “holes” (VST channels assigned to “phantom instruments”) between the instruments, I had to repeatedly scroll the Mixer window back and forth to find my instruments and mute/unmute them.
  3. The order of instruments in the setup list was not preserved in the mixer

The PLAY panel was correct, both in term of “no holes” and instrument order: it flagged (correctly) that 3 instances of HSSE were used. By opening the corresponding “Endpoint Setup” button and HSSE instrument, I found some clue on the possible causes: so I did a further test on simpler scores and came to the following conclusions:

a) If you delete an instrument in SETUP, the previously assigned VST channel is not “released” and cannot be reused (see the “endpoint” images in the attachment)
b) If you move up or down an instruments in the SETUP list, this is reflected in the PLAY PANEL but NOT in the MIXER. It looks like the mixer does not do anything.

Did anyone find similar problems or did I miss some point in the setup/usage of the mixer?

I attach a zip file containing 6 screenshots: score setup, play panel, mixer and 3 endpoint setups.
Thanks i advance for your help.
Mixer channels problem.zip (1.29 MB)

2

You can reassign the playback template in Play menu, which should reset the VST channels to reflect only the existing instruments.

3

Hi Dan, I went a little blindly to the play->playback template… command, where the HSSE+HSO (PRO) template was already selected (I did it just as a post installation recommended step). Anyway, just by clicking on the “Apply and Close” button, everything was correctly reset!
The mixer was reduced to only 16 channels, with the correct instruments order and no “holes”. Also the two additional HSSE instances disappeared.
One question now: do I have to do this any time I delete or move an instrument in the setup?

Thanks so much!

Mixer channels problem solution.jpg
Mixer channels problem solution.jpg1026×493 99.3 KB

4

It is probably a good idea to check it if you change/add instruments. Dorico takes precautions to make sure changes you make do not unintentionally overwrite previous assignments you have made.