Dorico 4 - hanging notes. Maybe it's my hardware or my playing technique?

As with all my comments about Dorico 4 it could well be my hardware or my style of playing that’s causing the problem but I’ve started to experience far more hanging notes with every external sample library I use. Today it was BBCSO Pro. It’s something I will monitor and compare to use with my DAW. I have set generous buffer sizes so I don’t think that’s the problem. The sample rate of my audio device was 512 so I have now increased that 1024 to see if that helps.

the buffer size will tend to affect in the first instance clicks and dropouts rather than hanging notes. Best to give a specific example or two as there might be other factors at play. Are you actually playing in live or using step input?

I’m only creating and testing EMs and templates so effectively live input. Funnily enough since I increased the buffer size of my audio device to 1024 I haven’t experienced any hanging notes.

I’d be interesting in hearing if the situation changes when the first patch arrives in a day or two with the promised adjustments to the audio engine as others have reported buffer changes have had a significant effect on playback when a noticeable deterioration was observed v D3.5 – and not always in the direction expected as actually reducing the buffer has sometimes helped. Playing live is not a direct comparison but still feedback could be useful.

I’ll do some buffer experimentation when the next update comes.

I moved the buffer higher and lower but still experienced occasional hanging notes with BBCSO Core. I will check its behaviour in Reaper. Probably has nothing to do with Dorico. No clips and pops just very slow loading which is my hardware again not Dorico. I run BBCSO on an external 1Tb Sabrent Rocket Nano but may need to move it to a faster internal SSD. Important to exclude problems that are down to my setup.

are you getting stuck notes 1. when playing live when playback is running such as for entering a new part or 2. simply playing live on its own? Or 3. even getting stuck notes during playback when you are not playing at all? In the first case, I’m getting some stuck notes with EWQL Hollywood Choirs which can on occasion require the Wordbuilder “Panic” button but have never experienced 2. and only in very specific circumstances 3. never had it with BBC Core.

I wouldn’t myself run the BBC SO on a USB external drive but only you can decide if you have the capacity to try it internally.

I was just playing a few notes in play mode for each instrument as a test when it hung. So it’s 2 in your list. I have split BBCSO into the separate orchestra sections but I think I should remove the articulations I’m less likely to use as well.

It’s also taking several minutes to completely load an individual orchestra section. Even when the Green play indicator is displayed it hasn’t loaded everything. So I agree with your suggestion regarding the external SSD. I’m considering upgrading the internal M2 NVMe PCle SSD from 1 to 2Tb to accommodate BBCSO.

That might also explain why closing a project takes so long before the Dorico hub reappears.

I feel that the behaviour I’m encountering relates to my hardware limitations and not to Dorico. Thanks for your support though. I think I need to do more experimentation.

I’ve always gotten stuck notes with BBCSO Pro, not so much or maybe not at all with others like NotePerformer. To clear you have to go back to the track and play the note again. It appears the Note Off message isn’t getting there. It tends to happen when switching tracks fast while hitting a note.

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That’s very helpful thank you. I’ll try that next time.

I did a bit of research on the internet and following one piece of advice I found I changed the host automation setting (under the Spitfire setting cog) from disable to enable. Thereafter there were no more sticking notes. I even reduced the buffer size to 256 again and still no sticking notes. So it’s definitely not a Dorico problem. From the other comments it seems Core does have a bit of a reputation so maybe I will use Pro. I’ll only load the articulations I particularly need and use the mix mic positions. The other tip is probably to wait until all the samples in the project are 100% loaded before using it. Ignore the green Dorico button and check the sample Spitfire GUI to see the load light is solid not still flashing.

It’s always been enabled and I still get sticking notes on Pro as noted above.
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that’s what I said earlier (on a related but different thread, though). It’s the flashing green dot in the BBC player you need to wait for to become fixed.

As for the “Disable host automation” setting, the normal setting is on which means it is disabled. I’m not clear whether you’ve changed the default to disable “disable” which actually means enable host automation. I’ve never changed this setting myself, I must admit.

Thanks for your help. I’m satisfied that it’s not a problem related to Dorico so please close any ticket on this one. Even in Discover I get occasional sticking notes. As the other forum member suggested just pressing the note that hasn’t released a second time stops it playing. The note involved clearly shows as still depressed on the BBCSO virtual keyboard so there’s no guessing involved. Playback doesn’t appear to be affected but again if I get hanging notes the first place to look is the host automation setting in BBCSO, then also check that CC64 (sustain pedal) has not been accidentally specified somewhere. I have a sustain pedal but at present I’m not using it. Like most end-users even in Reaper I’m accustomed to getting the occasional hanging note with libraries in general, not only BBCSO. A lot has to do with the note off message not being received for some reason but it only happens sporadically. There doesn’t seem to be a regular pattern. Especially for lower powered setups like mine your advice on waiting until the samples are truly loaded is spot on.

I should also add that I’ve since reviewed the settings in the Roland Fantom G8 I use as my midi keyboard controller. I also checked the Reaper vst settings. I’m confident they are correct as Reaper Blog provided a detailed guidance in this area to avoid sticking notes. I haven’t found similar settings in Dorico but maybe they’re dealt with automatically. Usually it’s the application the midi keyboard is talking to, not the hardward device itself, that has to handle note off messages correctly.