Dorico, BBC SO, Noteperformer and dynamics/volume

Hello Everyone:
First of all I’d like to commend this software and its supportive community. I have never seen such support from both the users and the software company before, it’s incredible.
I Hope i’m not recovering old ground.

I’m struggling with my setup and getting some unwanted results.

When I create a melodic line (Or anything really) it seems to ‘fade’ in volume at times. It’s as if someone is pulling the fader down despite what dynamics I enter. Seems that long notes are more prone to it.

Tried the same piece with Iconica instead of BBC and it dissapeared.
Anyone having issues like this at all?

Thanks, take care

Patt.

Hi Patt

Some of the intro notes on BBC are very slow. Have you set up the expression map ?

best

e

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Hey Ed!

Thanks for the reply!! I have used an expression map to host the samples in Dorico in the past. Now I’m using Noteperformer to host the BBC instruments and using the associated expression map for that.

And yes absolutely some of the notes in the library are quite slow.

Thanks!

Patt

It can be helpful to peek “under the hood” in the key editor sometimes to see if there’s any unwanted automation that may have been written without realizing, which could be overriding the dynamics in the score. You can find this under the key editor by viewing the normal dynamics lane, and then add CC1 and CC11 (typically) and see if they are doing anything different.

Other than that the BBC NPPE is pretty consistent for me. It’s worth noting that some things like legato vs short notes etc can have drastic volume jumps which sometimes have to be manually compensated for.

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Hello dear colleagues,

May I ask someone of you who has BBC SO Pro in NPPE to share some samples of the Woodwind, the Brass and the Percussion sections separately. Something around a minute long. Possibly with some solo and tutti parts.
I’ve heard the demo on the NP website, but it’s the whole orchestra… I don’t like how the String section sounds. And for strings I’m using VSL - VI Dimension Bundle, which is far superior over the BBC. Unfortunately I can’t hear the sections separately. The demo template for NPPE doesn’t allow me to create the template I need, in order to conduct tests on my own.
I have pretty nice sounding VE Pro template involving BBC SO Pro and VSL - Dimension Strings, but I’m considering combining VE Pro and NPPE, if it’s going to produce a better result than the one I’m already getting.

Best wishes,
Thurisaz

You should be able to create these individual sections in the demo. Or, you can load all of them and then isolate individual sections manually for playback in Dorico, regardless of the demo.

I work with the BBC NPPE on the regular and is probably my favorite, but I’m blessed to have a few of the others, and I find myself mixing and matching with other engines depending on the context of the piece, because BBC doesn’t always work for me with some parts or some articulations. I find that it isn’t always so great for really fast articulations (staccato/spiccato/trills/etc) which tend to get a little blurry.

Hey Thurisaz:

I would love to help out and will with your request!!

Just might take a few days as time here is tight!!

Sorry!

take care

Patt.

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Hi @wing,
Unfortunately it’s not possible to create double, or triple woodwind section.
No way to add more instruments:

Hi @Patt_Shore,

Thank you very much! :slight_smile:
I’m not in rush, so take your time. Whenever you have some free time, do it. :slight_smile:

Once again, thank you very much! :slight_smile:

Best wishes,
Thurisaz

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Hi @Patt_Shore,
I hope you are doing well and your projects are going as expected! :slight_smile:
Sorry for I’m bothering you, but I would like to leave a reminder about the BBC SO Pro + NPPE (Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion sections) separate audio examples including soloing instruments and tutti.

Best wishes,
Thurisaz

Ah - but there is! Increase the number of staves on each instrument.

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I was also wondering what @Thurisaz means here as I thought the same!

Hey Thurisaz!!

Sorry! I haven’t forgotten just got busy!!

I put together some material to send you and will finish it up shortly!!

Patt

This!!

Hey Thurisaz

Hope this helps!!

Take care!!

Patt.



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Hey, @Patt_Shore, thank you very much for the provided examples! :slight_smile:
The playback is pretty decent! :slight_smile:
When NP4 + NPPE was released in the time of Dorico 4, the playback wasn’t that good.
I’m going to invest in the NPPE package for BBC SO Pro.

@dko22 hello,

I have in mind this structure exactly (as shown in the Iconica Sketch template of mine):

@RichardTownsend, the legato patches are monophonic, so increasing the staves per instrument won’t help.

Best wishes to all! :slight_smile:
Thurisaz

Hey Thurisaz:

Glad I could help!!!

I have decades of experience with DAW’s and can pretty much handle anything in that environment (recorded and released albums etc- no mastering though!!)

but writing orchestral music I like to be able to see “sticks and dots” (real notation). I find the BBC and noteperformer combo to let me concentrate on writing and not editing midi cc data. The results are close to what I want and I can deal with final phrasing/volume stuff from the stems NPPE produces (I’m still green at that though).

Again I’m glad I could help in return for the ideas you offered with my earlier problems, this forum is a standout in the music community due to the involvement from people such as yourself and I’ glad to be a part of it!

Take care!

Patt.

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