Hi! I created some specific organ pedal markings in Custom Playing Technique (Edit Playing Techniques) for a particular score. It all worked great, except I started another organ score and those markings are not available in the new score. I was hoping those new markings would be available globally but they don’t seem to be.
Are the custom techniques (Edit Playing Techniques) only available for a specific score? If not, how do I make them global to be seen in all future scores in which I would like to use them?
Welcome to the forum @jfarnes1! They’re only in the project in which you create them, unless you click the Save as Default star button so it appears filled-in. That makes it available in multiple projects.
Welcome to the forum, @jfarnes1. Playing techniques are indeed specific to the score in which you design them, unless you click the little star button in the action bar in the left-hand list in Engrave > Playing Techniques, which saves them as a default for future projects. Thereafter any new project that you create will contain the item(s) you have saved as a default.
I think Derrek is right. I’ve just saved those as default and they don’t show up in the newly created score. Completed closed Dorico, went back in, and they weren’t there. Next test is to make sure they are there in a brand-new score.
Hi Daniel,
2.5 years later the subject returns in D5.1.21 on macOS Ventura.
Having libraries with prerecorded runs/glissandos (strings, harp, woodwinds) I have created dedicated playing techniques and corresponding meaningful texts that can be used in the score. The example would be: for A major run playing technique is “amaj” and the text is A/\ , for A# major would be a#maj and the text A#/\ . Obviously all of them were marked as global. Inside the initial project they all work perfectly, however for other projects I get a complete rubbish. I open a new, empty project and get the old version of these techniques. After longer experiments I found the following: when I assign amaj to A/\ and a#maj to A#/, close Dorico and reopen A#maj changes to A/\ and the assignment changes to pt.user.amaj.2 . So, there is probably a problem with using “#” in the playback technique name. It would be important for me if you could help solve this problem. Those new notations were used very sparsely, so if “#” is a problem, or perhaps the font I used is, the necessary corrections will take a short time and their impact will be limited. Also, I would like to check what I seemed to observe as well, that playback template also contains the complete set of playing techniques, ornaments etc. I saw it when I opened an empty project and activated my playback template and the techniques changed. If that is normal, is there a smart way to update this template without loading all instruments so all endpoints are fully activated and new version could be safely stored?
Thanks
Witold
A complete overview of “what get saved where and what is loaded when”, would indeed be a very precious piece of information.
Like… if we create a new file from a custom template, is it loading the current default set of (expression Maps/Playback Techniques/Playing Techniques) or the set that was valid at the time of the creation of the template ? How do Playback Templates interfere with all this ?
YES!! Definitely!!
I love Dorico for the level of control it gives the user plus the richness of options, but at the same time this richness creates unusual level of complexity and by now Dorico lacks a profound enough manual. I tried to get the clear info in the subject I described earlier, but had to give up. It either was non-existent or hidden so well I did not succeed in finding it. So yes, an in-depth VERY WELL REDACTED document would be very much appreciated.
Witold
Hi,
The problem has been identified and solved. I found the inspiration in expression map form, where any # was immediately transposed to the above flat. A# became Bb. So for my runs and glissandos I replaced sharps by flats and voila: all works.
So, WARNING!!
DON’T USE A “#” CHARACTER IN PLAYBACK TECHNIQUE NAMES!!!
Hi Lillie,
There is still some mystery about what is saved in playback template and how to modify it. When I open a new project all my playing techniques are available in the right-hand panel. When I apply my playback template, even to a completely empty project the content of the panel changes to what seems to be stored in the template. Why does it happen? Is template storing the list of playing techniques that were active when the template was created or it enforces on the list the techniques listed in endpoints making the template? And if yes, how?
This is a very important issue, because creating expression maps and corresponding techniques is a long and time consuming job, so naturally we would like them always available, no matter the project or playback template.
I will be very grateful for clarifying this issue.
Witold
I’m not Lillie (though sometimes I wish I were) but hopefully this might help somehow, or at least in the meantime!:
Playing Techniques link a particular word/symbol/notation with a certain Playback Technique e.g. The term “Mute” and the symbol “+” can both be saved as Playing Techniques to trigger the MutedPlayback Technique.
Expression/Percussion Maps are used to organise Playback Techniques into groups that can be applied to a channel e.g. saving Muted, Open and Harmon together to send to a trumpet.
Endpoint Configurations link Expression/Percussion Maps to VST channels e.g. “send the Trumpet Expression Map to Channel 1”.
Playback Templates save all of these together so that another project can use the same settings.
Can you confirm that you’ve made changes to all of the mentioned data, saved it as a custom Playback Template, and now that data is not being recalled successfully when you apply that custom Playback Template to another project?
Hi Daniel,
That is a very good, clear and teaching response. I am actually quite advanced in Dorico and the question I asked “Lillie” has as an objective to get me the full control over what I do. Let me give you a trivial example: I have very good libraries of recorded “runs”, string runs, woodwind runs and harp glissandos. Those can be activated as “scales” or “modes” (like major or minor or other) or by key (C, D etc.). To use them inside my scores I created playing techniques (cmaj, c#maj and similar) and playback techniques (similarly cmaj, c#maj). What happened next was that “#” cannot be used in playback techniques, so I changed all sharps to upper flats (like A# to Bb) and modified playing techniques from “amaj” to “A∆”, “A#maj” to “Bb∆” and similar. Then did a cleanup in both playing techniques and playback techniques removing all “amaj” and “c#maj”, so both the list of playing and playback techniques look as needed. Then I opened a project, made it empty, both lists are cool, then applied my playback template and when the new ones seem to be untouched several old ones reappear (like these “amaj” that I so desperately wanted out). And what I want to know is how it works. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that playing/playback techniques are stored in the template literally, like the lists, because in this case the complete list from template would replace the list that opens when Dorico is launched. I suspect that they come from endpoints. In other words, when I changed all these sharps to flats and then made corrections to endpoints that constitute the playback I might have overlooked a place or two where these “weeds” of a#majs still hide.
It seems I may be right. I have created a test template with an endpoint that can’t have the “weeds”, applied it to a new empty project and list remains unchanged. I will continue this experiment and once I am sure of how it works I will come back with the results
Witold
I’m not sure if this is the issue or if it is even possible but did you have the custom Playing Techniques set up as defaults i.e. clicked the star on them? Perhaps, if you do, that they automatically stay there regardless of the Playback Template… that’s all I’ve got sorry!
Daniel,
My experiments entirely confirmed what I wrote earlier.
So some additions to your very good explanation. Playback template has a structure of an onion. Playback template stores your chosen endpoints, and is the outer layer Endpoint stores instruments, their MIDI channels and their expression/percussion maps, and makes the mid layer, Expression/percussion map stores both playing techniques and their associated playback techniques, and makes the central point of the onion.
The consequences are the following:
loading the playback template makes Dorico look at the “default” list of playback/playing techniques and eventually add the ones that are not on this list, so the project using the template will have all what is required.
Removing unwanted playing/playback technique from playback template requires the following steps:
a. delete the playing technique from every expression/percussion map that uses it
b. delete playing technique from its list
c. delete corresponding playback technique form its list
d. save the endpoint.
IMPORTANT ! To the list of techniques in the right panel Dorico OBSERVABLY adds playing techniques. The corresponding playback techniques are added in background.
It is not the easiest way, but it works. I just cleaned one of my endpoints from unnecessary techniques and they stopped reappear.
Daniel, thanks for pushing me in good direction.
Witold
