I experimented with creating multiple custom instruments by duplicating an entry and then extending the ID string by adding new identifiers. I also tried creating different names, for example a name that would show up in the score versus how that instrument is identified in the instrument picker. Custom instruments can also be linked to parent instruments with “alias” in the string. There’s a bunch of things that are possible, now also including the custom position in the score order.
It’s very tedious and error prone, as Paolo says. What I’m doing now is using the XML Notepad instead of the standard Windows notepad. This shows all the entries as nested elements graphically, making them a lot easier to work with. I also discovered that the order of certain types of entries in some XML files does not matter - so now I’m simply copy-pasting my custom instruments always to be at the very bottom of the file, which makes it a lot easier to deal with updates.
And finally I made a single project file that routes every single instrument I have (including the custom instruments), just so that I can have a single global endpoint, which is my default playback template. After the most recent update everything is recalled mostly correctly, with the exception of string divisi.
It would be great to learn if there’s other tips and tricks out there?
I think there’s real value in what’s being aired and suggested here as the ability to swap instruments from different libraries easily and quickly would be very, very useful.
As an aside, but it is a part of this whole jigsaw of pieces within this PT/EC area, I find myself wondering why it’s not possible to assign an Expression Map permanently to a particular instrument from a library. It literally is one of those you-never-need-to-ask-me-this-again decisions.
Agreed! I’d be curious how others handle this as well. Obviously the Windows Notepad is terrible for this, but instead of the XML Notepad I’ve been using Sublime Text for XML editing and am pretty happy with it.
I had 2 of these opened side by side and simply copy-pasted the entire nodes “InstumentEntityDefition” from one to another when moving from Dorico 3.5 to Dorico 4. Was a lot easier than I thought.
