Hey, do you have these expression maps available? I am interested in downloading them, specifically CSW, CSB, CSS, and CSSS. Thank you!
sure --play around and let me know how you get on. I recently created ā3automationā versions for the woodwind and brass which increases the NoteLength automation from 2 to 3 entries. I didnāt do that with strings as it seems to work less well. By all means experiment with both ā I havenāt yet made a definite decision on the new ones and this sort of thing depends on preference. Of course you can always override the automation anyway if it doesnāt work in certain situations as whatever you do, there will always be some things to change as you go along.
Incidentally, I checked just yesterday if the brass and strings updates have been done yet but it doesnāt look like it.
Welcome to the forum, by the way!
Cinematic Studio Expression Maps.zip (26.2 KB)
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Thank you so much!
I have a few questions about strings. The legato seems to be quieter than everything else. And it glitches out when there are 2 or more notes and I canāt get them to play like noteperformer plays it. Any ideas?
And do you have any playback templates you could send as well?
legato does tend to be on average quieter but it depends on the situation. You could scale the CC11 controller upwards (by making the minimum higher for instance) if youāre sure you donāt like the current settings. As for legato āglitching out with 2 or more notesā, Iāve no idea what you mean as legatos usually work nicely in CS (though you sometimes need to reduce the attack on the first note of a legato sequence which requires reducing the velocity to between 20 and 63 as youāll know if youāre familiar with the programming). Unless you are talking about repeated notes in which case they sometimes need to be separated in the pianoroll or you can use a playback offset in the Properties panel in Write mode. Thereās no point in comparing Cinematic Studio libraries to Noteperformer ā they work completely differently.
As for playback templates, I have one for full orchestra which requires Vienna Ensemble Pro and a basic one for string quartet (the likes of which you could quickly create yourself but I can send if youāre curious)
Iām very much at the beginning of my journey with Dorico but enjoying the experience so far. Thank you for sharing those CS expression maps. I will experiment with the automation which Iām just starting to get my head around. It will also greatly assist the review Iām conducting of the provisional expression maps Iāve created for other external libraries. I keep going back to them and refining them which I guess is what most people do. Iām always learning something new about Dorico. Thanks again.
Iām glad youāre enjoying Dorico so far! I think automation tends to be a bit underused in many maps Iāve seen but naturally we need more control over the divisions between the note lengths to reduce the number of manual overrides needed. Some articulation-rich libraries could also do with more divisions. It will come in due course ā other things took priority in Dorico 4. Automation for note dynamics is one of other possible developments for Expression Maps which have already been discussed.
I also go back and refine the maps from time to time as I get to know ever better exactly how they work and find bugs or more efficient ways of programming.
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The Dorico team have done an amazing job with Dorico 4, much of it Iām sure influenced by user wish lists, so Iām sure more refinement of things like note dynamics is probably in the wings so to speak.
Just for the fun of it Iāve created an expression map for the new Metropolis Ark 5. My first experience of adding very strange new playing techniques and linking them to playback techniques. Not sure I would ever use the map but at least it taught me something new. I will look into automation now.
I deployed your CSSS expression maps today and it made me appreciate how much I still have to learn. Youāve added extra controls on Legato and Natural but I confess that Iām not sure I what they do. Can you explain? I understand the velocity and CC11 bit but not the two extra lines of control youāve added for Legato and Natural. It all works very effectively although I also realised that if I want to test individual instruments I must create a dedicated expression map for each so I saved the SC Solo Strings expression map individually named for Vi1 Vi2 Va and Vc. I hope at some stage John Barron will run through the naming used when creating expression maps. Iāve always created a dedicated expression map for every instrument rather than a shared map on the basis that itās then easier to recall them individually for other projects.
I assume you have the manual open when youāre testing these things as it tells you what all the entries do. For instance, for legato, I wanted to check that āvibratoā was on if not already, that ālegatoā mode was active and that the sustain patch was selected. The solo strings maps are in fact the first I did and have not had a recent revision. With the orchestral ones which Iāve been using more recently, Iāve been starting to rationalise the entries and have removed a few which seem superfluous. Because of the fact that entries can be created with either CC58 or keyswitches, it makes things a bit more complicated than with many other libraries.
Iām not sure if thereās really a point in creating a separate EM for individual instruments in the solo strings as the programming is identical for all four and you can then recall the smart one irrespective of instrument. Nevertheless, itās possible that a specific patch (maybe for instance the various marcato variants) gives a markedly different result from one instrument to the other. My take is, though, that this is perhaps something for a later stage.
Yes I pulled out the CS manuals so I was able to follow most of the extra controls in your EMs. I was able to make the whole CS series work in reaticulate for Reaper which should enable me to follow your entries. It was more the mixing of CCs with Keyswitches that floored me. I noticed that I need to map Init which I confess I havenāt done for any of the maps Iāve created so far. I like being able to test the individual instruments even though a common map would suffice. I chose the automation EMs you shared in preference to the basis EMs as I want to crack that feature. It must surely add to the realism on playback. Thanks again
yes ā to some extent this was a matter of experimentation to see what worked as opposed to what was strictly logical. In general, I find increasingly that CC58 automation seems the best way to go and gradually, Iām trying to make the maps more rational. Solo strings are a bit behind the curve in that respect as in recent months, Iāve been concentrating more on orchestral stuff.
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I must admit that like you Iām more at home with CCs than keyswitches. Creating the reabanks for all the CS libraries in reaticulate taught me a lot. But Dorico is a new challenge. Thanks to your EMs Iām getting a better grasp of it though. Iām working on CS2 now. Canāt seem to make Init work but am reading the manual. There are important differences compared to CSS. I think my first step will be to switch from the default of keyswitches to CCs.
Thanks for your guidance David.
The CS EMs you shared with me have taught me a lot, mixing keyswitches with CCs especially. Iāve almost finished a further refinement of CSB to keep it as simple as possible. Added natural and mute note conditions. Chosen to have Legato always on with Marcato and note condition to select whether it uses Marcato Short or Marcato Sustain. I think Iām almost there now.
Thanks again David
Glad youāre making progress! Incidentally, I happen to notice a couple of days ago that one solo strings map which seemed to be dated as the most recent export obviously wasnāt as it didnāt include any automation. If I happen to have sent you that one by mistake, then Iād put in automation along the lines of the orchestral strings but as youāre clearly getting the hang of it, you can naturally do as you please! Or I can send what is definitely the current CSS version.
Would it be possible to share the expression maps you have created for the CS -series?
I would be interested to just try them out. I have made my own expression maps, but havenāt had to use them for a while now. I remember the they were stripped to only include the most crucial articulations.
Happy to share my own version of the CSB Dorico expression map which I finished today. dko22 has shared several of his CS EMs which are also in this thread. I have learned a lot from studying his EMs. BTW do you need one for CS2? As you will see when you open the zip file I tend to do a separate EM for each instrument. Not essential but I like to audition each one separately and like to have the facility to make little refinements.
AH-CSB.zip (15.3 KB)
If you could share the latest version of CSS that would be very thank you.
Hi Andy ā this should be the one Iām actually using at present (Iām writing something for SATB choir and CSS string quartet)
CS Solo Strings.zip (2.3 KB)
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