I still regard myself as a relative newbie on Dorico 3.5, but having downloaded the new SINE versions of the Berlin Series I’ve begun the process of creating expression maps for each. Very much a work in progress at this stage. Just the basic articulations, selected via control changes at the moment. I’ll make revisions for the more advanced bits like note lengths etc later. I’m not at all confident at handling the legato features or polymaps so any advice from other forum users would be much appreciated. Maybe it’s less important to include legato adjustments in Dorico expression maps anyway. I’m still using Dorico Elements 3.5 but plan to take advantage of the Steinberg cyberweeks discount next week so I can break out of the 12-player constraint by upgrading to Dorico Pro.
Hi andhy, I am currently doing the same thing for Cubase. Same as you, I only concentrate on articulation selection and I am using the default configuration of the instruments.
But there are so many instruments in that series, that it will take a lot of work.
As you know , sine is very flexible in regards of changing the switching of articulations. Playing around with that will make all our maps not work anymore. That is why I asked Orchestral Tools, if they could consider to release a VST 3 version of their sine player, as that standard allows cubase to import expression maps with one click from the instrument. Not sure if Dorico allows that. I am sure that supporting VST 3 is not an easy task, so don’t hold you breath.
That’s very interesting. Yes, the flexibility of SINE does complicate the maps. I 've used CCs to change the articulations rather than keyswitches. Sounds like VST3 might help.
I hope I’ve understood your question about instrument expression maps. Certainly once you have created a Dorico expression map for a particular instrument and saved it as part of a playback template for a project it would be automatically loaded every time you select that playback template. Equally the individual expression maps for each instrument are stored and can be recalled for any Dorico project by selecting them from your EndpointConfigs folder. What is not yet possible - but who knows if it might be in Dorico 4 - is selecting a particular instrument patch.
As a newcomer to Dorico 3.5, which I have now updated to Pro, I have not only been learning how to create expression maps and playback templates but also individual projects that I can use as a starting point in my writing.
In the meantime OT ported over Berlin Brass and Berlin Woodwind that previously I only had in Kontakt and I then took advantage of the Black Friday 50% offer to add Berlin Strings and Berlin Percussion. If they of any interest to you I’ve prepared basic Dorico expression maps and playback templates for the whole Berlin series in SINE. I was helped by the fact that I had previously created reaticulate reabanks for SINE libraries in Reaper so much of the coding I already had off pat. Then I discovered that owning the whole main Berlin Series qualified me for a free copy of the compact compiled version of Berlin Orchestra Berklee, so I claimed that and created an expression and playback template for it as well. The attraction of BOB is the fact that I can effectively load an entire OT Berlin orchestra, albeit with a greatly reduced range of articulations, and still stay within my 32 Gb ram limit.
It’s kept me busy but I really must concentrate on the music now. I’ve been too distracted by the programming.
Same as you I used the very good deal to complete my Berlin series. Sharing your created expression maps would certainly be very helpful for me and a lot of other users. Creating expression maps is a lot of work. I keep finding mistakes that I have to update in the once I already mapped.
My question related to Dorico was related to importing expression maps from VST3 instruments. I was not sure it it supports it. I was able to test this very useful feature using Halion Sonic SE. It has some multi expression instruments and is VST3 capable.
Another question: what rule do you use to name your expressions? I find it very useful to use very similar naming schemas across instruments. this way I can move a part from one instrument to another and in 80% of the cases, the expression works.
My rule is to always use text representation and use the name of the expression in the map e.g. “Sustain + LEG”.
Edit: I attached the Expression maps I have for sine Berlin series. Still missing a lot.
Berlin Series.zip (60.7 KB)
Apologies for the late reply. Thank you for sharing your Berlin Expression Maps. I’ll attach the ones I’ve done which are still really WIP. Percussion I have yet to do. All my expression maps require some tlc in the area of note length. Again I’m not confident about that area yet. I will prepare a zip file to share. Not sure how you attach things here.
I will upload my own expression map versions soon. Regarding naming, at present I do a separate expression map for every instrument including the library name e.g. Berlin Orchestra Berklee Solo Violin I. This is my preference for naming maps so when I use them in different projects I know what library they’re part of.
I’m not sufficiently confident at creating Dorico percussion maps yet so I won’t share where I’ve got to with the SINE version of Berlin Percussion. While the google hangout series has provided some guidance I could do with a dedicated demo that explores every aspect of creating percussion maps using the very latest version of Dorico. What I’ve seen so far is spread across different versions of Dorico and different google hangouts so frankly I’m rather confused. Ideally I want a Dorico demo that uses the Berlin Percussion SINE version but I guess that’s asking too much.
As you have the whole Berlin Main Series did you take advantage of the free Berlin Orchestra Berklee offer? I asked OT support and they made it available to download almost immediately. I’ve created expression maps and a playback template for it and loaded it all into a single Dorico project. I only have 32Gbs of ram but it fits, just. BOB contains less articulations but it has some extra instruments like solo strings that are absent from the main Berlin Series.
Can you show a screenshot of your Articulation List in SINE Player for one instrument? SINE’s flexibility in how you set up the samples consequently makes it difficult to share ex maps without the same setup in the Player.
I notice that you are using Note Velocity for volume for everything, except Pizzicato, which is CC1.
I haven’t got Berlin, but the three OT libraries I have (Miroire, Tableau Solo Strings, LA Studio) use CC1 for dynamics, with CC11 for ‘expression’, unless it’s a fixed length sample, e.g. Pizz, staccato, in which case it’s Note Velocity. I’ve therefore used CC1 and CC11 for dynamics in the Ex maps for sustains, etc.
Again, you can of course switch these in SINE Player, if you want, but it may have consequences for how things sound.
Incidentally, I tend to use one Map for all instruments with the same articulations. So (in my case), Violas and Violins both use the same map. The only advantage of individual maps is if you want to change the map for one instrument, but not the other.
As you point out those articulations need to be change to CC1. As I said, it’s wip and I was planning to make that change when I had time. Shows my inexperience. Screenshot attached. Just the default order.
I’m beginning to think that Dorico does some things to the notes that OT doesn’t like: all the Playback Options stuff about note lengths, variation of timing and dynamic, etc etc.
I get markedly different results using Logic.
Here’s my observations in creating maps for OT’s Miroire library.
The one thing I got wrong was the Dynamic Range slider shouldn’t be moved to the right: keep it at the left. I vacillate between deciding whether their Legato mode is a good thing or not on a daily basis.
But still my main gripe with OT is that their samples seem very ‘late’ compared to others. Like a real orchestra, I’d forgive a lot if they just played on the beat.
Good Lord!!! I just sat down to make these. Thank you!!!
sine is finally VST3, but it still does not support importing expression maps unfortunately.
Did you mean importing SINE vst3 expression maps created in Cubase to Dorico is not supported? Dorico 4 certainly accepts SINE vst3 samples now but I’m not familiar with Cubase. In principle I would have thought that any expression map prepared in Cubase would be accepted by Dorico 4.
Apologies for being so slow in replying. I’ve been rather busy. In Dorico I thought there was an adjustment for the delay you’re referring to but I could be wrong. Choosing the right sample makes a big difference and adjusting the release tail in SINE can also help. Apart from that I guess it’s a matter of adjusting things in the Dorico midi editor. I know in Cubase it’s often necessary to bounce to audio in order to get stuff where it’s needed. Thanks for sharing your Miroire map. I’m preparing a map for Opaline at present so we’ll see where that leads. If you are still experiencing difficulties with the delay issue let me know.
There is a Playback start and end offset, but it’s a property of each note. It’s really tedious to select all the notes and adjust them, rather than just change some value in the Expression map.
I need to revisit my OT ex maps: each different piece of music I try seems to require a different treatment.
The OT libraries, especially the soundpacks, are very individual when it comes to creating expression maps. For instance I’ve just created expression maps for Opaline. The electric guitar has a velocity change to the chord played (maj to min and others) which is difficult to see how I could use in a Dorico piece. I added high and low velocities to the playback techniques but I may be reaching too far. The rest was fortunately more straight forward with common expression maps for pads, plucks and keys with only one C0 keyswitch. Post any problems you find here as you review your OT ex maps. I’m about to create ex maps for Berlin Con Sordino Strings and Khosso which should keep me pretty busy.