Are any forum members interested in having expression maps for BWW SFX? I was mainly interested in creating one for the Low Bassoons Ensemble but ended up creating initial EMs for all the other instruments. SFX are a natural for DAW mockups but maybe less useful in Dorico unless this is your main composing tool. If nobody is interested I won’t both to post the EMs here.
I would be very interested!
I really think Dorico offers tremendous possibilities for achieving the same work we used to only use a DAW for. Dorico is very different from your grandfather’s Sibelius. It really can accomplish almost every task that we used to require a DAW for. And particularly if you add in VSL VE Pro to the mix, which greatly extends the mixing and VST hosting abilities.
I think the biggest question though is how do we select FX sounds and unusual articulations? Ideally, Dorico would offer us a visual menu of what are options are. As this doesn’t exist yet, I myself will resort to a cheat-sheet text guide or a google sheet to help me navigate. A simple solution for the time-being.
Another issue that this raises is the notation of the sound vs the actual trigger note. It seems that we would need two staves. One to trigger the sound, and another to notate what is being heard. I suppose we could then simply hide the staff with the not triggers and be left with a beautiful score that represents what is actually being heard.
I suppose the same method as above could be used for other loop and phrase-based samples such as the Sonokinetic series. In this way, we could incorporate phrase libraries into our Dorico scores. It simply requires expression maps and playback templates to incorporate these libraries. I intend to explore these options, but I have limited “music time” with a full-time day job. I hope others will also consider these possibilities as exciting as I do and consider exploring these options.
So I say yeah, lets explore this new territory with Dorico as it opens up some very exciting musical options Free your imagination and let’s open the doors to the limitless possibilities only with Dorico!
(I used to write ad copy for the AKAI S1000 and the Korg M1 in a past life). Gotta have a little fun as this stuff really is that exciting!
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Thanks for your guidance on using a single instance of SINE in a project. I shall probably maintain both single and multiple instances of SINE in Dorico from now on.
Well, thank you for all of your contributions that I’ve been enjoying. I’m glad my fumbling led to something useful as I have a lot more to figure out before I feel comfortable. It may be the imposter syndrome that keeps me moving forward! Eventually, I’ll get there (I hope).
One thing I’ve found useful is having the expression maps for each instrument saved in a folder for importing. This lets me import just the instruments that I need to bring onboard to an existing template so I can mix and match them. However, once they are imported, I don’t see many advantages in keeping the instruments on separate players. As long as you have separate outputs, Dorico gives you enough inserts so you can do rather extensive processing on each instrument if you need to.
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You’re very welcome. Btw which version of Dorico are you using? I was investigating playing techniques and realised that some features, linking playing techniques to playback techniques being one, are only available on the PRO version.
I’m using Dorico Pro 4.3.2.1130. I’m not convinced that the playback linking issues I’m having are not due to operator error yet, as I don’t fully understand everything so I want to study a bit more before I raise my problems here. I want to reverse-engineer a working expression map first as I think this will help me to understand the entire process better. Then if I’m still having trouble, I’ll post it here.
Let me know though if the playback switching is working for you with BWW SFX, if it is, then the problem is on my end. And its surely something simple then, and its just a matter of figuring out what it is.
Same as me then. Having taken time out for other things I’m having to refresh my memory by watching old Discover Dorico videos but, with due respect to John Barron whose efforts I much appreciate, when you’re in a hurry to lean something it’s not the most time saving resource. There’s definitely a case for some dedicated tutorials relating to expression maps, playback techniques, playing techniques and endpoint configurations. I search the operations manual in vain for things like expression maps and nothing comes up which is exceedingly frustrating.
I will look into linking worthwhile articulations from BWW SFX but at the moment I’m having problems with Dorico crashing every time I try to change from HALion to any other player. Probably user error but I keep having to restart my pc every time this happens. As soon as I click to change from HALion to anything Dorico freezes, I’m using a Stream Deck with Notation Express so I will disable that and see if it cures the problem.
What I find most odd is that when I press the test “play” button in the expression map, it plays the articulation without any problem. Yet, when I call the same articulation with a playing technique popover linked that playing technique name, I get no change in articulation.
And yes, I’ve been watching the same videos over and over but I can’t find what step I might be missing. That’s why I’d like to go back and re-engineer a working articulation with another expression map to see if I can maybe find the missing link. But I don’t have any time for a while as I need to go back and work now. Maybe tonight I can give it a try.
And yes, I would love to see a new John Barron video going through a few examples of making expression maps for various VST Libraries. And many of the other videos on playing technique and expression maps date back to Dorico 2 and much has since changed. Its time for some new ones!
You make a good point when you suggest “from various VST libraries”. In theory Dorico is neutral territory so I hope John Barron will do that sometime. I’d like to see him create expression maps in Kontakt, SINE and any other player that can accommodate more than one instrument at a time.
VI Control has a posting about the steps to make expression maps in the Notation software section that might assist you. It also illustrates how to link playing techniques to playback techniques. I’ve saved each page into separate pdf files and can send them to you if you like. Interestingly the guy that posted the steps did it in reverse, starting with the playing technique and working backwards.
I’ve just done Berlin Brass and as the instruments exceed 16 I split SINE into two instances one for high and one for low brass so I could make a project containing all the instruments featured.
Btw the answer to Dorico crashing was to leave the HALion box in PLAY alone and press the + to add a new player. When I did that Dorico didn’t freeze and I was able to select SINE.