I’ve bundled a little Read Me file with the zip file that lists the folders, and tells you what it does – so that when Dorico does have an Instrument Editor, you can safely delete it.
I’m getting very interested by the possibilities for ‘extending’ Dorico with .doricolib files – which was first done to get a ‘working’ Tenor ottava G clef, before … y’know.
Thanks Ben - and I was just going to ask you about creating the lib files. I’ve got many more custom instruments made and would love to create the full library for them too.
It already existed for me and all the VSL stuff for Dorico was already in it. Perhaps VSL created it.
One more question about it. Is it possible to have the 0-Line and 1-Line staff with a full barline (same sitze than the 5-Line staff)?
There are some Engraving Options for ‘barline protrusion’ in Barlines > Design, which you could try.
I think Ben’s right. Changing the barlineSpan entry in the XML or doricolib file doesn’t seem to work, but changing the Engraving Option does. It would be a global change though, so may not necessarily be what you want.
Noteperformer creates that folder (amongst others) for its Expression Maps. I worked out that any .doricolib file placed there will be loaded at launch.
Thanks. So I do miss out on something by not using Noteperformer after all.
I wonder which, if any, of these two locations (ProgramData vs AppData) is left alone when installing a Dorico update on Windows.
With Cubase, I think AppData is used for program-wide preferences and Documents/Steinberg/Cubase for the individual plugins, including MIDI plugins; and both are left intact, IIRC.
On the Mac, nothing is deleted when updating Dorico. And each numbered version has its own folder, in both the user and system-level locations.
Thanks. Thinking out loud (and too slowly this morning!) I guess I’m wondering if there’s a location somewhere on the HD that:
(a) keeps these custom files intact following updates and
(b) is independent of the product version number.
I’ll try experimenting, perhaps this weekend.
Generally speaking, incremental free updates overwrite anything in the folders containing the program. If 4.2 is ever updated to 4.3, my instruments.xml file will be reset to factory and I’ll have to replace it with my backup version. A major update, such as 4.2 to 5.0, will install in a separate folder with all new files. The User folders typically are not overwritten with any update, at least the files containing info that the user has customized, and usually are imported correctly to a new location with a major update.
The User locations mentioned above should be safe with an update, but as these workarounds aren’t supported, I imagine we can’t be 100% sure. In any case, placing the doricolib file in the User location seems like a safer bet to me anyway.
There is no location that is guaranteed to be read by the current and all future versions of Dorico. When you first run a version of Dorico that has a major new version number, it automatically migrates the relevant data from the user-level application data folder for the highest-numbered previous version it can find. It also automatically loads the data from the DefaultLibraryAdditions folder for the highest-numbered previous version it can find, but it does not (and in fact, can not, because the folder is not writable by a process running without elevated privileges) migrate that location to a new one.
great, thanks! How can I add these instruments to dorico?
The instructions for how to add the .doricolib files are in this thread.
thanks, but then should I create a folder called “DefaultLibraryAdditions”? Sorry, I didn’t get it and I can’t find it on my mac
solved! thanks
Dear Benwiggy,
Is it possible for you to create a file similar to the one in this thread for 0 and 1 lines, but with the addition of staves with only 2, 3 & 4 lines. I have tried to edit your original file (which works beautifully btw) but have been unsuccessful in creating a 2, 3 or 4 line staff. It would be most appreciated as they can be very useful.
Many thanks.
I find that with the percussion clef of these instruments, I am unable to move them vertically with alt-up/down and the pitches map weirdly when entering notes. I need to use a pitched clef (or invisible, or replace one with a percussion symbol) for it to work. Does anyone else find that to be the case?
