I seem to have made Garritan the default when I start a new piece - even when I use one of the templates, the Garritan instruments load rather than the Halion instruments that come with Dorico. I would like to try using the Halion instruments, particularly now that version 6.1 has come along.
You have probably set a Garritan playback template as default in Preferences…
If you want to try the Halion instruments, just apply a different template using Play>Playback template…
1 Like
Many thanks!
I didn’t know where to look - much appreciated.
Thanks, Janus. One problem solved, and another arises. I cannot unmute instruments - I tried the command alt-U, and I try unmuting them individually - when I unmute one instrument, another mutes.
Also, what window have I unwittingly summoned at the bottom of the page, and what do I do to get rid of it?
And - if I try to open a new document with the chamber orchestra template, I still get Garritan instruments, even though I have (or so I thought) reset the audio engine to factory default.
Thanks,
John
That sounds like you’re using S for Solo, not M for Mute.
The Lower panel can be shown/hidden by clicking on the little ^ bar at the very bottom; or by using Command 8 (on Mac; on Windows it’s CTRL 8). It shows a range of different things from the icons here:
If such things are flummoxing you, I’d strongly recommend taking the Guided Tour (in the Help menu), or watching some of the introductory tutorial videos.
1 Like
Gentle suggestion:
To spare the fragile pride of us Finale refugees, don’t take it for granted that one hasn’t taken the Guided Tour, or watched the introductory tutorial videos many times over.
But I haven’t spent much time hitherto in the Play domain, and I’d been clicking wildly in search of the very little ^ bar at the bottom (which, I now realize, was completely hidden because I was in Full Screen), without success.
I understand that your patience may be tried by people asking what appear to be really dumb questions, but it’s a whole new world, and just as one is beginning to feel confident
there’s a new hurdle. I just started over with a new document using the Modern Orchestra template and up to now it’s going swimmingly. .
I try to refrain from asking questions until I’m tearing my hair out.
The online guide is excellent in many respects, but it’s often hard to find what one is looking for - in this regard I think Dorico might profitably imitate the Index in Finale’s guide.
John
I still haven’t figured out what went wrong with the Solo/Mute issue. It certainly wasn’t because I mixed up S and M.
I’m certain we all genuinely appreciate that suggestion, and I think we forum-users try hard not to do any harm to anyone’s ego. It’s fair to reassess that many times, those steps had not been taken (watching some videos or following First steps pdf), and sometimes people do strange stuff (without knowing it) in the mixer.
One thing that works quite well in the help documentation is the web help (so not the PDF version), where you have a quite powerful search engine. If you want to insert or add something, writing “inputting something” in that field will probably send you towards the information you need (whilst writing “something” will give you information about that something that you probably already know, that is why you want to add it !)
Don’t wait too long before asking, so that your frustration does not grow to high, you’ll always find some nice people here to help you 
1 Like
There are no dumb questions. We were all novices once and Dorico is a complex program to master.
Please ask sooner rather than later.
Use the search box, rather than the index, to find things in the online help.
(Many of us would agree with your sentiment, but the Dorico team is constrained to use the Steinberg house style for documentation)
2 Likes
Dear Marc and Janus,
Just a quick word to thank you for your thoughtful and kind replies - and to assure you that I am resolved not to wait too long before asking a question!
I suspect I will come to love Dorico as I loved Finale…
Best regards
John
3 Likes
I’m sorry – but it’s hard to know what your level of experience is, and when you [seemed to] say that you’re unfamiliar with the interface, it seemed the helpful thing to suggest.
Please ask as many questions as you like; and please provide as much detail as you can.
As a former Finale user myself, I’m happy to help.
Sorry I let my feathers get ruffled!
I will surely call on your help as soon as I need it - it’s deeply appreciated.
With thanks
John