Hello all. What should I do to get Dorico to play Pipe Organ audio for my notated organ music in play mode?
I use Organteq 2 as my VST and posted a summary of how to use it in Dorico:
Hauptwerk is almost certainly the ultimate virtual pipe organ but at least for me, the expense and complication of getting it to work in Dorico are prohibitive. However, others may disagree and be able to provide help. Also, NotePerformer has organ stops available but although I use NotePerformer on a regular basis for other instruments I (perhaps foolishly) haven’t explored the organ.
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If you’re an alltogether new user unfamiliar with how Dorico handles playback (believe me, I’ve been there myself): In Play Mode, look at the left side of the screen. There you will find several items, the first of which defines the playback software the music is sent to. By default, this is HALion. Below, there is the stylised e which will take you to that software’s interface where you can define the sound that your music is played with. Usually, if you defined the instrument while setting up a new project, this will be a preset matching the instrument, but for example in the case of a MusicXML import with incomplete data, one might need to tell Dorico which instrument is meant this way.
Which OS are you working on? In Windows, Dorico uses ASIO drivers exclusively, so you might need to check Device Setup under Edit.
If your question is aiming at specific sounds however, you could check out the neat little plugin Aeolus which uses a synth engine to emulate pipe organ stops. The result sounds better than one might expect from a non-sample based plugin. For anyone familiar with the mechanics of a pipe organ, this might be a better option than the generic organ samples usually found in sample sets that are not intended to be used with Hauptwerk or Grand Orgue, as those usually do not differentiate between divisions. To make use of this however, you will need to enable Independent Voice Playback and assign the voices to different MIDI channels, which themselves have to be assigned to the organ’s divisions in Aeolus beforehand. In my case, the setup is: MIDI channel 1 - Pedal, MC2 - I (Great), MC3 - II (Positive or Choir), MC4 - III (Swell).
The main downside of Hauptwerk in my view is that one needs to purchase the full package to be able to use the plugin, which is completely oversized for most of those use cases. If Milan Digital Audio were to offer a medium edition with plugin functionality but without the comprehensive audio channel routing galore, I would gladly give them my money, but the way it is now: No way!
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A couple of alternatives to Hauptwerk: VSL have three (one
of them is in the Vienna Instruments line). Also, Rinascamento (Fluffy Audio)
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Note Performer is pretty good and one can change registrations. Their manual gives a good explanation for this. If you have Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO) it has some decent organ sounds. I’ve never used Organteq2, but from everything I’ve seen about it, it looks like good. If your asking specifics about what to do in the Play tool to get things going, let us know and I or someone else can help. (I’m an organist).
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