(This is a translation of an original post in the German forum)
NotePerformer is unbeatable when you need realistic sound for composing, but extremely uncooperative if you wish a more refined sound for all these sophisticated interpretations in your digital demos.
An export of every individual instrument from a Dorico project to process it’s track further in a third-party program, to balance and remount them all is a very long-winded process. If the tempo, number of bars, or even just the length of a fermata are changed in the score, all steps must be repeated to keep the tracks synchronized.
In his post “Playback Template: Individual Mixer Channels for NotePerformer”, David Tee clarifies how each individual instrument in NP can get its own mixer channel, and consequently in Dorico as well. This article builds on that and suggests how to use his method in a specialcal way to get all mixing jobs economically done without leaving Dorico.
First, we need a look on how NotePerformer usually works
NotePerformer appears in the form of instances that can contain up to 16 instrument channels (slots). Instruments from completely different families regularly appear side by side. For example, all woodwind instruments can be grouped together with two trumpets in the same instance. However, if large ensembles have six horn parts, the two that go beyond the usual horn quartet may appear in a completely different instance. Basically, NotePerformer returns all instruments of an instance always in one single common signal to the mixer channel in Dorico whose instrument is in position 1 in the NP instance. It is this behavior that prevents the targeted sound modification of a certain instrument directly in Dorico without further measures. Stage and room templates also remain permanently ineffective; you basically have to seat the players in NotePerformer. In addition, NP apparently controls the dynamics curve itself; the Dorico setting has no influence whatsoever in tests.
Further considerations about mixer channels
In a wind orchestra, for example, there may be three first, second, and third clarinets in B flat, which nearly never need to differ in timbre. Wouldn’t it be easiest to manipulate all nine tracks at once? This could even be extended to additional soloists, since Dorico only has single players for all wind instruments anyway. If strings are included, it also would save work to combine all the violins of the Dorico section players, regardless of whether they are first or second violins.
The combined output of all instruments of an NP channel as a common signal to Dorico can be used for exactly this purpose. If you get NotePerformer to load identical instruments from different voices into the same instance, they all will end up in the same mixer channel and receive the same treatment. No matter what changes are made to the piece, audio only needs to be exported once for the entire project or each flow.
Sequence of steps
To create endpoint definitions for the NP instances and record the endpoint definitions (NP channels) in a playback template, follow David Tee’s method, but create as many identical instruments in each endpoint definition as there could be parts in a project. For a large symphonic wind orchestra, I used 5+5+5 clarinets in B flat and a solo clarinet in the same key in 16 channels out of a possible 16. Of course, this endpoint definition can also be used for a normal symphony orchestra, which only has two clarinets (explained later).
If you proceed in this way, the number of endpoint definitions in a playback template remains manageable, the use of resources is unproblematic, and therefore you normally do not need to set the master volume or master reverb to zero.
Please note, however, that a clarinet in A (or in any other key) is different from a clarinet in B and requires a separate NP instance in any case.
If you prefer to use certain seating orders in your projects (keyword “German Division”), set all positions to center in each instance via “Settings – Center panning” for the time being.
It is best to create a slightly more comprehensive „main template“ with more instrument types that can be used for several projects.
Preparing and assigning a playback template
Immediately after creating a new empty project is the right time first to copy your „main template“ and reduce it to the instruments that are to appear in the project for the best possible performance: Play – Playback template… – Apply: In the mask on the left below the list, there are square buttons for copying and editing (in another mask). Organize and name your copied playback templates in a meaningful way.
You can also add further instruments to the template and move them in the list. When setting up the instruments in Dorico later, just pay attention to the order in the template.
The customized playback template will now be assigned to the project: again under Play – Playback Templates…, select the correct template and apply it.
Loading the instruments
Set up all players and instruments in the project, preferably in the order in which they appear in the playback template. At the latest after you have played a written note in the new instrument, the relevant NP instance is active; the created instruments can be found starting at channel 1.
For each NP instance, delete any surplus slots at the end before switching to the next instrument (see the clarinet example above). This supports that NP uses the appropriate instance for each subsequent instrument type (e.g., violins → violas). If this still does not work in some cases, the instrument type usually does not match the one in the definition. Unfortunately, there is no way to manually activate previously unused instances of the template.
TIP:
For ensemble parts in larger orchestras, esp. strings, try using at least two players each. In the NP instance, assign them a neighboring different panning to achieve a much more pronounced spatial effect in the listening experience. Once all instruments have been set up, deactivate the duplicated players for the project. This will prevent empty staves from appearing in the score, which would be distracting when composing. Only after the entire score has been completed does it make sense to reactivate these players and copy the entire content of the original staff into the duplicates. The display of the additional staves in the page layout can be suppressed using “Staff Visibility.” The duplicate parts also do not require an own part layout.
If two identical instruments are to be as loud as one was before, the volume of each must be reduced by 3 dB. Since there may be different instrument groups (e.g., Vl. 1 and Vl. 2 in the same instance), this only makes sense in NP and corresponds to a value of 90 to 91 for each channel; for 3 identical instruments, the value in NP is approximately 86.
Settings and seating order
The following settings can be adjusted in the channels of an NP instance, witch stand for the individual instruments:
- Volumes relative to each other (see previous tip)
- Panning (left-right position)
- Reverb (position in the depth of the room)
Dorico stage and room templates are not applicable. Leave the positions in the Dorico mixer set to “C” and use panning and reverb in the NP channel. In the signal-carrying channels of the Dorico mixer (the first instrument of each NP instance), in addition to balancing their volumes, several plug-in effects can also be loaded and applied to the sound, e.g., equalizer and audio compressor. Changes to the mixer settings naturally affect the entire piece. As before, fine-tuning of individual sections in the piece must be done via the volume or velocity of the relevant instruments in play mode.
Mixer channels that do not carry a signal are “dead tracks”. You can set them to volume 0 for better differentiation.
Before output, the overall signal can be finally mixed in the master channel.
Create additional projects
As mentioned, you should design your playback template(s) in such a way that you can copy them and use them for a whole series of new projects with similar instrumentation by deleting unused endpoint definitions.
If you have already created a project with a suitable instrumentation in the described manner, it may be a good idea to simply use a copy of it. In the score, you then only need to select all notes and other entries with Ctrl+A, delete them, and shorten the project/ flow to a few bars. This way, all instruments will sound the same as in the original project, and they will also be positioned correctly because they and their sound settings are not affected by the deletions. You can also save the emptied project as a template and use only a copy to write your new composition.
If some of the instruments are not needed, simply delete their players from the project and remove any surplus NP slots (from NP V5).
Unfortunately, with older projects, it cannot be expected that assigning the new playback template will always produce the desired result for all instruments. But feel free to try it out on a copy—you might get lucky. If instruments do not end up in the correct NP instance and the layout is already complete, the only solution may be to create a new empty project with the same instruments as a “sound file.” Then all voices and the tempo track will be copied into it. Unfortunately, however, there is no way around having to maintain the musical text twice when making future changes.
