HALion stuck in staccato playback

Dorico
,
1

I’ve seen related issues posted here, but tried all suggested fixes and none of them work.

I’m running Dorico 4 Pro and using the included default HALion sounds. On my laptop (Framework i7, Windows 11), the playback for all instruments seems to be stuck in staccato for all files. If it’s not actually sending a permanent staccato MIDI message, it’s still playing all notes at about 50% length.

On my desktop (Hackintosh, OS12 Monterrey), everything works fine.

Here’s what I’ve tried, to (almost) no avail:

  • Quit and restart
  • Brand new project file
  • Switch instruments, both in Setup and in HALion Sonic
  • Add nat, legato, and slurred markings
  • Adjust staccato and normal playback note lengths (e.g., setting staccato length to 100% note length)
  • Fine-tuned adjustment of note lengths in the Play MIDI scroll
  • Different playback templates
  • Different endpoint expression maps, including “default” and “cc11 dynamics”
  • Reset playback overrides

The one thing that did work (temporarily):

  • Total clean install of ALL Dorico and sound libraries

I’d include an example file, but as I said: the issue is localized to one computer. The exact same files play just fine on my desktop.

Any help is appreciated! I’d love to avoid continually doing clean installs.

2

If I understand well, the playback techniques lane in Play mode does not show staccato, but the sound is staccato. As if the other articulations were not available? That is certainly unusual, I don’t remember reading such thing in this forum…

3

If you can reproduce this problem at will in a minimal project, please do attach it here so we can take a look and see if the behaviour is reproducible for us like it is for you.

4

I will when it happens again. Right after posting this, everything works fine on my laptop. :expressionless:

1 Like
5

And it’s back! Like I said earlier, this file is localized to my laptop only, so I doubt there may be anything in the file itself. But I’m ready to be wrong!

It makes me wonder if there’s a problem with the HALion instruments themselves. Is there anything I can be checking or resetting that I haven’t mentioned above?

Always-staccato.zip (571.8 KB)

6

I’m sorry to say that this project plays back exactly as expected for me! Does the problem persist if you quit and restart Dorico?

7

That’s what I figured since it works on my other computer. Yes, I’ve tried quitting and restarting many times. On rare occasions, it works, but the next time I open it, it doesn’t.

Is there anything in HALion I could be trying?

8

Update: testing out my different outputs seems to have an effect.

On my Framework laptop, I’m using the “Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver.” When I use the built-in speakers, playback is fine. When I change to my Bluetooth headphones, the playback becomes staccato.

I’ve isolated the issue to the headphones as I’ve tried:

  • Starting Dorico with one or the other already set up
  • Changing between them after startup
  • Different projects

I’ll say that these headphones have worked just fine for the past 7 months of Dorico use, so unsure if there was a driver or Dorico update that has caused the issue.

9

Can you double-check the device settings after choosing your Bluetooth headphones? Could there be a mismatch in sample rate or buffer size that’s causing the problem?