I have done many mockups/film scores in Cubase using virtual instruments entirely. For me, there are four general guidelines to improve realism of mockups (this is not Dorico-specific, but in general):
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Avoid robotic overly-quantized playback. Part of the issue when doing mockups in notation software is that the software plays everything back exactly on the beat, when you enter with the mouse. An orchestra that sounds too precise to be human is going to sound artificial, naturally. There will always be slight offsets in timing in actual performance (quantization errors) that humans naturally add, and this is part of what humanization algorithms in some notation programs try to emulate. It is ideal for realism if you enter all of your notes with the MIDI keyboard, playing them in (so you get the natural error in your playing, and then adjust the notes that are too far off due to errors. Often I will slow down the tempo temporarily to “cheat” while doing this. De-quantizing can be done after the fact, but is a much longer process, and the results tend to be less successful.
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Ride the CC’s (ex. CC1, CC11). If you look at really good mockups, they don’t just leave the MIDI CC’s set to a fixed position. They shape them all the time, shaping each individual phrase like a performer would. This video has a good example: Make MIDI Sound Real: Creating Orchestral Mockups, Part 2 - YouTube (some composers add even more than that!)
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Reverb / getting everything into the same “space”. This is really important when you are mixing different libraries recorded in different spaces with different characteristics. The most important thing is to have a high quality reverb that gives you stage positioning capabilities, and ideally a quality algorithmic reverb because they do not color the sound the way convolution reverbs do. For this, I use and recommend EAReverb 2. I use it for all my positioning and I am able to easily mix both wet libraries (such as Spitfire Chamber Strings) and very dry libraries (VSL and Sample Modeling) in a way that makes them sound like they are in the same space, and where you get a clear sense of depth. Even aside from positioning, for a person doing orchestral mockups, there is no single more important plugin to buy than a good reverb plugin. The built in reverbs in DAW software are not good enough.
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Balance. Obviously, it is going to sound a little strange if your orchestra is not balancing the way a real orchestra would. When working in Cubase, I usually create group tracks so that I have all of my strings going through one channel and have a master strings fader, a master winds fader etc, which helps to adjust overall levels between libraries. I’m not sure that Dorico has group tracks yet, but if you use something like Vienna Ensemble Pro as a VST host, you could use the master faders in there. When balancing instruments, you also have to consider the behavior of the instruments in different registers, because most samples are normalized, so you can have things like the low flute register being much louder than it would be in reality. Also, keep in mind that reverb (item #3) will affect balance. With my dry sample libraries, there often seems to be a huge difference between the quiet sounds and the loud sounds, but positioning the sound and using reverb has a tendency to compress the dynamic range, at least the perceived dynamic range. So, when it is dry, the default ppp note for a trumpet may sound too quiet and the default fff note sound too loud, but when you add the reverb to position it properly on the stage, the dynamic range is more constrained and realistic. Reverb also can change the perceived relative balance between the choirs of the orchestra and between individual instruments a bit, in my experience. As a result, I only fine tune the balance once the reverb is right and not before, otherwise I typically have to redo some of the shaping/balance adjustments.
You can also do EQ for things if you have good mixing chops, and tempo shaping helps (lots of small tempo variations to help the music breathe, riding the tempo track like riding CC’s), but I think the four things I listed above are the main items.