I need a Horn sample with a modern range. Does anyone know how to change or replace the default horn samples in Halion Sonic 7 or the other libraries for Dorico Elements 6?
If you change to General Midi [GM French Horn] the range won’t be restricted any more. The quality will be, though.
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Thanks for the reply. I had to transpose the Horn in F part down a 5th to have it play in the concert pitch. The Etude Horn sound was acceptable but I didn’t want to spend searching for a better one.
Can you please explain?
If in Dorico you give your player a Horn in F (or French Horn in F), you just input the music - either in transposed pitch or in concert pitch.
There is no need to actually „transpose“ an instrument, as Dorico provides the parts automatically.
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KB, This is confusing for me. I created a new empty project, set in C major, added a single player, selected French Horn (Although I’d prefer just “Horn”), selected F treble clef transposed pitch, Add. The part opens with “French Horn in F”. At the bottom left Transposed Pitch is selected. The “Full Score” tab is selected. I write a second line G in in the horn in F part, and when I play it, a Bb sounds. When I select “Concert Pitch” a C (middle C on the piano) is shown but a Bb sounds.
So the notation is correct — a G for the horn is concert C — but the playback is consistently wrong.
I think others have reported this issue when the sample rate that Dorico uses for playback is different from the sample rate of your audio device.
Take a look at this thread and see if it helps you get the right pitch.
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I did have a look at the thread. My sample rates are matching (44,100). I solved my problem by opening a new project with a horn in F NO KEY SIG! A written G4 in the horn part sounds a C4 as it should. And the Full Score shows a C4 that sounds a C4. Thanks for you help. As usual, you are very helpful.
Well, in Dorico land the regular F horn and the no-key-sig F horn are the same instrument, except that one is configured to display with no key signature. So I’m not sure why one would play back for you at the correct pitch and one wouldn’t.
Two things to try, just for kicks. First take you project that plays back correctly. In Setup mode, expand the player card, click the three dot menu next to the instrument name, and choose Change Instrument. Change it to the horn with key signature and see if it still plays back correctly. (You can always close the project afterward without saving changes.)
Second, take your project that plays back at the wrong pitch and try re-applying the playback template (Play > Playback Template > Apply and Close). If that doesn’t change anything, you could apply the Silence template, save as a copy, and upload the file here so someone can take a look at it.
I created a new project with 1 horn in F no sig, and with 1 French Horn in F Transposed. Both instruments played the correct pitches in both Concert Key and Transposed Key. When I tried re-applying the playback template to the 1st project a created with Horn in C no sig, nothing changed. Actually, that project was written in the Concert Pitch mode and with the notes written as a horn player, like myself, would expect to see them. From now on, I will be sure to Setup the instruments in the correct way to avoid the Playback issues.
By the way, I would love to have the Dorico Sonic sounds allow the horn to play a high F (concert pitch or high C for the horn player). Dorico thinks that is out of the playable range but not for the current crop.
Okay, I’m glad you got the notation and playback issues sorted out. You’re right that setting up the instruments correctly and then paying attention to whether you’re entering in concert pitch or transposed pitch is the way to go.
The restriction here is not Dorico, but the sample library. Any sample library has to decide which pitches to record (and with which effects), and you’re right that the included sample libraries don’t have samples for some pitches that are perfectly playable. Many people (myself included) recommend purchasing NotePerformer to use instead of the default sounds for no-fuss playback. Because it uses a combination of samples and synthesis, it has no problems with range and will even reproduce notes that are physically impossible to play! There’s a demo version available at their website so you can give it a try.
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