How do I switch Samples in the middle of a piece

P.S.

Another common way to deal with instrument changes in Dorico is to simply add a new stave (instrument to a given player in the Setup Tab). In Galley mode you’ll see every stave, but in write mode empty staves are hidden unless you force them to show. If multiple staves are used for different articulations and there are no ‘empty’ staves to get the effect, I believe it’s possible to use condensing modes in Dorico to merge them together for eventual formatting/engraving/printing (something I have not personally tried but it’s worth exploring). Condensing modes can require a lot of computing resources, so save that for last, and unless you have a beefy computer, you might break long scores into shorter projects if you do a lot of score condensing on a weaker computer.

In the Setup Tab, you can manage staves through players, or sections. Players can hold many instruments. I forget the advantages and disadvantages of using sections vs players, so that’s something to read up on.

I’ve probably misstated some of the details, but @Brian_Roland has you covered!

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More about the instruments included with Dorico….

The Sonic Selection library DOES come with some trumpets that have key-switched options for changing between different articulations (not sure about mutes, but there are definitely muted trumpets and brass sections you can channel bounce). Explore the Sonic content, as there is quite a bit there that Dorico doesn’t tap into automatically!

I.E. Solo Trumpet VX

Notice the yellow colored keys in the animated keyboard display down bottom. Those mean those notes are key-switches. Hovering the mouse over a key will tell what the articulation is, and the Note name and number that can be used in a Dorico Expression Map to trigger it.

(Sidenote: The HSBB Trumpets are my own programs based off of the Trumpet VX. I did my custom user tweaks on them and saved new versions with those new names. I have so many here because it’s used in a 4 trumpet big band score that uses the key switches AND does some channel bouncing to achieve some other effects through the Sonic ‘flex phraser’ which is a kind of arp engine.)

Example of an Expression Map that uses some of the keyswitches on this Trumpet Program:

Here’s a quick example of a rendering I was able to achieve using nothing but the Sonic Instruments and Libraries included with all versions of Dorico (Including the Free SE version). Some of the falls might have been built as ‘flex phrases’ in Sonic, while others are simply key switches. Apologies that it’s not that well mixed, has too much reverb on the brass (my fault), and the Bari Sax is way too loud in the sax section soli…I’m too lazy to fix it and do another rendering :wink:

Thanks again this information is great. I really appreciate it. I have gone from a deep expert in Finale to floundering around in Dorico trying to make it do what I need for over a year. I have not spent much time on the playback systems, (digital performance is never my end game) just been trying to get it to notate my music the way I like. But my demo’s for my 4th symphony performance in Oct made me realize I needed to figure out how get the playback working better and one of my favorite tricks is channel switching. So really appreciate all this it helping get back to where I was with Finale.

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Then I think many people would say to get NotePerformer and call it a day!

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