I have an exported .doricolib file which (I hope) includes instrument definitions for Japanese instruments which I prepared on one computer. I can’t see a way of importing them into the library on my main machine. Looking at the library manager, I can’t find instrument definitions anywhere.
How do I import the file to Dorico Pro on my main machine?
There’s no good way to selectively import instrument definitions via the Library Manager at present.
You have three options, I think. The first is that you have presumably saved these instruments as defaults on your first computer. If so, you can copy the userlibrary.xml file from the user-level app data folder on that computer to the corresponding location on your second computer.
The second would be to bring the Dorico project in which you initially created the instrument definitions to your new computer, open that project, go to Library > Instruments, and click the star icon to save each of your custom instruments as defaults on that computer.
The third would be to install your exported library file as a “default library addition” that will be loaded every time you start Dorico, though this might not be ideal, because all items included in the .doricolib file will be loaded, not only the instrument definitions, and you might not want all of those settings taking effect.
Thanks very much Daniel
Initially I thought that option one would be simplest, but presumably copying userlibrary.xml to the other machine would overwrite the existing file, unless the filename could be changed.
It looks like option two is the most viable in my case. I’ll update the thread on my progress.
Opting for option two, I tried to open the source project without activating it, but although I could access the instrument definitions, making sure that all were saved as default, when I closed that project, the instruments were no longer available.
I repeated the exercise, making sure to activate the source project. This time the instrument definitions were available as expected.
They were also available in a new empty project as expected.
All working as expected. All I have to do now is to create expression maps, percussion maps, and endpoint definitions to insert into my playback template… sigh.
Thank you Daniel.
Surely you can export these from an existing project that uses these?
Surely you can export these from an existing project that uses these?
I have no maps etc. for the new, so-called “exotic” instruments that I have added in any existing project. They’re not hard to create, just time consuming. The specific example of Japanese instruments (percussion, strings, and wind) were just that. I can adapt what I’ve learned from Daniel as I build further. instrument definitions as required.
My reason for initiating the topic was that I was working on the definitions on a laptop computer late at night in the comfort of my bed, without thinking that there would be anything complicated about transferring the information to my desktop machine. Silly me.
And my point is that once you have created an expression map and endpoint in one score (on your laptop) you can open that score on your Desktop and the maps and endpoints are preserved.