I’d like to set Pianoteq as the default plugin to use for any instrument. I selected the Silence playback template, added Pianoteq, saved it as an endpoint, and created a new playback template using it as a manual endpoint (it wasn’t available under automatic). Nothing gets assigned though, even after “Load sounds for unassigned instruments.”
I thought that using a playback template I could select a plugin / endpoint to be the default if nothing gets assigned - but that’s not how it’s working. What am I doing wrong?
I have a Pianoteq template, it does work flawlessly. But it does so for the right instruments (piano, harpsichord, harp…), not for all instruments. That could be the problem.
My default playback template is a NotePerformer+Pianoteq one, so every instrument that can be handled by PianoTeq is handled by it, and the rest of the instruments is played by NotePerformer. You can do the same with HSSE+HSO(+PianoTeq) if you do not have NotePerformer…
First, you set up each instrument with Pianoteq. Yes, each instrument that you want to use Pianoteq for!
Then, you save an Endpoint configuration of all those instruments.
Then, you create a Playback Template that uses that Endpoint config.
Then, you set your default Playback Template to your new one.
It’s possible that you can do some clever ‘fall through’ to Pianoteq when creating the template, but I’m not sure.
Normally a playback configuration will map to the instruments listed in the score. But of course there’s nothing to stop you simply creating playback using Pianoteq for every instrument you use. For instance if you wanted to create a string quartet with every instrument heard on the piano, you open four instances of Pianoteq (or use one instance in VE Pro if you have it) and map these to the string instruments in the Play window. You can save any one of these as a Pianoteq endpoint and use that as the basis for a playback template. For orchestra, you again need to map any instruments you might want to use to Pianoteq playback.
Basically, Dorico needs to have in the PB Config a list of all instruments you might want to use mapped to the piano – this is how they work. Unused instruments in the score are simply ignored. Effectively I’m saying pretty much the same as @benwiggy here and this certainly works.
I’m assuming that in your test, you set Pianoteq as your default Playback Template? I find doing that, after “load sounds for unassigned instruments” does indeed work as expected. However, say you wanted to use a flute instead of a violin from my quartet example, Dorico doesn’t know what to assign a flute to as it isn’t listed anywhere. I’ve tested this and the result is as expected.
The ought to be a simpler way and perhaps someone will chip in with something we’ve missed. But the above does work with my tests.
Of course something like just creating a piano reduction of a score could be worth exploring in some situations as this is the only practical reason I can think of for what you’re wanting to achieve. But then, I’m not you and I’m sure you have your own reasons!
Okay gotcha, thanks. I thought it was possible to do the “fall through” to Pianoteq, but it looks like I was wrong.
It’s just to check playback with different sounds. I hear harmonies better with piano sounds. I’m working on hearing harmonies with other sounds, but I find switching to “all pianos mode” to be helpful.