How to start with olympus choir elements in Dorico?

[hpta]

Hello expert users, I’m asking for help

today I purchased Olympus Choir Elements (Soundiron Olympus Choir Elements - Kontakt NKS (VST, AU, AAX)) in order to experience nice sounding choir samples in Dorico. Someone on the forum has recomended using this, so I decided to try this out.

I cannot see Kontakt player in VST instrument panel, which I suppose it’s the way how it works.

Steps I’ve taken:

I downloaded Olympus Choir Elements with their installer to C:\Users\jan\Downloads\Soundiron Olympus Elements Player Edition
With Native Access I installed Kontakt 6 player and also registered the O.C. product.
When I open Kontakt 6 player, O.C. has been found, although I have no idea how to use it - how to produce any sound, for example.

Now I suppose I should somehow connect the Kontakt VST plugin to Dorico …

in the Directory: C:\Program Files\Native Instruments I have this:

---

d----- 3/4/2019 10:58 AM Kontakt
d----- 3/4/2019 10:45 AM Native Access
d----- 3/4/2019 10:58 AM VSTPlugins 32 bit - in this folder there’s Kontakt.dll
d----- 3/4/2019 10:58 AM VSTPlugins 64 bit - also Kontakt.dll

So I copied Kontakt.dll (tried both) to C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Dorico2\VSTAudioEngine
I have doubts about the previous step…. don’t really know where I should copy it to.

Then I followed instructions on (I assumed that Kontakt.dll is VST2 plugin) https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/206899770-How-to-use-VST2-plug-ins-in-Dorico

I created the whitelist file and typed Kontakt into it as you can see from the powershell console:

PS C:\Users\jan\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\VSTAudioEngine2_64> cat vst2whitelist.txt
Kontakt

And also deleted these files before restarting Dorico
Vst2xPlugin Blacklist VSTAudioEngine2.xml
Vst2xPlugin Infos VSTAudioEngine2.xml
Vst2xPlugin SearchPaths VSTAudioEngine2.xml


I have basically zero experience with VST plugins, so probably I miss something trivial… Please does anybody know what I’m doing wrong?

[Rob_Tuley]

You copied the plugin .dll file to the wrong place. You want the 64 bit plugin. The 32 bit one won’t work with Dorico.

If you go to Edit / Preferences in Dorico and click “Play” in the left hand list, there are two buttons labeled “VST2 Plug-in Paths” and “Edit VST2 Whitelist”.

The VST Plugin paths will probably contain something like

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Steinberg\VST2
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Vstplugins
C:\Program Files\Vstplugins

Copy the .dll file into one of those directories. Those directories might not all exist on your PC - just use one that does exist, or create one if none of them exist.

You can also check that Dorico has found your update to the Whitelist, and edit it from within Dorico if your previous attempt didn’t work for some reason.

[PaulWalmsley]

I would recommend installing Kontakt Player again, but this time when it prompts for where to install the 64-bit VST2 plugin, set that to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2 (see this page for some general advice about VST2 plugin paths: https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000177084-VST-plug-in-locations-on-Windows ). It’s preferable to set this on installation rather than copying manually because it means that Kontakt updates should update the dll. This is worth using a default installation path for other vst2 plugins too. You shouldn’t install anything into the Dorico Program Files directory.

I think Dorico searches this path automatically, but you can customise the VST2 search path in Preferences > Play > VST2 Plugin-paths

In order to load Kontakt 6 you need the ‘Kontakt’ entry in the vst2whitelist.txt, which you’ve done (previously we already had Kontakt whitelisted, but the name of the plugin changed in version 6). You can also do this in Preferences > Play. You then need to restart Dorico. It should hopefully then recognise Kontakt.

[hpta]

Thank you very much for your replies. Dorico is listing Kontakt in VST instruments now and already playing back choir sounds.

There’s a syllable editor and lots of “instruments”.
For those who tried the O.C … Does anyone use the syllable editor with dorico? Or do you use just some neutral aah vocals for playing back?

And is it possible to set it in such a way that it sings vocals according to the lyrics in your Dorico project automatically? If not, do you think it will be possible in the future?

[dspreadbury]

I have Olympus Elements but so far I have just used it to produce regular aah/ooh sounds with better tuning and timing than the HSSE default sounds. There’s no specific support for using the syllable editor with Dorico. Dorico cannot “sing” lyrics automatically, and that is not something that is likely to be possible in the near future.

[hpta]

That’s what I thought So once you basically finish all notation things, you can try to implement this, it would be a super mega cool feature

I’ve found out that “sustain instruments” (universal ooh/aah adjustable mix) from Olympus Choir elements sound pretty good. (I reduced swell, otherwise they are rather aggressive for me, like with a bit of aggressive falsetto all the time)

I think O.C. doesn’t follow crescendo and decrescendo marks. I’ll look into this. If anyone has created an expression map for this or something, please let me know.

[Rob_Tuley]

The documentation implies that it uses midi controllers 72 and 73 for dynamics (72 for the men, 73 for the women?)

Try making a copy of the “CC11 dynamics” expression map and changing the controller number from 11 to 72 or 73.

[hpta]

Thanks a lot, I did what you suggested - making copy of CC11 dynamics control, changed name and “control change” number

then I assigned this new expression map in the cog settings in the VST Instruments panel … and hooray, dynamics it’s working!

Now I wonder whether you can wire dynamics from one Dorico instrument with both CC 72 (here the left SWELL knob) and CC 73 (the right SWELL knob) at once. Is it possible?

In the Olympus Elements instrument window now only the left SWELL knob reacts to dynamics.

Add control change in expression map settings looks like a way to go. But I could only set CC73 to a fixed value - can you add a variable to it or something?