Importing MusicXML from Cubase and mapping the drum staff

I am a Cubase user and use Groove Agent extensively. Using the General MIDI mapping feature within Cubase, the Cubase drum staff looks and sounds fine. Then I export the rhythm section parts with chord changes using MusicXML.

When I import the MusicXML file, the Tom’s seem to play where a High Hat should be heard. Is there a way I can import a Drum Map from Groove Agent to replay the notes in the Play tab of Dorico? Is there a way to represent the Drum staff to a Groove Agent instance added as a player?

Thanks,

Hi! Welcome to the forum!
Have you tried to use the GM percussion map on your vsti? Click the cog next to the round e in the vsti list (right panel in Play mode), and in the most right field, choose that perc map. Percussion map is what tells Dorico which sound (instrument with specific playback technique) is where, in order to trigger it.

Welcome to the forum, @BTrumpetBC. You can certainly use Groove Agent as a plug-in in Dorico, but there’s no way to bring a drum map you have created in Cubase directly into Dorico, I’m afraid. In future versions of Dorico we will have some better tools for importing percussion via MIDI from Cubase: if you create a percussion map in Dorico that corresponds to the mapping you’re using in Cubase, you’ll be able to tell Dorico in advance to use that specific percussion map for a particular track in the incoming MIDI file. Unfortunately it’s not quite so well-developed in today’s software.

Thank you @dspreadbury and @MarcLarcher for the welcome and responding.

Telling Dorico what the drum map is to be in advance will not be a bad thing as I would have mapped the drums already. I tend to use the Groove Agent drum packs from Simon Phillips for jazz and Marco Minnemann for funk and fusion. As you may know, there are a lot of great drums to choose from.

Being a Cubase user, my focus has been on recording and using the software instruments to compliment or used as the audio. So, I got used to exporting data into a competitive product for scoring and engraving. MIDI is too exact and I have to find the time to make notation display changes. With me, simplifying workflow is so important.

In saying that, I love the new Dorico oriented features in the Cubase Score Editor, particularly the Note Editing Overlay. This really does make the difference between MIDI performance versus what musicians see when printing music. This is the reason for me using MusicXML for importing the data.

I look very much to tighter integration with Cubase and understand this will take time.

If you have any more tips, please let me know. Hopefully the forum can also contribute and I can in the future assist.