I’ve had this same problem happen over the past week with a couple of instruments. I’m working along creating a piano/vocal part from a full orchestration and everything is playing back just fine. Note that I may solo and mute different instruments as I go along to hear what I need to hear. So, playback is set up correctly on my ARIA multis (output channels set as they should be) then, out of nowhere, no more sound on one instrument. Looking at the keyboard on the ARIA multi, I can see that the MIDI commands are reaching it, but there is no way for me to know if ARIA is failing to produce the audio or if it is failing to reach Dorico, or if is does reach Dorico and Dorico simply isn’t playing it. It would be helpful to have input and output monitors built into the mixers in Dorico to help troubleshoot this sort of thing.
When it happened a few days ago I closed Dorico, restarted the computer and, after an attempt or two, the sound came back. That’s what I plan to do next.
If I understand correctly, you have two instruments in an Aria multi, routed to separate outputs correctly so there are 2 channel strips in Dorico. You play and all is fine, you then fiddle with muting and suddenly one instrument stops playing but reacts to MIDI in the Aria player. Are you using the Dorico mixer to mute/unmute or the Aria player? When the instrument stops playing, does the Dorico fader show any activity?
When this happens again, create a diagnostics file. It would show the mixer state so that Ulf can better diagnose.
The project, as a whole, has four ARIA multis. All 16 slots have instruments defined in all of them and all of them assign the output channels in succession: slot 1 to out ch 1/2, slot 2 to out ch 3/4, etc. Not all of these slots have Dorico instruments routed to them, but the ARIA instance in question does have instruments routed from Dorico to each of the slots.
I am using the Dorico mixer to mute and unmute. I never see the Dorico mixer sliders (faders) move unless I change the level manually.
I will create a diagnostic file the next time it happens. I actually haven’t checked the song in question since I shut down because after that I started preparing to update my OS from Sequoia to Tahoe and have been making an extra backup of my internal drive (in addition to my usual Time Machine backup) before taking the plunge.
What may be going on here is using a playing technique that silences notes. I have created two playing techniques “Spoken freely” and “Spoken in rhythm”. Both are set up to span notes with the continuation line for the technique showing where it ends. I haven’t had trouble with these until the last couple of songs I’ve done. What seems to be happening is that if the start and end of the selection are not both notes (the end point is a rest) it doesn’t seem to set an endpoint for the technique so it remains in effect after the end of the note. The start and endpoints of the continuation line do not appear. If I select to the next note, the endpoints do appear and I can adjust them, but it’s not easy. It’s hit or miss when I select the endpoint then try to drag it. Once I manage to set the endpoint where I want it, the technique does end at that point and I get my volume back.
The playback technique is one I created called “spoken”. In my expression map, “GIF Vocals”, for that technique, the on event changes CC 1 to 0. The off event changes CC 1 to 64.
I use these all over the place, and up to now, have often used rests as the endpoints (as well as start points), so I’m not sure why it has suddenly become a problem.
Basically, to get spoken lyrics into a part I enter notes for them, change the note heads to x, and then apply one of these techniques, according to if I want the singer to speak to the rhythm of the notes or speak it freely. I don’t want to hear playback of the spoken lyrics notes because they have no melodic sense. It’s distracting.
Does that actually solve the problem? Check the playing technique lane to see if, indeed, the off event isn’t triggered (you will have a combination technique listed of both custom ones, e.g., Spoken freely+Spoken in rhythm.
In this particular flow there is one preceding instance of “Spoken freely” and one instance of “Spoken in rhythm.” Both span multiple notes and playback is restored at the end of the continuation line.
The instance causing the problem is a single note. I went back and forth several times trying to fix it. Whenever the continuation line didn’t appear, showing no endpoint or start point, the volume didn’t come back.
Here is what it looks like if I select from the first note to the first rest in measure 56 then apply the technique. It shows to start or endpoints and apparently doesn’t have an endpoint because the volume is not restored afterwards. Note that it looks the same and playback behaves the same if my selection runs from the first note in measure 55 to any of the rests in measures 55 or 56.
Volume is restored here by the time “If” is played.
This is the 12th flow in the project and I have already done a lot of work creating a piano/vocal score for the previous flows and it’s hard to believe that none of the spoken bits were a single note/word. But maybe this is the first single note/word where I have used this technique. But I believe that I have often selected rests as the endpoint of my selection and it worked to give me a continuation line. I know I haven’t had the trouble I have had with the last two flows before. Also note that I spent a lot of time after I finished the import from Finale and before I started creating the piano part for the piano vocal score getting everything to work correctly, including the spoken lyrics. Maybe I just got lucky not noticing the problem until now.
This sounds like “Spoken in rhythm” is set up as a direction playback technique. Set on a single note, it continues until cancelled (ord, nat, which you can hide). When you use the extender line, a direction technique will stop at the end of the line. Try ‘nat’ on the “If”.
EDIT: If you want to keep them as directions, you can add a mutual exclusion so they cancel each other out.
Thanks, but I can live with this now that I know what is going on.
I would have preferred the spoken freely sections to show the lyrics but no notes, but with rests showing. I think I’ve been able to do this, but it’s a lot of work so I opted to use this method instead. But I still would have to deal with notes showing for the “Spoken in rhythm” notation.
I prefer not to have to use a technique to turn the volume off, then another to turn it on. Between the “x” head notes and the technique with continuation line, it should be clear when to speak and when to sing.
