I apologise if this has been extensively discussed elsewhere (if so, couldn’t find it!), but the sound libraries as implemented in Dorico appear to be quite out of balance.
I’ve made a short file with each of the main orchestral instruments playing one note of one second length, in approximately the middle of their respective range, at mezzo-forte. The mixer is set to default (about 60%?). See attached.
Both for the HSSE-Essentials (bottom) and HSSE+HSO-Pro (top) sound libraries, the tenor trombone (10-11s) is noticeably too loud, which in fact prompted me to do this little experiment. Note that for the pro version, the strings also seem out of balance, with the violins (16-17s) louder than the e.g. violas (17-18s). Also for the pro-version, the piccolo clearly sticks out (0-1s), and the bassoon (7-8s) also appears noticeably louder than its peers.
Of course you can just adjust the mixer to counter this (I intend to now make a “default mixer setting”), but - unless I missed something - Dorico resets the mixer everytime you switch play-back template, which I do rather a lot, so that’s not very convenient. And I don’t think you can save a mixer setting (or can you?). Note that I don’t use expression maps, etc, as I’m not after the perfect rendition. But I do use my ears a lot for QCin my input, and hearing the trombone only makes this difficult.
Comments or suggestions welcome!
(instruments in order: piccolo, flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, french horn, trumpet, tenor trombone, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, harp, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass. Strings as sections, rest solo).