Can someone point me in the right direction on this?:
So I’m using Mark Tree in m. 62 of my piece, but for some odd reason it sounds during the first measure even though it’s not notated. I’m using a percussion kit to define which line on the stave is used instead of the old school single line percussion stave. This has been driving me crazy.
Also, I applied the playback technique ‘Low to High Slow 2’ (EastWest Opus) only on m. 62, but it’s showing the technique for every bar in the piece, in the lower zone (Ctrl-8).
You should be able to cut your project down to a minimal example, e.g. just the player holding the mark tree, and presumably you could likewise cut out most of the bars between bar 1 and bar 62, and still reproduce the problem. Once you’ve got the project cut down to a really minimal example that still reproduces the problem, attach it here and we should be able to get to the bottom of it.
@dspreadbury
Could this be related to a behaviour, as described below, which I have experienced?
If I have a score containing string section players which is exported to MIDI and then the MIDI file is imported into Dorico, all the string players in the imported file contain a sustained low F sharp (an octave below the bass staff) starting from the very first beat. This happens even if the Dorico project has had no notes entered. I understand that it might be related to keyswitches, but I have not investigated the matter.
So, I figured out “what” was causing my problem, but don’t understand why. Please refer to the included stripped down project for my expression map and percussion map for all points/questions below. My understanding is that even if you use keyswitches with keys assigned like C1, you still have to use a percussion map to associate it to a MIDI note number, hence the percussion map? The EastWest documentation shows that D1 will trigger 'High to Low Slow (MT), which initially, I thought was all that was necessary, but still no sound, until I created the percussion map. But then I discovered through research that in the percussion map I had to change the octave of my keyswitches so that if the expression map shows D1, I had to use D2 in the percussion map. Why is there an extra step for percussion sounds?
If I remove ‘Low to High Slow 2’ from my expression map, which is currently assigned to the wrong playing technique, ‘Natural’, (don’t know why I left this like this because it’s obviously wrong), the problem goes away, but I don’t understand why because there are no notes to play anything anyway. By-the-way, the note in m. 7 plays back correctly after removing the keyswitch mentioned above.
Even after removing the item mentioned in #1, the articulation 'High to Low Slow (MT) does not show for playing techniques when you click Ctrl 8 to look for the colored bar that normally displays the articulation. Why is this? Do I not have things set up correctly?
When I originally created the percussion map, I’m pretty sure that when I entered the key switch (ex: C2) it would always blank it out in the ‘Key switches:’ textbox and instead, I would have to enter the Name, Instrument, and Technique in the ‘Edit Drum Kit Note’ area. Not sure what’s going on here but the interface is very confusing for me.
I think it might have to do with how expression maps work… In order to bring an instrument to a neutral position at the beginning of a performance an initial condition gets set (typically natural) so the instrument always reverts back to this state upon initialization of the track… I’m sure that if you check the initial state of that expression map it’ll show that keyswitch listed as the INIT position for that map, but in most cases you require only one map (either an expression map or a percussion map, but not both) but I have yet to lay down any percussion in Dorico at this point so I’m just hypothetically speaking as to how Dorico treats this… But typically either one or the other is required, but not both…
Ok, so are very few people responding because my questions are so basic that I “should be able to figure it out on my own”? Normally, you all are very helpful.
So, in lieu of getting help, can someone please point me to a good video that shows how to setup a percussion kit (not a rock drum set) that uses for example, two wood blocks and a brake drum (on a five line staff)?
No, those matters are not easy to answer, nor widely used by the user base… It requires time to answer these in a helpful way
I’m sorry I haven’t found the time yet to explore your problem.
Ok, so I watched that video more in depth and it’s not very helpful because he fast forwards through some of the most important parts. Are there any other videos that actually show, in detail, with the CURRENT version of Dorico (not 2 or 3 versions ago like in the video), how to create a percussion kit? This video mainly focused on separate staves/percussion lines which I don’t have a problem with. And during the percussion kit part, like I already said, he FLEW through super fast so you couldn’t really see what he was doing.
Initially, I had mentioned I was using an expression map, but since then I’ve also corrected that and gone to solely using a percussion map/kit. Also, I already fixed the problem with the item I said was wrong. The problem with the Mark Tree instrument is solved, but that exposed another problem and now I’m trying to deal with that, being how to create a percussion kit.
The remaining outstanding question I had previously in this same post (which I’m sure someone is still working on), is question number 2 of 3 above, in my entry at 8:58pm (US EST) April 2.
I’m just trying to find a video that does a good job of presenting how to work with percussion kits.
I’m looking for a video like the one Anthony Hughes created for Dorico 1.2 (Percussion | New Features in Dorico 1.2 - YouTube). I love his videos because he always presents things in a very clear, concise, and thorough way; not rushing through the material. I found another one of his videos that includes a discussion of percussion maps, but it’s a little dated (four years ago), so I’m concerned things might not work exactly the way as presented? (Expression & Percussion Maps, and Creating Playing Techniques | Discover Dorico - YouTube). But, I’ll watch it and see.
So, this is way after the fact, but after going through John’s video, “Drums in One Minute,” it’s become crystal clear that the problem regarding my percussion kit efforts is not the fault of Dorico, it’s something to do with my EastWest Opus instruments and the way they work (or don’t work).
