Is Dorico sending CC11 setup data to VIs?

Dorico
1

Hi,

Since I can’t understand the origin of some changes in my VIs settings (CC11 adjusted in a logic way, but not by me), I wonder if Dorico is automatically sending CC11 data when creating a new player/instrument.

Paolo

2

It sends controller 121 (reset all controllers) and 123 (all notes off) when playback starts and stops. IIRC it also sends CC7 (general volume) with a value of 100 and CC10 (Pan) with a value of 64 when playback starts.

3

Ah, thank you. I don’t see any change to CC7, since 100 is how I usually set it on all channels. Pan is usually left untouched, but I have to check when using the same VI for two different parts, where I usually pan the two instruments a little.

I suspect CC11 is also sent, even if I can’t see a pattern.

Paolo

4

If CC11 is referenced in your Expression Map, CC11 will also be affected by the 121 (reset all controllers) command. I’m not sure as to How, why and at what value this happens…

5

I’m not using CC11 in my expression maps, so it shouldn’t be there. There are some values that are sent regularly (64, 87, 126), but I can’t understand if this is happening in particular instruments. I’ve seen it in all the strings and the oboe.

It seems that inserting a CC11 event at the beginning of each track makes this not happen.

Paolo

6

Conveniently my setup is Dorico-> IAC Driver → Logic backend, which allows me to put a MIDI sniffer on the Dorico output to see what it’s doing. There’s a lot of setup CC it does before the first note, and yes 1 and 11 are prominently featured. It sends them all across the board, which is what you want for initialization reasons. Without sending some rational value you’d have chaos. If you don’t want it then sent a 0 at the beginning, as you found. CC1 & 11 are the primary way to control most or all sample libraries so that makes sense.

I find Dorico’s playback system makes it easy to get good sounding playback right off the bat. Working in a DAW is much more work in my experience. I think it’s better for Dorico to do all this housekeeping, and if you don’t want it then override with a custom value.

7

I was thinking to add the default setting in the Init item of the expression maps. But then, any change you do in the score to (say) CC11 will make the value “jump”, if you start from a different default value. A CC event at the beginning of the track is still the safest way.

Paolo

8

It would be great to have a list of all the messages sent by Dorico when starting up. I’m looking after some other mysterious message in one of my pieces, and can’t find what is it. Maybe I will try the IAC bus trick described above, but if a list is already available it would be a great help.

Paolo

9

Ok, recorded Dorico’s output into Logic. What I see is a long list including:

  • CC64 reset to 0 on all channels
  • Pitch Bend reset to 64 on all channels
  • CC64 reset to 0 (this time on channel 1, and several times)
  • CC121 and 123

Paolo