Is mixing Noteperformer and Garitan playback sounds possible?

[Christo_van_Rensburg]

I switched from Finale last year.
I am resetting a score I did in Finale in Dorico from scratch. In Finale I easily managed to assign Garritan for Finale’s Upright Bass KS sound which automatically plays back pizzicato (Noteperformer doesn’t have an equivalent to get that jazzy bass sound) to a double bass stave while I used Noteperformer’s sounds as default throughout for all the rest.
In Dorico, the instruments are assigned to two channels (being more than 16) with Noteperformer set as the default playback template and when I manage to change the Double Bass stave to the Garritan sound it changes all the instruments in that channel, even assigning different instruments to the staves like violin becoming flute. Furthermore, the only Upright Bass KS sound I find looses its pizzicato and sounds like a bowed bass.
Is this possible to achieve and how should I set things up? I’ve tried for two days to research playback templates and Garritan does appear as an option to choose from the Noteperformer Play interface the way things are set up now.
SO I guess my first question is how to just change just a single instrument and secondly how to get the playback to sound the same as in Finale?

[TonH]

I think this post might help you.

How to use Garritan instruments for just one instrument?

Createa new empty Dorico project. Apply the Silent Playback Template. Add an Alto Flute instrument to a Single Player. In the VST and MIDI tab of Play mode, press the + button to add a VST plug-in. Select Garritan > ARIA. Click on the little ‘e’ button to open the VST window. Load the Alto Flute, and set up Reverb as you want. In the Track Inspector, apply the ARIA player to your Player/instrument. You’ll also need to assign an Expression Map. Use either the GPO Default or GPO Woodwind map f…

[Christo_van_Rensburg]

Ah. Thanks so much. I will definitely give this a try.

[benwiggy]

I presume you’re using the GIFF (Finale bundled Garritan) library? You’ll need an expression map for the Key switches of the Upright Bass. You could make one yourself, following the copious instructions in the documentation for GPO5 that I’ve produced; or you could wait a bit, as I might be doing something along these lines shortly…

[Vadian]

Have you ever tried the upright basses of Halion Sonic? For example the mic’d upright bass sounds quite well.

[Christo_van_Rensburg]

Will it be any easier to assign to one instrument when all the rest of the sounds I’m using are Noteperformer? Would a similar process than what TonH suggest above be needed?
Sorry, I’m new to Dorico after 30 years with Finale. I’ve switched to Noteperformer a couple years back and it has been plug and play for me. No need until now to get into expression maps, etc. Though, I’m keen to learn, the process of trial and error can also be somewhat frustrating.
I have all the sounds that comes bundled with Finale and Dorico but my main focus has always been writing music and playback was secondary as long as it was decent with a bit of fiddling.
I will check out the Halion sound you suggest.

[Christo_van_Rensburg]

I am using the bundled Garritan, yes. As I’ve mentioned to Vadian, I’m keen to learn more in terms of playback where up until now, my main focus was notation. But it’s a week-end hobby for me, so I would appreciate any help that can save me time whilst still being prepare to do things for myself as this IS the best way to learn.