Dear forum,
I am a complete beginner in Dorico, and loving it so far!
I am writing a piece with one of the voices being harp and I would love to be able to not only indicate but also listen to/ playback plucked notes in that part.
Is that possible?
When I select a violin part and press on the .pizz icon on the right menu, the playback is indeed plucked. If I do the same with the harp part, it’s not.
Thanks
Welcome to the forum @steinfeld!
I don’t think that the default Harp instrument contains any “special” plucked samples as well as the regular/standard ones, though it would be easy to check the VST for any keyswitches etc:
I’m confused here: what other kind of harp sample would there be if not plucked?
Maybe like pinching with two fingers, as an annoying 6 year old would do.
Is there a name for that special technique? (And is that what the OP had in mind?)
I honestly don’t know about extended harp techniques, I was more answering how to check these types of things.
Perhaps the OP’s question was inadvertently ambiguous. I just had difficulty understanding it.
Hello Steinfeld, welcome to the forum.
yes the harp instrument plays plucked notes by default. Which means, there is no need to add a pizz. playing technique.
I wonder if the OP used a grand staff instrument (i.e. piano) rather than a harp.
Dear all,
Thanks so much for all your replies 
I’m new to Dorico, but also to composing
Want I am looking for, is making the harp part playback (listen) and notated in a way that indicates damped strings/very short duration, like pizz. on a violin makes the notes sound for a short time.
Do you have any suggestions on how?
Also, what are the “best and most natural sounding symphony vst/sampled orchestra instruments in the world”?
I know it’s subjective like many other things here in our world, but if you have some suggestions/recommendations I’d love it
Harps naturally sustain indefinitely (opposite of piano) unless the player manually dampens the strings. There’s a few ways to instruct different types of muting. In general if you want the harpist to dampen after a phrase, you can write “secco.” However in your case of having a muted sound after every note, to make it extra dry and more similar to a string pizz, you can add staccato or staccatissimo over each note. You can also write sons étouffés (french for ‘damped sounds’). You can add this with the staccatissimos to ensure they make it extra crisp and dry.
There are other extended techniques I really enjoy which can sound even further like string pizzicato, and more percussive. Have a look at Xylo, which is a rather dry pizz-like sound. Also PDLT which is plucked very close to the soundboard, resulting in a brittle, pizz or plucked guitar type sound. By default this is not played muted so they will let it ring unless indicated - so you could always write PDLT and with staccato dots or sons etouffeés, instructing them use the PDLT technique but ensure it’s muted.
It’s worth noting that the higher the pitch, the more percussive and dry it naturally sounds, so you can exploit this to great effect since they tend to not ring out as much as lower and middle notes. You can combine this even further - PDLT or sons xylo in the upper registers sounds very percussive.
FYI most of these techniques are difficult to play fast passages or with two hands or anything requiring large leaps, so keep that in mind, as a harpist wouldn’t be able to play fast leaping arpeggios while also muting or playing close to the soundboard.
Finally there are methods of preparing the harp in advance for a full section or piece to be muted. See felt and cloth mutes. This does allow the harpist to take advantage of the complete range as well as play normal fast arpeggiations or even glissandos with a more muted sound. But it takes a moment to properly prepare. Hope that helps.
P.S. playing back is another story. Unfortunately extended techniques are often limited with most libraries. If you let us know what library you’re using (or if you’re using the default Halion, or perhaps NotePerformer), we can make some suggestions how to achieve that sound in a mockup.
There are two directions you may want. Pres de la table and Sons Etouffes (apologies for lack of accents). I don’t think either of these are predefined, so you would need to create them as custom playing techniques. Whether they can be played back will depend on the capabilities of your Harp sound library.
The Synchron harp by Vienna Symphonic Library has muted sounds…
Best, robert
Dear Robert, Janus and wing
Thanks so much for all your knowledgeable replies!
This has all let me to a new journey searching for new libraries
I’m currently trying to figure out how to make expression maps (but I already created a new topic about that)
Copied part from the other topic I created:
I compose using my ears. In order to compose, I therefore need the instruments to sound as natural and realistic as possible. I compose using very few instruments, so since i need the sounds to inspire me and sound realistic makes finding the right instruments even more demanding.
When i use Dorico, i would love if i could just have set all the instruments which i prefer - perhaps using sound sets from different companies - and when using common playing techniques the application will take care of making the playback reflect this without me having to sit and work for hours adjusting or manually changing the midi channel or other disturbing technical things ruining my work flow. And I’d also like if it was possible that the score reflects what I hear, if some day real musicians will play it
Garritan Harps (note, I use a DAW for this level of detailing, and for Garritan generally).
SALVI PEDAL HARP 1
Keyswitch, sustain, picked, harmonics, pres de la table, damped
SAVLI PEDAL HARP 2
Keyswitch, sustain, picked, harmonics, pres de la table, damped
VENUS CONCERT GRAND 1
Keyswitch, sustain, picked, harmonics, pres de la table, damped
VENUS CONCERT GRAND 2
Keyswitch, sustain, picked, harmonics, pres de la table, damped
LYON & HEALY HARP
Keyswitch, sustain, picked, harmonics
SALVI GLISS HARP 1
Sustain, picked, pres de la table
SALVI GLISS HARP 2
Sustain, pres de la table
Perhaps better time would be spent learning how harps actually sound, and how to write for them, than complaining Dorico can’t read your mind.
I feel like that’s a little harsh. I didn’t sense any ill feelings from @steinfeld’s post.
thanks so much for sharing that, I’d look into that 
well, you’re right that I should spend some time getting to know how harps actually sound and how to write for them
Since my first post I actually changed my focus, just trying to get to know Dorico a little better, and thanks to a tip I got in another thread about using noteperformer I can now use several playing techniques and hear them played back as well
Thanks, Daniel