Issues with MIDI import & drum maps (& bonus request)

Hello !

I know the team is aware that regarding drums/percussions there are a lot of improvements to be made as it’s been quite discussed, but here are a couple of things though that are problematic and maybe could help make improvements…
First, one that I think could be easily fixed and not about drums, is a MIDI import problem.
I tend to often use in my projects sounds of Music Box, and whenever it’s the case my tracks are named after that instrument.
The thing is, every single time I export a project in MIDI from Cubase that contains a Music Box track, and import it in Dorico, Dorico treats the Music Box as a percussion instrument even if not on channel 10 in Cubase.
If anything, the Music Box sound could be closer to maybe a Celesta, it could be nice to fix that import issue, because every time I forget and end up with that empty percussion staff, then I’ve got to rename in Cubase my track as Celesta (or something else if I already got a Celesta in my project) and re-export it.

The second thing now, regarding drums and how they are handled upon import…
Something that I’d like to see in Dorico is custom Drum maps that we could load when importing (maybe in the import dialog box being able to select some tracks of the MIDI file and assign them the custom map ?).
Here’s attached a screenshot I did for scientific purposes :stuck_out_tongue:

I created in Cubase a 10-bar container, writing the chromatic scale from C-2 of the piano roll to C8 I think, with 12 notes per bar in 16th notes (the first 3 beats of each bar therefore have a full octave, then the last beat is supposed to be empty and I start again at C(X+1) at the beginning of the next bar), the instrument track is on channel 10 then I export it to MIDI and import it inside Dorico.

The attached screenshot is how Dorico sees that MIDI file.
Basically, we can see Dorico just sees notes from the C0, C1, C2 and C4 octaves, and all the remaining 72 notes are just useless (not even counting some missing in the portions it sees).
Especially given how wide what Dorico can offer as percussions types, it’s strange that it doesn’t make the most of that C-2 => C8 range and lots of notes are assigned to the same element.
So it could be really nice to be able to create some templates for maps that would automatically assign the notes to their elements that we would define, making things easier for all of us that use 3rd party softwares (such as Superior Drummer for instance) because right now it’s really impossible to work efficiently when importing programmed MIDI drums inside Dorico and having more than half of the elements missing and the rest at strange places (from the screenshot you can notice that Dorico doesn’t even maps notes to GM standard for all, just some of them! very strange behavior).

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and good luck to the team !

Cheers,

Julien

PS: oh and one last request maybe, not related to percussions this time, but when creating work sheets it would be more than convenient/useful/nice/amazing to be able not to show time & key signatures at the end of a system when introduced at the beginning of the next one… Marc & Leo gave me workarounds in the FB group but it’s not practical at all to either use the hidden codas, nor to make a different flow for each exercises. For instance in one I’m creating at the moment I have a series of around a hundred exercises/phrases, and my intention is to make them in all 12 keys so rather than using 12*100+ flows I’d just like to use 12 flows, with 11 of them that are just transposed from the custom made 1st one… and it’s not a one time project, I create quite often for my students and for myself work sheets in all 12 keys)
thanks again :slight_smile:

Thanks for your feedback, Julien.

In future versions of Dorico, there will certainly be some improvements concerning the import of drum set and percussion tracks in MIDI files. Firstly, you will be able to tell Dorico which percussion map should be used for a particular track; and secondly, if the percussion kit that Dorico chooses doesn’t include instruments that correspond to pitches present in the track and defined in the percussion map, Dorico will automatically assign those instruments to the kit (though you’ll very likely need to go into the kit afterwards and move the instrument to whichever staff position or wherever in the grid order you expect it to appear). I believe this should solve the main problems you’re encountering with importing percussion via MIDI.

Regarding hiding cautionary key and time signatures, this has been exceedingly well-rehearsed here on the forum, in what must be surely one of its longest threads. Rest assured that we are well aware of the wishes of some of our users in this area.

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