When 1.2 was released, I took very little notice of the fact that the Universal Indian Drum Notation system developed by Keda Music was supported as part of the newly created unpitched percussion arsenal. Not because I have no interest, quite the contrary, but because why would some Canadian guy living in Red Deer ever use this professionally.
Well, it happened.
I was asked to do an arrangement of a Bollywood tune from the 1950’s for what is basically “L’histoire” ensemble plus an extra violin, a vocalist and a tabla player (these guys really think outside the box!). The tabla player won’t use the part, so I didn’t need to be exact since it’s only for reference, but I was enchanted with the fact that the Tabla kit in Dorico was extremely easy to use, that Halion has Tabla sounds (no orchestral harp, but that’s been mentioned a few million times already), and that the kit does come with a few bols in its own percussion map! (of course, writing a percussion map for EW’s tabla guru or Ethno World 6’s tabla sounds would not be difficult)
I tend to use Note Performer for informal mock-ups now, but I added Halion for the tabla track. Although my use of tabla techniques is basically all wrong, it was SO easy to create the chart and have it rendered decently. Well done Dorico!
