MIDI keyboard setup

Dorico doesn’t pick up any changes in MIDI device after it has started, so you do indeed need to restart Dorico to prompt it to rescan your MIDI devices.

Hi DrTomato,

thanks for the log data. I’ve been having a look through and Dorico’s audio engine indeed does not recognize your MIDIsport. The only MIDI input port that gets recognized is the one from VSL. You say it works with Cubase; what version of Cubase is that?
Dorico’s audio engine is pretty much same to that of Cubase 9.5, so if your MIDIsport works with Cubase, it should run in exactly the same way with Dorico. It’s really weird if it does not do. If you are using some earlier Cubase version, may I ask you to install the latest Cubase Trial (Try Cubase 13 free for 60 days | Steinberg ) and try with that?

Dorico sees the VSL plug-ins, because they are installed in the standard VST3 location which is: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
You can temporarily move them out there, but I guess that won’t make any difference.

HI Ulf,

Sorry - I did reply to your latest, but it’s not in the thread - my internet connection may have been down when I tried to post!

Anyway - to answer your Qs:

I am using Cubase 9.5 (the latest version which I update last week at the same time as Dorico!)

I have tried moving the VSL instruments out so that they no longert appear in the list of VST instruments in Dorico’s Play menu, but you’re right - It doesn’t make any difference.
If the log is saying Dorico on;y sees the VSL midid input I need to find out how to avoid Dorico and VSL ever meeting up. Hopefully if VSL wasn’t available for Dorico to see, it would choose the other MIDI inputs? I have a M-Audio Axiom Air that can be pluigged in as well as the MIDI sport interface. there should be plenty of choice. I don’t understand why Doirco only sees one of them. Cubase sees all and lets me choose between them.

I really need to find a solution to this - I can’t use Dorico otherwise!

Dr T

I see absolutely no reason that if Cubase 9.5 recognizes the MIDIsport, that Dorico’s audio engine would not. The MIDI port handling is exactly same between them.

Do you plug the Axiom into the MIDIsport or parallel to it? So Dorico also does not see the Axiom, but Cubase does?

Would be good to get another diagnostics report when your Axiom is connected.

I have a similar problem with my MIDI keyboard which I’ve learned to live with but would prefer to get fixed, if possible.

I have a Komplete Kontrol S88 which works perfectly in other programs but not Dorico. The two main faults are:

  1. If I turn the KK S-88 off after sending my system to sleep and then turn it back on again later, Dorico won’t see it (Cubase will). I have to save what I have in Dorico, shut Dorico down, restart it and only then Dorico will see the keyboard.

  2. If I move between virtual Desktops, Dorico will stop playing. A flurry of notes will occur every now and then. Again, the problem doesn’t happen with Cubase. I’d previously raised this problem on another thread in this forum.

It’s a while since i’ve used Sibelius but I can’t recall this problem happening there and I’m not aware of it being a problem in standalone applications like Pianoteq, Kontakt or Play etc. It really does seem as if this problem only happens in Dorico.

I’ve checked my Midi setting in the OSX Audio / Midi - the KK S-88 is listed there.

Any help in solving this would be much appreciated. Thanks.

The first of your two problems is the expected behaviour for the time being: Dorico doesn’t yet respond to changes in MIDI devices while it’s running, and only checks when it starts up. This is something that has only recently become possible in Cubase on Windows (it’s been possible on Mac for some time) but you can expect this change to come to Dorico at some point in the future as well.

The second problem will I think be solved by the change introduced in Dorico 2.1 to disable App Nap when Dorico is playing back.

Thanks Daniel - appreciated as always.

It does look as the second problem has gone away with Dorico 2.1.

++++++

On a separate note, it also looks as if the reply notifications to this Forum are working properly again.

Same problem here. I have a Roland connected via USB. Audio MIDI setup detects it and when I hit “test” it detects keypresses. In Dorico:

  1. Start the program
  2. Select a staff and invoke the caret
  3. Press keys in the keyboard
    Nothing happens.

Am I doing good?

Make sure that the keyboard shows up in the MIDI Input Devices dialog on the Play page of Preferences, and that it is enabled. If it doesn’t appear there, try restarting Dorico and then have another look.

Thank you Daniel. Everything was enabled, but MIDI input itself was disabled! :unamused: Now works as a charm!

To be honest, I checked the preferences only in the Note Input section, which was the logical one for me for MIDI input. I didn’t realize it could be under the Play section.

Dorico’s use of a midi keyboard for input does appear to be a bit fragile. I can now add what looks like another source of failure.

The start of this saga is a Windows 10 update on my current laptop, after which I could not get Dorico to start, even when I set it to use the Windows 8 environment. I have a dongle, which suits my situation, so the immediate fall-back was to use my previous laptop, on which I have another copy. Keyboard input worked OK on this version for a day, but the display on this PC is very poor, so I decided that I should connect to it a separate display, normally on my desk-top computer. Yesterday morning, I tried this set-up for the first time, but the time I saved by being able to see much better what was happening was more than offset by the refusal of Dorico to take pitch input from the keyboard (a KeystationMini32, USB connected and powered) although the Windows Settings display showed it. I find mouse note entry error-prone and tedious, so this morning I disconnected the display before booting Windows. As I suspected, midi-keyboard entry worked again then but after I connected the display it failed. The interesting point is that when I disconnected the display, midi-keyboard entry still failed, but after I rebooted the computer it worked again.

I would like to use Dorico on my desktop computer, which has Windows 10 but no Internet connection, so is immune to disruptive updates. I have yet to learn how I can transfer Dorico from one of the laptops, so a pointer to documentation of this process would be very welcome.

I don’t know why you are trying to run “a windows 8 environment” under Windows 10. Win 10 is generally a lot more stable than Win 8 ever was. (Win 8 was a bit of a disaster in between 7 and 10, IMO).

Windows 10 PRO doesn’t have any issues with “disruptive updates” - you can schedule them when you want, or disable all updates for 30 days if you don’t want any “disruption” at all. You might be able to do something similar with Win 10 home if you tell it you have a “metered internet connection” which will at least prompt you before downloading any big updates.

To install Dorico on a PC with no internet connection, download the installers (for one for Dorico and two for the Halion sounds), transfer them to the PC on an external drive or USB stick, and run them.

If you can’t get your MIDI keyboard to work and you don’t like note input with the mouse, try note input with the computer keyboard instead.

Thanks. I have used computer keyboard input on Finale, but for chords MIDI keyboard input is far faster, so I shall still try to solve that problem. Is there a list somewhere of all the known wrong settings or procedures that might cause the failure?

As for reversion to Windows 8, when Finale failed to load after a Windows update, I amended the environment in the compatibility section of its .exe file, and that solved the problem. I have no intention of running a computer with Windows 8 as its OS. With more W10 updates coming, I expect to have to use the same facility on several old programs that I still find useful.

Did you definitely power on your midi keyboard before launching Dorico? I believe that’s the only known obstacle, and that would explain why rebooting the computer helped.

On the face of it, it sounds like plugging in your external display is screwing up the USB interface, which is unrelated to either Dorico or your MIDI keyboard. I suppose that is possible (even though it shouldn’t happen) since an driving external display takes a lot of communication bandwidth so it may be messing up other communication links like USB.

Do you have any other USB devices (keyboard, mouse, thumb drives, external disks, etc) that you could try with the problem PC, to try to nail down where the problem actually is? If it’s not specific to Dorico, then playing with the Dorico settings or compatibility options isn’t likely to fix it.

Thanks, Anders and Rob. I’m waiting for my daughter to come and check the Keystation49 on her computer before chasing problems on mine, such as too many USB devices overloading its power supply. I had a first go at that by plugging the Keystation49 through a powered hub, but perhaps that runs into other communication problems.

Hi,
I’ve just updated from Dorico pro 3.5 to Dorico pro 4.
In 3.5 my MIDI keyboard works just fine but in 4, I hear the playback when I play but the note input doesn’t work. The carot stays at the same spot. I compared the preferences between 3.5 and 4 and they are identical. My arturia keyboard is shown as enable in the Play page.
Can you help me.
Best,
Théo S.

Do you have a PC? There’s a known problem about the new RT Bluetooth option that you probably should disengage to have your normal working state back…
MIDI problem