While I appreciate the integration with the HALion library, and the work on supporting VST2 instruments, I think there are a number of people who are anxiously waiting for support for MIDI output–playback driven by Dorico, sending MIDI output to another application that produces sound.
This is particularly important for users of Hauptwerk’s virtual organ software. There are rumors that somebody, somewhere, has managed to get Hauptwerk to function as a VST2. But that’s…insufficient. The VST2 interface gives you two-channel (stereo) output–when Hauptwerk itself is capable of 64 channels of audio output. (My church sanctuary is somewhat small, so we only use 10 channels of audio output–larger Hauptwerk installations use many more.)
Hauptwerk is driven by MIDI–from keyboards and pedal on a console, or from a MIDI-capable application. For a three-manual organ, with pedals, the application will send the Pedal staff on channel 0, the Great staff on channel 1, the Swell staff on channel 2, the Choir staff on channel 3, etc.
Sending a given MIDI NoteOn message from an application is identical to pressing a key on the console manual. By the very nature of the organ, that might make a single pipe sound–or it may make four, eight, ten, or more pipes sound. With couplers (so, for instance, a note played on the Pedal division is also routed to the Great keyboard) even more pipes can sound from a single MIDI NoteOn/NoteOff event.
Part of the genius of Hauptwerk is the ability to distribute the pipes in an organ rank across many audio channels, minimizing the sound wave distortion caused by playing multiple notes through the same speaker. If you play back through two speakers, you hear a recording of an organ. If you play back through 16 instruments, with ranks distributed across 16 studio monitors, you hear the instrument–the difference is breathtaking.
I’m using Sibelius 7.1.3 to do playback today–I’d really, really love to work with Dorico instead. Is there any hope that we might be able to do MIDI playback sometime soon?
Thanks.