I just wanted to check on this forum and make sure I’m following the expected conventions of the software.
So if I’m understanding this correctly, In Dorico, before I can improvise on my MIDI keyboard with a particular sound in my score, I must first 1.) double click on the staff of the instrument I want to hear, and then press the escape key as not to enter notes. Is this the expected convention? Is there a better way to get around the score and improvise with midi-thru before entering notes?
To me, this convention is the equivalent of ‘record arming’ a track in a DAW before auditioning the instrument assigned to it.
If I navigate through the score with the UP and DOWN arrow keys, Dorico provides instant aural feedback as to what instrument is selected, but the MIDI-THRU’ of my keyboard does not follow. i.e. if I quickly navigate to a timpani with the arrows, my keyboard stays wired to play a flute (if this is where I last entered notes). It seems to me the MIDI-THRU behavior of Dorico could be greatly improved to behave more DAW-like. Or perhaps I’m just missing a checkbox in the preferences – although I couldn’t find one. Is there an option for MIDI THRU to follow my selection in Dorico?
Thanks in advance.
Does anybody improvise on a MIDI keyboard to generate ideas while composing? Wouldn’t it be nice to navigate through your score with the UP and DOWN arrows and always have your attached MIDI keyboard reflect the sound of the staff that’s selected? This is how all DAWs operate. One does not need to record-arm a track just to get MIDI-THRU. It’s automatic. One merely has to select the track. Is this a bad idea?
It’s not a bad idea, and it has been discussed on the forum several times. I know the team is planning further improvements to MIDI functionality, though of course I don’t know specifics.
Okay. Thanks for the reply. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing an option that already existed in the program. I searched this forum for 'midi-thru preferences" and only dissimilar posts came up. I often make assumptions about missing features when I can’t find them, only to discover later the features I thought were absent existed all along.
Well, to be honest I don’t remember what terms people used for the discussion, so not slapping you down. Just to let you know it is on the table and myself and other users would like that feature as well!
You might find it marginally quicker to select the track header for the instrument you want to use for MIDI-thru in Play mode. But to reiterate what Dan has said, we do plan to make some further changes in this area in future.
Yes, exactly. The ‘single click on the track header’ in ‘Play’ view is the MIDI-THRU functionality I’d love to see in Write mode. Additionally, the UP and DOWN arrows should update the MIDI-THRU status in both Write and Play views as well. I’m glad this topic is being discussed and considered. Thanks for the response.
I found this topic because I want exactly the reverse and can’t find how to do it.
I never wish to hear, when playing on my note-entry keyboard, the sounds of the orchestral instruments. I wish just to test harmonies with piano sound.
But this MIDI-thru functionality seems to be automatic. Is there not a place where it can be turned off?
David
No, there’s no way to disable it at the moment, I’m afraid. Providing more control over this in future is something we plan to do.
If it helps, I’ve managed to imitate a MIDI THRU by forking the MIDI input to Dorico. The following process has worked for me on Windows 10. (a) use a piece of freeware called loopMIDI to make a virtual MIDI port (b) use a Microsoft App called MIDIberry to map the keyboard ‘real’ MIDI OUT to that virtual port (c) Set Dorico to listen to the virtual port and not the ‘real’ one.
The pseudo-MIDI THRU functionality comes from the fact that the virtual port can also be used by another MIDI device since Dorico does not seem to lock it up the same way it does if receiving from the ‘real’ port. This effectively lets me direct my keyboard MIDI OUT to Dorico and Bitwig simultaneously, just as if Bitwig had been able to see a Dorico MIDI THRU.
Why do this? I just wanted to be able to audition notes independent of Dorico. I’ve been scoring to a video with sound. When scoring a few bars, I mute the track so as to hear the video without my already written notes superimposed, but then I have to enable the track again to hear any new notes I play. As a process, this is horrid. I just want to hear notes whenever I play the keyboard, regardless of what’s muted or not in Dorico.
The only problem I have with this setup is that, now I’ve got notes sounding independent of Dorico, I can’t stop Dorico echoing them as well without muting the track. So each note sounds a little-doubled. I’m not sure if this is the problem Daniel is referring to above when he says “No, there’s no way to disable it at the moment, I’m afraid.” There is a tickbox under Note Input and Editing called Auditioning, with the text “Play notes during note input and selection”. It sounds like it ought to control whether Dorico echos notes or not, but it doesn’t make any difference ticked or otherwise.
I’m in the same camp as BillEvansAlone in that I process things MIDI through various apps and pipe that into a virtual port. Instead of giving DAWs and Scoring software full access to the actual MIDI device port(s)…I set them to listen from, and send to virtual ports of which I can more easily process and direct to where I want at will.
For virtual MIDI ports in Windows…personally I like Tobias Erichsen’s virtualMIDI system the best, as one can easily add or remove all the ports he wants, and name them anyway he likes, plus they have loopback protection in case you accidentally hook something back to itself. It’s free, and is also compatible with rtpMIDI over your lan or the internet (also free from the same site).
I have some pretty dumb MIDI controllers, which also are getting long in the tooth and don’t have the smoothest response curves anymore. Piping them through something like Bome MIDI Translator Classic (a free option to check out) first allows me to:
- Fix notes that pound out too loud, or too soft by smoothing out velcoities.
- Block or correct intermittent events sent by worn out pots or sliders (until I can physically replace them).
- Craft things like keyboard splits.
- Transpose, or even convert note on/off events to other types of messages (CC, N/R-PR, Sysex, Program Change, etc.)
- Bind MIDI events into ‘key combinations’. I.E. Tapping a note or MPC pad on my MIDI controller can send something like ctrl-r to Dorico (or whatever app is topped at the moment).
Adding Bidule to the MIDI processing loop allows me to easily send things anywhere I want, and do even more real time monitoring/processing. Actually with this one I do not need Bome, as Bidule can do most of the same stuff (sysex things aren’t quite as good as Bome, but otherwise it’s a powerhouse by comparison). That also gives me the ability to work in OSC events from an Android or Apple tablet. Furthermore, I loop things like Dorico back into Bidule so I can easily control where its MIDI output might go. It can all be done remotely with key or button presses on my MIDI controller, or via taps on my favorite touch screen tablet.