I manage a custom playback template in a “reference project” which I only use to “centrally” manage some custom end point configurations. But this method has some undesirable consequences.
Say for example I have a custom playback template “My band” and it contains (custom) end point configurations “My horns” (saxophone, trumpet) and “My strings” (violin, viola) I manage these configurations in my reference project.
I start a new “real” project with only one instrument (saxophone) and apply template “My band”. As far as I understand Dorico creates an instance (“copy”) of the saxophone endpoint as defined in “My band”, the saxophone in my score will be linked to that end point. I write my score, set the stage/space templates and do my mixing (not much to mix with one instrument, but just for the sake of example…)
In my real project I do some changes on the saxophone settings (in the plugin and/or in the expression map linked to the endpoint).
So far so good…
Now I want to be able to re-use that change on the saxophone in other projects using “My band” (either existing or future ones). What I don’t do is save the end point configuration in my real project as “My horns” because that would overwrite “My horns” and reduce it to only one end point (saxophone). The trumpet would be totally gone from “My horns” (which obviously I don’t want).
Instead I do that same change on the saxophone in my reference project and save the end point configuration as “My horns” (now I’m sure it contains both the saxophone and the trumpet, i.e. both end points).
Now I want to re-apply the playback template “My band” to my real project (and possibly other projects where this change could be useful). Why re-apply? Cause I want to be sure the changes in my reference project are correct for this real project and future ones, sort of a template validation.
But… when I do that all the mixer / stage settings in my real project are set to default again. So I have to re-adjust all of them. Now for this simple example with one instrument this is not an issue… but what if I have many instruments… (actually that’s what happened and why I’m writing this post).
Why is Dorico re-setting mixer / stage settings after applying a playback template?
Does my central “end point configuration” management method make any sense or is there a better practice?
