Muting an instrument makes all the instrument mute in its enclosing NotePerformer

Dorico
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I am using NotePerformer 4.

Muting an instrument mutes all instruments in NotePerformer that contain that instrument.

This is because NotePerformer mixes all signals as stereo and then sends them only to the first channel connected to NotePerformer, and the mute button on one instrument channel of NotePerformer affects all.

As a result, the user cannot mute a particular instrument using either the NotePerformer mixer or the Dorico mixer.

This seems like a digression… Is there no way to mute just one instrument loaded in NotePerformer?

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This topic has been discussed already frequently here in the forum. It is because NotePerformer is designed like that. It has it’s own mixer and only presents a stereo mix to Dorico. If you want to mute individual instruments then you need to do it in the NotePerformer editor window.

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In my head, muting an instrument in Dorico should result in the instrument not playing (so, not producing any MIDI data).
It’s like standing in front of the orchestra: When I solo some musicians (“let’s hear what the trumpets play”), the others simply keep their instruments down.

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Dorico’s mute/solo functions are audio functions, not MIDI functions. That may not be how it works in your head, but it’s how the software works.

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I know, that’s why I’m bringing in my idea, and why I used the word “should” :wink:

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This is, in my experience, not the case: one can (and must) use the NP Mixer to mute NP sounds.

To respond to @Estigy :

I note that NP4’s NPPE allows one to assign those instruments to specific output channels that do show up independently in the Dorico Mixer. So perhaps in a future version of NP this option will appear. That would certainly make NP more flexible. Only Arne would know whether this would work.

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I have also read some threads on this.
For a moment, I confused the functions of the two mixers, so I thought my problem was slightly different from those posts. The problem is solved!
Sorry and thank you very much!

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ehm… I got the two mixers mixed up for a while. I lost my mind. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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I hear you about the effect of mental processes. Maybe it’s just a perspective shift?

When you press that mute you are pressing it on a representation of a mixing console and it operates as you would expect if you were the audio engineer standing in front of that console, not the orchestra.

I think of the NP Mixer or VEP or whatever as like a sub mixer. Doesn’t really matter I suppose, but it helps my mental picture of the signal chain and loosens my inhibitions about using the inserts and options that both mixers have. Not thinking like the director at all at that point.

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Yeah, this is of course the “correct” way to see it, as it is the way Dorico works. :slight_smile:

I have to admit though, for me to get my head around this, Dorico is wayyyy too much of a notation tool to me and not a DAW. When I use Dorico, I see myself as the conductor standing in front of the orchestra, giving entries and balancing the sound. When I select all the clarinets to hear what they sound like by themselves, it’s the same like doing a “And now only the clarinets, please” in a rehearsal. :slight_smile: