I posted a thread a week ago that got no attention. I NEED HELP with this problem to complete my project by the deadline.
I need to know how to modify Dorico’s drum kit. I haven’t adjusted any settings; I’m talking about the regular Drum Set you find in Setup mode.
The instruments are too quiet and lack some of the standard playing techniques I’m used to working with. How do I change that? I don’t know if Groove Agent or HALion have anything to do with it. I’ve literally never used either. I also see a menu for adding playing techniques but how does it work?
This is an increasingly urgent issue. Please reply and advise.
Can you share a file and some concrete musical things you want to do? I’m sorry, but verbose posts won’t receive any help: we’re mostly volunteers here, and explaining how to do things without any picture makes it very difficult (apart from the fact that we are not all native english speakers). I understand you don’t want to share a finished work (with all the copyright problems that could go with it), but you can duplicate your file, get rid of all but two bars and we can work on that !
I have no problem sharing files but 1) I am unable as the forum says they’re too big, and 2) it’s entirely irrelevant. A project has nothing to do with fixing Dorico’s defaults. I also don’t see how I can be more concrete than “how do you adjust volume” and “how do you modify playing techniques.” I at least know the hi-hat is practically inaudible and doesn’t have a playing technique for splash, or a differentiation between open/close. But surely that is not all that is wrong with the kit. But I can’t tell you what else is missing because I genuinely don’t know. I am not well versed in drums, haven’t written drums in years, and never before used drums on Dorico.
How should I have worded my inquiry to not be verbose and actually get an answer?
I appreciate your critiques on my phrasing. Thank you also for directing me to the Percussion Instrument Playing Techniques. I probably should have thought to find that myself; can’t say I’m surprised I didn’t. It seems it will answer any further questions I encounter as I modify the kit. Furthermore, it led me to what seems to be the method to fix the playback volume. The guides I had seen omitted the crucial first step, that to edit an instrument you access it from the Play menu. I will be able to play around with all this within the week. I will return if my issues haven’t resolved but I think this is it!
Okay, so there is one more thing that I’d like to do and don’t know how. How can I make my second project have all the Groove Agent edits my first project has without manually adjusting everything again? I see a Load Kit button but clicking it does nothing. I thought this stuff would be retained when I imported the kit, but it only kept the playing techniques and instruments.
I would try and use the library manager to import stuff from the other file. Or better, if you have not started the new file: start from the first file, save as a new document, delete the flows and you’re set to go! Same instruments, same settings, etc. And this cannot not work.
Combining replies to your suggestion and the second suggestion in @MarcLarcher 's comment.
I am not sure I know how to make project templates, though I imagine I could find out. Unfortunately, both projects are well underway and so it is too late to make project template or to start second project from copy of the first, as that would indeed have worked.
Furthermore, while those suggestions would have achieved the desired outcome, had I not already started my project, I think they may not be what I’m actually looking for. I want to, like, make the adjustments I made be the new permanent default my Dorico automatically loads with. After all, when would I ever want an inaudible hi-hat? But fiddling with such technicalities is well beyond my novice knowledge.
I understand where you are. Let me help you. Here’s something that you can do, that won’t be much time consuming, and that could perfectly work. Create your playback template file. Use a duplicate of it and IMPORT the flow you’re working on, using Keep existing players option (when the dialog appears, when you import a flow). Providing you have very different settings from the default, use the library manager with the file you were working on as the reference, so that all the options of the new file (Engraving options, Layout options, Notation options…) are directly copied from that file. You should find that this is very fast, the only thing that can take a little while is to create the playback template file.
Well, you know what, that’ll work for this project!
But new Project Templates are a pretty roundabout solution methinks. I like Dorico’s built-in templates. Using this method if I want to work with drums, I’d have to create a new template for every template Dorico already has, just to tweak the drums so they’re usable.
Perhaps there is a way to edit Dorico’s built-in templates directly?
The method I’m describing doesn’t require a new playback template file. And if you acquire a new library and no playback templates exist, you will need to build it through such a file.
If you’re not happy with the way Dorico sets the drums by default, a playback template file is useful, you will earn a lot of time, since you won’t have to re-do all the percussion playing techniques settings. Use that file as the start up template and that part is already ready to work. This workflow really depends on what you need to do.
Well perhaps I misunderstood your directions. Or followed them incorrectly but got the result I desired.
I made a copy of the first composition, deleted everything off it but the drum player, and saved it as project template. Now when I am creating a new project and want drums, I just choose the template I made. But that’s just drums. If I want to work with an ensemble, especially the templates Dorico already has, I would have to create my own template for each ensemble, which I find frustrating.
Was that the method you described? Or is there something I’m missing, or something that would avoid duplicating templates?
Well, yes, it’s sort of what I suggested, and if it works, that’s good news! You might learn how to create playback templates, so that your source file can be the source for your percussion endpoints, and add those to the Auto playback template (your perc endpoint must be on the top of the list to be used before Auto), so that you have a playback template that works with that file template, no matter what instruments you add.
