Notation and playback of pizz/arco in repeated vamp bars

Dorico
1

I’d appreciate some advice on notation practice and playback methods in the example below.

Bars 16–17 are vamp bars in a violin part. The E flat pizz note should sound on each repeat iteration except the final one (when exiting the vamp).

My questions are:

  1. Is the notation as shown clear enough for performers to understand this? If not, what alternative approaches would you suggest?

  2. On the playback side: the arco notes are notated in Up-Stem Voice 1 and the pizz in Down-Stem Voice 1. However, the technique marking isn’t respected in playback… all notes (including the 16ths in bar 17 onward) are played pizzicato.

This makes me wonder:

  • Is it a known limitation that separate voices in the same staff can’t trigger different playback techniques?

  • If so, what practical workarounds exist to achieve the intended result?

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

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2

Since the arco and pizz are presumably attached to different voices, can one use the properties panel to suppress the arco/pizz as well as the selected notes on different repetitions of the vamp?

3

Thanks for this suggestion, Derrek - much appreciated.

I’ve set things up so that the pizzicato note plays on passes 1 and 2, and the arco notes on pass 3, but playback still persists in pizzicato beyond that point.

My understanding is that when I highlight a note and apply a playback technique (using Shift+P), the technique should attach to that note in its respective voice. However, when I select the technique marking itself, I don’t see anything in the status bar confirming which voice it’s actually attached to.

Is there a way to verify (or control) which voice a playback technique is assigned to?

4

I believe arco and pizz are directional and continue until cancelled. Since I do not know whether your indications are applied to specific voices or to the rhythmic position, I would advise to put hidden arco on the first note after the repeat.

1 Like
5

Yes. Think about it logically, you are sending conflicting messages to the VST.
To fix this, enable independent voice playback.

6

Problem solved… thank you, Janus!

I had assumed that since the two voices never play simultaneously, Dorico would automatically send the correct playing technique for whichever notes were sounding.

Enabling independent voice playback fixed the issue completely… works perfectly now.

I really appreciate your help.

Roy