The attack bug with baseline NotePerformer sounds is resolved with this update.
NPPE’s balance and note lengths are now significantly more consistent with NotePerformer’s. News includes out-of-range playback capability, limited keyboard navigation, toggle staccato and marcato layering, and an EQ “saturation” feature for adding high-end sparkle to dull sounds. Please see our version history for the complete list of updates:
Since they were all updated, you will be asked to re-download the NPPE engines.
this update seems to have produced ever greater transparency in my NPPE libraries which make for even more involving results. So great work overall!
One of the few things which still sticks out like a sore thumb is trills under gradual tempo changes (most often rit.). Because for some reason the straight unvarying sampled trills are not being used, they sound erratic and broken up and I suspect are the cause of the odd stuck note I have found this time round. Is there no setting which can improve the behaviour here? Switching from generated to sampled trills in playback options actualy makes things worse! I can’t believe I’m the only one experiencing this! Particularly Cinematic Studio which is my most frequently used.
I’m afraid I haven’t been able to find any trill speed which reliably helps – perhaps you have some suggestions? It’s also a bit strange that when “use sampled trills where possible” is selected, the normal trills actually sound more artificial than when the template default “generated trills only” is selected. However that setting does seem to make for slightly more even trills under a rit. Naturally as trills not under gradual tempo changes greatly outnumber those which are, I’ll choose the setting which works best overall.
This release makes many of the demos sound much better on e.g. BBCSO. Also, the addition of the Musio Cine library to the supported ones is much appreciated since it adds an affordable library which at the same time sounds very well. I own BBCSO core and had contemplated to buy HOPUS, but now I probably will opt for Musio.
Thank you Arne for your hard work! I did not think after the first release of the NPPE for BBCSO that it could really be helpful due to several glitches in the playback of e.g. Mozart scores. Now the musicality is approaching fast the NP native engine with much better sound quality. I how think NP+NPPE could be the game changer we all hoped for.
Lowering the tempo during a trill is an unusual musical situation. Maybe NPPE fails in the MIDI handling. What happens if you explicitly write the trill (under a slur) ?
“Use sampled trills” isn’t for NotePerformer. That’s when using sample libraries directly in Dorico and you want Dorico to send a single note and a trill switch rather than generating a trill, which was always the basis for NotePerformer.
that’s going to have to be the answer, thanks Arne. Interestingly, it works far better when I write out the trill notes in full, then hide that staff and disable playback for the notated trill in this situation – trills without gradual tempo changes are mostly OK. That will obviously have to be the answer going forward because of the particular way NPPE deals with trills. It does beg the question why, if NP is only generating trills in the first place why it actually makes a difference whether the trills are notated or written out in full but I assume it’s just following the rules set in Dorico playback options.
We don’t generate the trills. The notation program (Dorico) does, and we interpret that stream of MIDI notes. Maybe there’s a difference with the generated trill.
I don’t know if it helps, but there’s also a setting on the individual trill for playback speed:
yes, sorry that what I meant to say! I’d planned to experiment a little with the individual trill playback speed as well but from memory, that didn’t in itself solve the problem. Writing out in full currently looks the most promising.
I’d like to add my thanks too. NP4, together with NPPE, are excellent. As someone who mostly composes classical orchestral music, Dorico+NP4+NPPE+high-end VSTs provides a wonderful setup. (In the past, I’d hoped that Steinberg would provide more expression map functionality in newer releases, but NP4’s approach has largely made that moot for my kind of use.) Many thanks.
Hi @Wallander,
Thank you very much for your hard work on the NotePerformer!
I’m wondering if you have any plans to add more orchestral, pop/jazz and ethnic instruments to basic sound base of NP?
I’m using very often a Bulgarian kaval, bagpipe, tambura, gadulka and the oriental oud, saz, tar, qanun, armenian duduk, ney flute, chinese guqin, gu zheng, erhu …
various ethnic percussion like tupans, daf, tombak, jembe, darbouka also an orchestral effects like wind machine, lion roar and percussion like temple blocks, church bells. Keyboard instruments like Rhodes piano…
Would be really nice if you think about to include them to the basic sound library.
Ethnic instruments have been in my awareness since the early NP days. What’s held it back is, when you investigate, it’s not a dozen instruments but a thousand. I’m also concerned that an ethnic instrument’s qualities may not shine through a basic sample set by a company unskilled in that area. The characteristics may be bends, multiphonics, and other non-trivial techniques. There’s a risk that the “NP ethnic flute” may not sound so different from our alto flute or recorders. There are also plucked and bowed sounds. I don’t rule out covering that ground, but realistically, by licensing samples from another developer if that opportunity comes.
Electric piano and temple blocks are more likely inclusions for the future. Still, I don’t want to give any guarantees or a timeline because, e.g., electric pianos come in many forms and are non-trivial to do expressively without a large sample bank.
I’ve been using PianoTeq and NotePerformer together for sooo many years now… I’m wondering what this NPPE could bring to PianoTeq (apart from the external reverb blending step). Any ideas?
