Applying the NP Template is what finally got playback working for me. I was working with a Dorico 1 file that had previously been assigned an EW Orchestra Gold (Play) library.
ok. when first using Dorico 2 the installed sounds (HALion Sonic SE) worked - i.e. note input produced an output sound and the score would play. then i tried to change to NotePerformer 3 (works well in Sibelius fyi) and - nothing. switched back to HALion Sonic SE - nothing. went into Dorico2 preferences and changed the ‘playback template’ to NotePerformer (saved that preference) - on playback… nothing. unclear where to go from here. why is this so difficult?
Hmm, when you say you changed to NotePerformer 3 and it didn’t, did you actually change the “Playback Template” for the score (from the Play menu) or did you attempt to manually add a NotePerformer device to the instruments rack? Switching Playback Template is the right course of action, and should yield correct playback if all goes as it’s supposed to.
Is it possible that you also installed NotePerformer while having Dorico 2 running?
The NP3 installer should automatically trash Dorico’s blacklist file if it lists NotePerformer. But if the blacklist is also written when Dorico is closed, this means Dorico must be closed during the installation of NP3 for this to have effect, if you’re upgrading from NP2 (which is blacklisted by Dorico).
More than possible, Arne - in fact I almost certainly did. Apologies if I should have read the update procedures better …
I’ve just been trying it out, it’s all working really well.
There are two separate settings. You can make NotePerformer the current playback template for a project by choosing it from Play / Playback Templates. Separately, there is a preference for the default playback template you want in new and imported scores. I suspect you have done the latter and not the former.
No worries. I don’t think we’ve informed you about it. On PC there’s a warning about it at the launch of the installer, but on Mac there isn’t because we’ve never seen any issues coming from it. Until now, that is. 
Hi, everybody!
I can’t get sound from NotePerformer. I just installed the demo. I checked and the NotePerformer.vst file is where it’s supposed to be:
In preferences NotePerformer is set as the default template:
In preferences I also put a check in the box “Open VST plug-in windows when opening projects” and I edited the “VST2 Whitelist” by putting in “NotePerformer”.
In Write Mode, a click on a note head gives a sound like a trumpet – definitely not the Symphonic Orchestra, so I think NotePerformer’s sounds are available to Dorico. But when I click “Play” or the “p” key, the playhead moves, but there is no sound.
One thing I cannot find now is how to to open the NotePeformer interface, as mentioned here (NotePerformer 3: Artificial Intelligence-based Playback of Musical Notation). The first few times I launched Dorico, it came up automatically. Now it doesn’t and I can’t find it. Maybe NotePerformer is muted there?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
You don’t need to manually edit the whitelist: NotePerformer is included in the default whitelist because it’s explicitly supported by Dorico. However, that should be harmless. You can open its interface by going to Play mode in Dorico, then looking in the VST Instruments panel on the right-hand side, and clicking the “show editor” button for NotePerformer in the rack there; that’s the button with the lower-case “e”.
If you still don’t get any joy, please try creating a simple project with a piano instrument in it and a few notes, then save that, zip it up and attach it here. Please also do Help > Create Diagnostic Report and attach the resulting zip file saved to your desktop to your reply here.
Thank you, Daniel. I now can see the NotePerformer interface 
I’ve just sent you an e-mail with two Dorico 3 files. One of them will playback with NotePerformer. The other won’t. I really appreciate your help!
On the file that will not play, have you tried resetting/re-applying the Playback Template to Noteperformer in Play Mode?
I’m sorry to say that as yet I’ve not received any files. My email address is d dot spreadbury at steinberg dot de.
Daniel wrote back after checking the files. All I needed to do was go to Play > Apply Playback Template and click on the line that was already highlighted (“NotePerformer”). Then it works.
When I had looked at that dialog box yesterday, I thought since NotePerformer was already highlighted that it was already selected, so it never occurred to me to click it again to re-apply it.
So, yes, Derrek, you were right.
Hello! I’ve got something really similar. I was getting the same trumpet sound. So I tried to open a new file and it started to sound when I put in some notes. However, when i tried to play it, it won’t sound. I already tried all the things you’ve said here (specially applying the playback template, but it’s still not working.