NotePerformer, playback and effects

Quick question: how do I add my own reverb to NotePerformer in Dorico 4? It’s really confusing:

  1. I can add a reverb to the first instance of NotePerformer, but not the second instance.
  2. The mixer has a channel with “Reverb” but I cannot anything there
  3. The mixer also has an output channel (master?) with dropdown menu but I cannot add effects there either
  4. The mixer with NotePerformer looks weird too - when I select “instruments” it shows piccolo, flutes, and reverb, when I add midi all the instruments appear as well. But the channel strip only allows me to add effects to piccolo, flutes 1,2.

I am sorry, I’m just totally confused.

What I want to do is pretty simple: just add my favorite reverb to the master channel. Is that 'output"? But the dropdown menu doesn’t work there either.

Thanks!

Just press F3 to open the mixer window. There you can insert your favourite reverb as an insert into the master channel.

And use the sends to feed that reverb bus!

You mean “or”, @MarcLarcher , right?

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Thanks Ulf.

But I don’t see the mixer window.

Maybe it is hidden behind another screen.

Can I use Dorico on a computer with multiple screens?

Yes, you can use with multiple monitors.

Maybe the function keys don’t work with you. Have also a look at the top right of the Dorico window where also the Play button is ; a bit left to it is also a mixer icon by which you can open the mixer window.

Yes, actually, I mean “use the FX bus to insert your reverb and use the FX sends to feed it with the right amount of signal” :wink:

no pre/post fader choice on the FX send … :frowning:

Well, there’s never have been… But you’re right, on a “state of the art” mixing desk, there would be a switch!

@Ulf suggested that the reverb could be added as an insert in the master channel along with the compressor on the right side of the mixer. The advantage to doing it the way you suggested is that the reverb level can be set independently for each instrument in the mixer.

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Not quite right. I did not suggest it that way. Peter wanted it to do that way but did not know how to achieve it, and I just explained the way to go.

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Sorry for the misunderstanding. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I think I have a problem … the mixer is a small blank window.

I am not sure what I did but can I somehow restore the factory GUI settings?

Maybe it went off-screen. Are you on Windows?

Yes, Windows 10. Thanks Ulf.

Click on the Dorico icon in the taskbar so that the preview appears. Move the mouse on the preview and do a right click and choose from the pop up menu “Move”. If you then use the cursor keys, you can move the mixer window back to the visible area.

Thanks Ulf, I got the mixer back.

However, when using NotePerformer, I only have inserts for flutes 1, 2 and piccolo (for which, by the way, there are two channel strips for each in the mixer, see screenshot). And I cannot use the dropdown menu to insert anything (either on the channels or the reverb bus or the output).

Is that just me?

You have 2 NotePerformer instances, and each instance has it’s own mixer in the NotePerformer window. Then each instance has only a stereo output that is presented to the Dorico mixer. That are the two channels with Flute 1/2 and Tuba. The other faders that you see are only MIDI controllers that send MIDI data into NotePerformer to control the fader values in NotePerformer’s own mixer.
Pretty complicated, but that’s how NotePerformer was designed, not our fault.

And really, nothing in the insert drop down menus; nothing is happening? But the output channel on the right shows a compressor. What if you click there?

Thanks Ulf, that makes sense.

Well, here’s the rub: if I click on Compressor, the GUI of a Steinberg pops up, and I can adjust the settings (or just bypass it). But I can’t replace it or any other effects to the master bus.

Maybe this is the way it was designed by Arne Wallander? The two user interfaces for NP do have settings to adjust individual sends for reverb, plus ‘submasters’ for each instance. I am not sure what kind of reverb NP uses, probably a proprietary built-in reverb. I’d like to be able to use my own reverb though (Spaces by EW, my favorite). Maybe it is a NP thing, I’ll ask Arne.

No, that mixer window is not from NotePerformer, that is Dorico’s mixer and definitely, when you click there, where the little down arrows are, the list of available effect plug-ins shall open, though I have no idea why that does not happen with you. Could you please do Help > Create Diagnostics Report and post the zip file here? Maybe from the logs I can see something