NotePerformer screwed up

After struggling for months with these issues, I finally requested help directly from NotePerformer support. So far, no reply, but I’m reproducing an abridged version of my message here on the chance that other forum members may have encountered (or even solved!) similar issues. I apologize for the length, but, as they say, it’s complilcated. I’m using Dorico 4.1, Windows 10, hefty machine with lots of RAM, USB ASIO interface, etc.

I uploaded some screenshots to my Google Drive. Might be helpful:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_PFfpsbnklhRb5mBtH7cnRm33EUWG8ec?usp=sharing

============ SENT TO NOTEPERFORMER ==============

I’m trying to find documentation on the NP mixer pop-up beyond what’s in the User Guide. I need help with several related issues:

i) When I display the VST rack in Dorico’s Play menu, it shows two instances of NP64. I can even display two NP mixers simultaneously (in addition to the Dorico native mixer).

ii) My score has two cello parts. One of the NP mixers displays all instruments in the score (plus many others; see below), EXCEPT FOR one of the cello parts. The other instance displays only the missing cello part. Dorico displayed the two NP VST instances long before I added the second cello, so I don’t believe that adding the 2d cello created the duplicate NP instance.

iii) I can’t delete from the first NP mixer instance the extra (unused) instruments. I verified that they don’t play any content in any of the flows of my Dorico piece, and that they are not associated with any player or layout in any flow.

iv) Hitting the NP mixer’s RESET button does not delete the unused instruments.

v) Clicking the dropdown list at the top left of the mixer displays some sort of undocumented preset/filter dialog. This dialog lists four presets, which I may have inadvertently created when I first struggled to install the original demo version of NP earlier this year, before purchasing. Could this be related to the above problems? For now, I’m setting both NP mixers to the “Default” preset to avoid further complilcating things.

vi) Is there any documentation for mixer features not described in the little NP manual I downloaded such as: the preset functions, ways to manually delete unused instruments, the mixer’s A-B option, a way to combine two instances of the NP mixer into one mixer panel that shows ALL the instruments in my composition, and ONLY those instruments, etc.?

vii) Unrelated, but important: Is it possible to EQ the audio output produced by Dorico+NP? E.g., I find that NotePerformer’s “Electric Bass” patch produces far too much output for my ensemble in the 35-40Hz region, burying instruments like arco double-bass, bass trombone, and tuba. I would like to premaster the playback from within Dorico so that my daily work-in-progress output sounds more balanced to my remote collaborators. I’m hoping to avoid having to run every output file through a DAW or sound-editing program to simply apply across-the-board EQ to a half-octave of one instrument. And this is just one example – the ability to EQ playback is an essential function that I haven’t yet located in either NP’s or Dorico’s documentation.

I’ve spent four months on my current Dorico composition – a very large project, still only slightly more than half-completed – and am hesitant to make uneducated global changes that might greatly affect the sound, requiring a major rewrite at this late date. So I’m asking these questions before taking potentially irreversible steps like simply uninstalling one of the NP instances to see what happens.

Thank you for your support.

Re-apply the NotePerformer Playback Template and NP will update its mixer(s) to reflect your current instrumentation.
(NP automatically creates as many instances as it needs when you setup your project - 16 instruments per instance. If you delete instruments from your score, NP does not change. This is similar behaviour to Halion

2 Likes

Yes, what Janus said will clear the unused instruments and update the “used instruments” in Noteperformer. I often have this issue with XML imports which need to have instruments re-assigned (or copy/pasted into new instruments). Just because you delete instruments, the “Used instruments” doesn’t automatically update. You need to re-apply the the Playback Template for that to happen.

Holy cow – that instantly cured 90% of my issues!
I’m sure that I already did reload the default template a # of times over the past few months, but maybe I’m mistaken. And there’s no arguing with success.
Thanks, Janus!!
Now if I can just figure out a way to EQ Dorico’s audio output…

I’m a writer of dots. FX are way beyond my ken.

1 Like

Actually, I may have spoken too soon. The reloaded mixer has changed all my pan positions and reverb settings and, even stranger, the relative volume of a couple of instruments has changed – a lot. Bears further exploration, but at least I feel as though I’m now unblocked. And these new problems, despite being nuisances, are solvable.

I forget – when does life get easy again?

I might be wrong, but if you save your endpoint it should store your pan/reverb settings, so you can create your personalised NP playback template.

I wasn’t sure at first what you meant by “save your endpoint,” but now that I think about it, it’s all starting to make sense. NotePerformer calls your “personalised templates” “presets,” and I think IO must have accidentally created several presets when I was struggling to convince the demo version to work with Dorico last winter. Those presets are apparently what I see in the NP mixer dropdown box. And the “mysterious filter” function, I’m now thinking, is a way to enter search-engine terms when searching for particular previously saved presets.

I wish the company had documented these functions. As you imply, they sure seem useful.

Actually, a little more good news. I just discovered that the Dorico mixer includes some sort of equalizer. I don’t yet know if it has the functionality I need, but it’s right where you’d expect to find it. Wow, I’m still such a newbie.

Even better news. dspreadbury told me that Dorico Pro includes a full-functioned parametric EQ called Frequency. It’s accessible from the Dorico Mixer by enabling “Insert” on one of the mixer’s output channels and scrolling down a dropdown list.

I’ve confirmed that a simple 9dB cut at 35Hz (Q=6) does a good job of making NotePerformer’s Electric Bass patch play more nicely with instruments like tubas, bass trombones, and double basses.

Boy, it was exhausting getting to this point – the Dorico documentation is great in so many ways, but its failure to document so much of the application has made learning the program a nightmare – but now that I’ve gotten to this sweet place, I’m once again a big Dorico fan.

I remember what a horror it was when I was beta-testing the original version of Finale (thank you, Wendy Carlos!). In those days, I approached the task as a software engineer, not a composer – which didn’t help. Dorioc has been a tough learning experience, but still not nearly as tough as learning Finale on, I think, WindowsSE.

The original Finale was a Mac-only program.

That’s right. I beta-tested the original Windows version. Never been a Mac fan.