Organ & Dorico

Dorico
1

Hello, I’m composing for organ (Vienna Organ Player) and would like to incorporate keyboard changes.

The problem is that it requires changing MIDI channels.

So I created independent voices to assign the correct MIDI channel to each keyboard, but the visual aspect of the score is affected by this change.
Is there another method ?

thanks

2

Could you elaborate on this?

How did the score look before, and after the change?

3

in this exemple dotted eighth note, sixteenth note, is no longer tied because it is on two different voices, moreover this forces the silences of the other voice to be erased which complicates the reading.

One of the dot has also disappeared

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In this example, the four sixteenth notes are also cut.

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4

Do you really need to do that?
You can couple any werk to any manual in a combination and change it with a playing technique.

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 11.46.54
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5

Thanks Vadian,
I just need to click on the two manuals (1 & 2) to assign M1 and M2, right?
If so, how do I program my keyboard changes ?

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6

Yes, M1 is the default couple for manual 1. You need to click on M2 to couple the stops assigned to manual 2 to manual 1 and vice versa.

To change the combinations (registrations) you have to create

  • playing techniques to be inserted in the score which trigger
  • playback techniques which perform key switches or CC changes in the
  • Expression Map
7

Thanks again Valian, but I think the problem with this switch will also affect the left hand, which always remains on the same keyboard.

8

You can assign the manuals (aka staves) to different MIDI channels and you can use multiple voices with different combinations on each manual.

9

So I do a lot of work using Hauptwerk rather than Vienna Organ Player. My strategy has been to have a grand staff for each manual (typically 3 - Grand Orgue, Positif, Recit) and a created single bass clef staff for the Pedale division. I also have another single staff (doesn’t matter what clef) for sending Control Changes that control things like general pistons, crescendo pedal, etc. This is all for playback so that I can hear how the notation sounds.

I have a separate Organ grand staff (3 staves) not connected to any type of playback where I duplicate all of the notation for standard print of the organ music once it is complete. It’s a little extra work when it comes time to engrave for release but it allows me to have straightforward playback. I often have choral staves above all of this and it works reasonably well.

EDIT: I happen to also be a classically trained organist with a degree in organ performance so this is a logical approach to me.

10

Thanks Kasky

It’s always valuable to get feedback from an instrumentalist ; instruments have so many unique characteristics that you’re always afraid of writing something incomprehensible to a musician, especially when you’re at my limited level of composition studies.

Thanks again to everyone for your feedback.