When working in a DAW, I just set CC11 to a default value around 100, and push it above on rare occasion I need louder sounds. I’ve yet to learn how to constantly use CC11 in addition to CC1 for proper realism.
I’ll take time to experiment with different secondary dynamics scales in Dorico, to achieve better dynamic range.
I chose to set CC11 at 90 like everywhere in the library, so that it does not alter too much the dynamics. But it makes it possible to have cresc. or decresc. on rolls, which is… kind of what we’re expecting!
I’ve found it’s very easy to select a note in write mode, cmd-4 and use the pen to fine-tune the CC11 lane.
@dko22 The dynamics in that library are all Velocity controlled. CC11 is then mainly used to shape the rolls (that did not change in volume until I added this additional CC setting). I hope this all makes sense!
By “that library” are you referring just to the Spitfire Percussion then? I was referring to a broader context as percussion tends to be velocity controlled in libraries (though certainly doesn’t have to be)
Yes, absolutely. This thread is all and only about Spitfire Percussion library 
Any advice to make it blend better with other libraries, or any advice to make its use even better is always welcome 
Feel free to download the content of the link I posted some posts ago (it’s been updated this morning) if you have that library, and use it!
ah, apologies – of course the thread started on Spitfire Percussion but I thought we’d broadened out as per @Tarknin 's earlier comment thinking of using secondary dynamics in my Spitfire templates (ww, brass & strings), because they currently lack some dynamics. Perhaps I should also experiment with “Dynamic curve power” in Dorico. I don’t have Spitfire Percussion but I imagine that some of the ideas are common to the percussion in BBC SO library. That of course uses its own player so there are none of the complications (and potential features) of Kontakt.
On the dynamic power curve, incidentally, it’s always worth playing around with it but it’s designed to differentiate more between the dynamics in the middle range which is not always what you’re looking for.
Right, it’s obviously a matter of taste, but for my own style of composition and listening fulfillment, 3.0 to 4.0 has been my sweet spot. I rarely venture out into the extremes of ppp or fff, so more expressivity in the middle range is important to me.
Yeah, as you mention, I just go with the painless 1-to-1 mapping of dynamics to expression. It’s worked out well for me, so far.
I do feel that, even after a year of getting my hands dirty with this stuff, I have only just scratched the surface of what’s possible with the combination of Dorico and Spitfire. Playback in Dorico (or any other software, I imagine) is largely about the production side of music, and I’ve been trying to improve my craft in that area without availing myself of any software beyond Dorico and Kontakt Player. There are many facets of production that I have yet to tackle substantively, and tweaking the expression channel is one such facet; currently, I’m focused on the spatial placement of the instruments (panning / different microphones / etc.), and making their relative output levels realistic, all of which is rather time-consuming.
(I’d really like to figure out some way to apply pitch bend to Spitfire’s performance sets. I have it working for individual samples and the non-performance sets like Core Techniques, but it doesn’t seem doable for the performance-scripted sample sets – which makes sense, I suppose. 
)
@MarcLarcher , I spent a couple of days with your Spitfire Percussion template. It’s excellent! Thanks again for putting in the hours (and hours).
I didn’t have a lot of luck importing your files into my own template. Importing the flows crashed Dorico. Importing Expression Maps also had issues like the incoming High Drums map getting renamed “General MIDI.” (It’s entirely possible that this is pilot error on my part). However, I did have good luck importing my main template flow into your file so I re-built my file around that. It wasn’t difficult.
I can understand why you organized your template around Spitfire’s main patches that group non-pitched instruments together (High Drums, Metals, etc). Especially with Percussion, using the individual instrument patches gets unwieldy. However, it means that some of the Percussion Kits in Dorico are pretty packed.
I separated some of them out into simpler Kits. For example Rototoms and Temple Blocks each have their own player. This necessitated adding some more Kontakt instruments, because once it leaves the original Kit it seems to lose its Endpoint Connection and maps. However, I simply duplicated your unique .nki’s and purged the unused samples. I can assign it the original Exp and Perc maps and it works great!
On a technical note: When I play back your Dorico file, the first four 1/4 notes of “#8 Toms Ensemble” seem to play the previous instrument sound (Field Drum roll). It’s correct again on the first “Toms Loose Hit.”
Look forward to more exploration. Thanks again!