Playback template, VST?

[paulinho]

Hello,

I have a score for saxophones, trumpets, trombones, bass drum, and piano. When I play the score, some wind instruments, especially the trombones, lag behind the beat. Since it’s a Latin arrangement, I need all the instruments to play on the beat. Currently, I have my playback template set to auto. Is there a template where all the instruments play on the beat?

Thanks,

Paulinho Garcia

Dorico Diagnostics.zip (1.4 MB)

[Christian_R]

Hi @paulinho,

@paulinho

some wind instruments, especially the trombones, lag behind the beat.

actually this should not be the case. Did you try to reapply the playback template? To do so go in menu Play>Playback Template… then select your desired playback template (probably Auto in your case) and click Apply and close.

If this doesn’t help, a diagnostic report can be helpful for the Team to see what is going on. You can generate it from menu Help>Create Diagnostic Report. Then you can attach the generated zip file to a new post.

Another way for us to help is to see the actual Dorico Project. Can you upload it here in a new post?

[paulinho]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for responding.

the first option didn’t work, but here is the diagnostic.

Dorico Diagnostics.zip (1.4 MB)

[paulinho]

I will attach it to a new post also.

[Christian_R]

@paulinho

I will attach it to a new post also.

You already did. (I didn’t mean to create a new topic for that).

[Christian_R]

@paulinho

here is the diagnostic.

Lets see what the Team will tell.

Meanwhile you could attach your Dorico file, or a cut-down version of it that shows the issues. Here you will find how to do that:

@dspreadbury

Post a project, not a picture
If you are having a problem with Dorico, the fastest way to get the help you need is to post the project, or a part of it, and not to post a screenshot. If you post a picture, you will almost certainly find that the first person to respond to your thread asks you to post the project. You may be concerned that the musical content of your project will be judged, or stolen. While we cannot guarantee that this will not happen, because of the supportive nature of the forum, this is vanishingly unlikely. There may be copyright or confidentiality restrictions that prevent you from posting the whole project. That’s fine! It’s always better in any case to cut the project down to a smaller size to attach it, particularly because there is a 4MB file size limit on attachments.

To cut down your project, first do File > Save As to save your project under a new name, to avoid making unwanted changes to your working project. If the project contains multiple flows, delete all flows except for the one that exhibits the problem. If the project contains multiple players, delete all players except for the one that exhibits the problem. If the problem is isolated to a particular bar or passage, then use the Shift+B popover to remove all other bars (e.g. select a note or rest in the bar after the problem passage, type Shift+B and enter a huge negative number like -9999 to delete all of the remaining bars in the flow).

Once you have cut down the project to the minimum scope that reproduces the problem, in Play mode choose Play > Playback Template and reapply the default playback template, or choose Silence. This dramatically reduces the file size of the project after you have deleted most of its musical material, because it removes the saved audio engine state.

Finally, attach the Dorico project it to your post.

If you want to add a picture as well (perhaps annotated to show where the problem exists), then by all means do so. But if your problem relates to a specific situation you’re experiencing in your project, you are guaranteed to get a more helpful answer more quickly when you include a suitable project file to reproduce the problem.

[paulinho]

Hi Christian,

Thank you once again for the detailed explanation. I’m 78 years old and have over 60 years of experience as a professional musician. Most of my writing was done by hand until I learned Finale, which took me years to master. Now, Dorico sometimes feels overwhelming for me. I haven’t added the entire score not because of concerns about fraud, but simply because I don’t know how to do it.

I’ll make the cuts as you suggested and see how it goes.

I also thought it might be helpful to send you an audio of the cut-down version, what do you think about it?

Best,

[Christian_R]

Hi @paulinho, I understand and this Forum is here to help. Feel free to ask anything.

If you feel comfortable sending the whole Dorico file, you don’t need to make the cuts and you can upload it as it is. To make the file size smaller you can apply the Silence playback template. In case the file is still bigger then 4MB (which is the maximum upload limit here in the Forum), you can upload it to any cloud service (Dropbox, Googledrive, Onebox, Wetransfer, etc…) and just post the link to that file.

An audio of the issue would also be helpful, so that we can hear how it sounds on your system.

[paulinho]

Hi Christian,

I hope I’ve sent the project correctly. All my writing is copyrighted, so I’m comfortable sending it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t add the audio, even in mp3 format, because it’s too large.

Na Baixa do Sapateiro - Na Baixa do Sapateiro studio jazz band.dorico (3.8 MB)

Dorico Diagnostics.zip (1.4 MB)

here is the audio

Na Baixa do Sapateiro - Na Baixa do Sapateiro studio jazz band.mp3

[Janus]

@paulinho

When I play the score, some wind instruments, especially the trombones, lag behind the beat.

My guess is the problem is caused by using the Iconica Sketch instruments in conjunction with the Saxes that must come from Halion Sonic Selection.
If you change to one of the other factory templates (rather than Auto) you may get a cleaner result. eg…
Go to play>Playback Templates... Click the Show All Factory button and select this one…

Personally I find the HSO sounds more responsive than the Iconica Sketch ones.
Others may have better suggestions.

[Christian_R]

Hi @paulinho, beside the suggestion by @Janus, leaving the setup as you have now (with different libraries assigned by the Auto playback template) you can customise the Delay for each affected instrument/articulation in its corresponding Expression map.

In your case are the Iconica sketch trombones (that are using the Sustain articulation at their entrance) that are sounding behind the beat.

So you can open, in Play mode, the expression map used by the trombones, choose the Natural switch (which correspond to the Sustain articulation of Iconica Sketch) and set a negative delay of for example -100ms (probably -125ms would be even better). You need to do it only once, because the three trombones are using the same Expression map:

(follow the numbers)

I made also a short video showing the procedure:

---

Add-on:
Consider that if you will add different articulations to the trombones, later on in your composing journey, you may want to customise the delay of other corresponding switches, in case for example the legato is also behind the beat. Generally shorter articulations (Staccato and Marcato) are not so loose as long articulations.

[paulinho]

Hi Janus,

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried your option, but I still hear the delay.

All the best,

[Christian_R]

@paulinho

Hi Janus,

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried your option, but I still hear the delay.

Did you try my suggestion? (Starting with the Auto Playback template applied).

[paulinho]

Thank you, Christian. It’s much better now. In fact, I ended up using -125.

On another note, I have Garritan installed on my computer from my finale times. Do you think it would work with Dorico? Before, I tried all Dorico’s playback templates and didn’t like any of them.

All the best

[Janus]

@paulinho

On another note, I have Garritan installed on my computer from my finale times. Do you think it would work with Dorico? Before, I tried all Dorico’s playback templates and didn’t like any of them.

Garritan works with Dorico (along with any other sample library). Unsurprisingly Dorico bundles Halion and Iconica because they are Steinberg products.

There are number of threads discussing the use of Garritan and a few playback templates available that users have created.

[paulinho]

Thank you, Janus.

I’ll review those templates and install them. I suppose I’ll need to install the Aria Player VST in Dorico for it to function.

All the best.