Hi,
Is it possible to have instances of Dorico and Cubase running at the same time? I’ve got a project in which it would be very convenient to be notating in Dorico and periodically aurally checking things from source midi/audio in Cubase (v9.5). Would activating/deactivating projects switch the audio priority?
Cheers,
C.
Windows 10
Cubase 9.5
Most recent Dorico
This may not be relevant to your workflow but you could also bounce whatever element you want to sync from Cubase as an audio file, add it to a video (static photo, etc) in an external program and then import video into your Dorico session to have perfect sync between your Dorico session and your DAW session’s elements (provided you set both to the same tempo/starting point, or you start your Dorico session by first importing a MIDI file from your Cubase session that retains all the tempo info). I’ve been doing this and while it’s not the most elegant solution at present, it works gloriously well…
D.D.
You can set both programs to release the audio driver-
In Dorico: Preferences>General>Play>Suspend Audio Device in Background
In Cubase: Studio>Studio Setup>VST Audio System>Release Driver when Application is in Background.
Now both programs can run simultaneously, no need to activate or deactivate projects.
That’s the information I needed. Thanks, I’ll try that when I get home.
@robjohn9999: Thanks, in a different situation that might work, but I potentially have multiple channels of audio which I need to to be able to solo or mute, so a bounced audio/video file wouldn’t work for me.
If you have a multi-client ASIO driver then you may not even need to do this. Another option is to the native ASIO driver in Cubase and the ASIO Generic Low Latency driver in Dorico.
Using 2 different soundcard works well too. On my studio I use a multiclient big soundcard but on my “engraving” computer, I use both HDMI audio of my monitors.
Can you recommend one that might work in Windows 10 (64-bit)? There’s an earlier Steinberg one, but the client seems not to show up in the target applications (even after restart).
C.
There’s only one (afaik)- ASIO4ALL
In the ASIO Generic Low Latency Device control panel, try unchecking the ‘Allow ASIO host to take exclusive control’ checkbox.
Got it all up and running. In the end I ran each application with a different asio driver (one on Asio4All and one with my audio interface’s native), but also unchecked ‘allow ASIO to take exclusive control.’ As it happens, in this instance I don’t really need to hear the output from Dorico anyway, though it is working fine. Thanks all.
In my experience it depends on your audio interface (or possibly using something like ASIO4ALL instead of the Steinberg ASIO to WDM bridge if you don’t have a true ASIO interface).
For me it works well, and both CuBase and Dorico can even play at the same time through the same amp/monitors. Occasionally I have both running for different reasons and it works out OK provided the projects hosted in the two apps don’t require gobs of memory that’d lead to a need for major disk-swapping as the two apps fight over RAM.
I can even set up virtual MIDI ports (loopMIDI) and trigger sounds in CuBase instead of hosting them in Dorico. This could come in handy if one wants to run a bunch of outboard gear (I.E. An external Workstation) and get it back into the PC for processing via VST plugins (seeing as Dorico does not yet have a way to put audio inputs into the native Mixing console…while CuBase does). It could also come in handy if you’ve got some beefy plugins that sometimes need to be rendered to pure audio to free up some CPU/Memory (getting a true sync isn’t easy, but one could at least have Dorico send a remote control event via one of the CC lanes to start/stop the Cubase transport via generic remote device on the CuBase side).
Unfortunately Dorico does not yet send a sync signal (MTC/MIDI Clock/SMPTE/etc.), nor can it lock on as slave to one generated elsewhere, so the transports don’t get synced. There are some ways to generate a kind of fake sync signal based on the ASIO sample-count of Dorico’s main outputs using third party apps, or some classic old MIDI black boxes. It’s also possible to build a kind of click track and teach CuBase to somewhat lock on to it (pretty complicated though)…so…I don’t think it’s really worth all the trouble to sort it out at this point.
Hi Steve. I think I’d like to do this - is it still workable? Running Windows 10 Pro (up to date), Cubase Pro 11 and Dorico 4. Thanks for all info.
Probably – give it a try and let us know!
ASIO4ALL is already around for a long time, but there is a new kid on the block called FlexASIO. It’s also worth giving a try.
opens an audio device in shared mode
can be used to interface with any sound API available on a Windows system
Interesting, I’ll check that out!
FlexASIO is very good but a little difficult to tame, because it does not (yet) have a user friendly control panel, so the setup is via config file; nothing for the faint-hearted. But you get rewarded with lots of flexibility.
Running both Dorico 4 and Cubase Pro 11 as admin - I was able to open both at the same time with both using my external audio interface. If this continues to work it will help me immensely! Thanks.
There is a GUI project : GitHub - flipswitchingmonkey/FlexASIO_GUI: Simple configuration GUI for FlexASIO
No need to setup a config file anymore
I know there is, but it is not so advanced either. I made already some experience with it and it does not always reliably write the config file. So I’m convinced of FlexASIO but not of that control panel.
Well, I’ve hit a bit of a snag but not a deal breaker - I seem to be stuck with the audio for whatever program is opened first - except for playback. For example, if I open Dorico 4 first only its sounds are available for recording and note entry but Cubase playback is unaffected. If I open Cubase first then things are vice-versa. I will continue to play with it.
EDIT and UPDATE - I am also “stuck” with using my MIDI keyboard with the first program I opened. Luckily Steinberg had included an onscreen keyboard in Dorico that I can use if I still need note entry. Other editing processes seem unaffected.
