Sound

[matt.whitby]

I’ve used Musecore for many years and having watched quite a few videos on Dorico, I figured as I had a day off I’d give it a go. Three hours in and I’ve failed to get any sort of play back at all. I feel it’s probably best to stick with Musecore at this time.

[lafin]

The developers monitor this forum and are very helpful and I’m sure they’ll respond as soon as they’re able.
I’m no expert on playback issues but I know of several things you can look at if (hopefully) it’s an easy fix.

1. Make sure the sound files are installed by checking your Steinberg Download Assistant.
2. Go to device setup from the edit menu to make sure it’s playing through your system.
3. Go to play mode and reapply playback template .

If none of these work, search this forum for the fixes that Ulf the resident sound expert has offered to others. Hopefully he’ll be able to respond soon.

Hopefully you won’t give up on Dorico in spite of your understandable frustrations. As good as MuseScore is for many simple notation needs, Dorico offers so much more.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[benwiggy]

What seems to be the problem?

What sample libraries are you using? At the very least, the default libraries should give you sound straight away.

If you’re on Windows, there might be some setup for your audio or driver config.

Edit > Device Setup is where you configure your output.

[matt.whitby]

I did get some sound in the end.

All I really wanted to test was how good the playback is, and with the examples (which I assume show the product off to its best) it doesn’t sound good at all to my ears. My guess is it’s just for demo music, with apologies if I’m wrong.

[Ulf]

Which sound library did you install and which playback template did you apply? If you installed the big 10 GB worth of HALion Symphonic Orchestra library and chose the HSO Playback Template it should not sound bad. Well, there is debate in the community about the sound quality of HSO., but overall it is quite high I’d say.

[matt.whitby]

I just loaded “Clocks” by Coldplay (not that I’m a Coldplay fan) but it was the piece of music presented as a sample, and the playback sounded like a toy piano.

[benwiggy]

It may be the case that the ‘out of the box’ samples are not all that they could be – and MuseScore 4 has certainly raised the bar there.

But where Dorico stands out from the crowd is in the out-of-the-box quality of its notation, and the ease with which it produces it.
It’s also best in class for ‘DAW-like’ functionality, in terms of using VST instruments and the world of sample libraries that are out there.

[matt.whitby]

Yup. What I wanted was a good way to notate and have software that dealt well with articulations. Dorico isn’t there yet. The output, for me, is everything.

[benwiggy]

@matt.whitby

Dorico isn’t there yet. The output, for me, is everything.

In which case you probably want to use a ‘Pro’ sample library, like VSL, which as I say, Dorico can do very well.

[matt.whitby]

I’ll try it with one of the Spitfire libraries tomorrow.

[benwiggy]

If you want to hear some samples of things people have done:

Here’s Siegrfried’s Funeral March, done in NotePerformer:

Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March

As my idea of fun, I thought I’d type up the music for Siegfried’s Funeral March - partly to hear what NotePerformer would make of it, and partly as an exercise in music that’s outside my usual rep. Also, someone was talking recently about the utility of having sample scores for testing speed issues, etc. Anyway, here are the notes. I’ve not really done much with the layout. One problem is that Dorico only condenses the first instrument of a Single Player, and I’ve put all the different transp…

(Which says more about NotePerformer than Dorico, I suppose. NP version 4 is expected soon.)

Here’s a discussion about using jazz articulations in Big Band libraries:

"Is there a good jazz library?"

Since @Candlebane asked this question in the Noteperformer thread, I figured I’d answer in a new thread as to not further derail that one. The answer is no, or if there is one I haven’t found it. Some libraries, like Broadway Big Band, sound pretty good but don’t play well with notation software at all. I have Broadway Lites but have never been able to get “Notation mode” working on it so can’t use it with Dorico. JABB uses aftertouch vibrato which isn’t possible in Dorico so JABB saxes and bra…

There are several other discussions about each of the various sample libraries, which also have example audio.

[laughreyg]

Indeed it is🙂