Switch aah-ooh-mmm articulations in Eric Whitacre Choir

Hi all,
This is my first post after trying Dorico now for weeks. I guess I have managed to get along pretty well with this awesome notation program. Thanks to the instruction videos and forum posts. But one thing I can’t get right. So hopefully someone can give me some guidance. Or tell me that this isn’t possible.

I want to write a piece with the Eric Whitacre Choir library from SA. The library gives you plenty of options to switch articulations (key switches, cc and program cc). So I made a custom expression map based on cc. It switches correctly between natural (long), legato and shorts. But they all use the default Aah articulation. And I can’t seem to switch to Mmm or Ooh.

I tried writing in lyrics. Doesn’t work. I can’t find an option to add lyrics to the expression map. What am I doing wrong? Or do I want something that isn’t possible?

By the way, I can program the aah-ooh-mmm manually in the Play mode window using the cc32 channel. But that is a time consuming thing, so I hope another option is available.

Anyone?

Looking quickly at the EWC manual – I don’t have it myself although I’m familiar with how Spitfire’s new products like the BBC SO work – it seems that in fact you can simply mix Oohs, Aahs and Mmm’s within the same preset or “instrument” as shown below which means they should, in theory be available simply through appropriate Expression Map entries corresponding to the keyswitches as shown. If this doesn’t work for some reason, with luck someone who uses the library will see the thread and point you in the right direction.

What you can’t do in Dorico is add lyrics to the Expression Map which would indeed be a nice solution!

Thanks to dko’s post, I see you can select what triggers the articulation. So yes, you can set an expression map up for this, but you will have to make a *playback technique * in Dorico correspond to a different sound.
My guess is you can use a CC with different range values for triggering ghe articulations. Then you would “only” have to draw the values in the chosen cc lane in Play mode, instead of having to input playing techniques (that trigger the playback technique that triggers the keyswitch).
With the cc route, you can also create playing techniques (hidden ones) that trigger the right value in the chosen cc (continuous controller)
Let us know how it goes for you!

(If you need some model, I think the solo strings from Spitfire have a cc expression map available in this forum. It’s always a good idea to study how those things are built.)

yes, that’s of course right – I did have that in my post and then rewrote it, accidentally removing this vital step! As the EWC uses its own player, similar to the BBC one, I’d suggest perhaps having a look at an EM from there. Here is my one for strings based on, though a little altered, from John Barron’s.
BBC SO Core Strings.zip (2.0 KB)

If you do need to automate a switch to a completely different preset by switching channels, then Dorico does allow for this by adding a relative or absolute channel change action. It’s well explained in the online help if you haven’t yet come across this feature.

My guess is you can use a CC with different range values for triggering ghe articulations. Then you would “only” have to draw the values in the chosen cc lane in Play mode, instead of having to input playing techniques (that trigger the playback technique that triggers the keyswitch).

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but I guess I have set this up exactly as you say. I can draw in the values in the chosen cc lane in Play mode (that works), but I would like to trigger the articulations or better said the vowels (for example the aah, ooh and mmm) by writing in lyrics in the Write mode. Just like you trigger articulations with strings in your score (for example a dot for staccato).

Hope this makes sense …

Thanks! Will have a look at the BBC SO map this evening. It’s indeed the same SA player both libs use.
And I will dive into the channel change action :slight_smile: