Hello,
Got D5 working on Windows… I am trying some of the new features. I like the implementation of the MIDI triggers, although this seems to been note# based. I would love to use this for sending MIDI SySEx message to control my Yamaha keyboard. I used to do this in Sibelius before. Or does anyone know how to send SyEx data in Dorico? Thx… And Steinberg keep up the nice work!
1 Like
Welcome to the forum, Marc. There’s no way to send MIDI system exclusive messages in Dorico at the moment.
Which Yamaha keyboard?
Sometimes one can do much using bank/program changes, RPN and NRPN events instead of sysex. Dorico Pro CAN do this via controller lanes and/or instrument expression maps (linked to custom playing techniques for sequences of parameters you want to reuse often).
Just sharing some personal research and conclusions (however wrong or incomplete these musings might turn out to be, I’ll share them none the less) …
Some keyboards might also have native or 3rd party plugins that more or less integrate things into a host via instrument plugin.
One problem with such plugins is that it often requires access to true VST parameters (automation lanes) to ‘automate’ sending packets of data, and I don’t think Dorico gives us user access to those parameters at this time (unless it’s brand new to Dorico 5?). In contrast, if it has built in CC learning to trigger things that way, it could work. So, it’s worth checking to see if something like that exists for your model of Yamaha keyboard.
I’ve experimented with open source panel building plugins like Ctrlr. It can be helpful, but as mentioned above, it’s not very straight forward or easy to ‘automate’ the panels from Dorico. As far as I know, this one is VST2 or stand-alone only. I end up just doing any big dumps before I begin my Dorico Session. Channel Continuous Controller, Program/Bank, and RPN/NRPN are typically more than enough to get things done from there, and Dorico can send those easily enough with high degrees of precision.
Do you also run a tracking DAW like Cubase? It’s kind of complicated to set up and learn at first, but it is possible to get any DAW that can slave to MTC synced with the Dorico transport using a third party plugin called TXL Timecode. A good virtual port such as loopMIDI (free), and some ASIO audio routing utilities such as ASIO Link Pro (also free) can help you route MIDI and Audio from one Windows App to another in real time. With a setup like this, you could have your tracking DAW send whatever you like to the instrument with precise timing.