Trill/tremolo speed in playback varies with tempo?

Dorico
1

Hi everyone,

I may be missing something obvious here, but the speed of all of my trills and tremolos (both multi-note and unmeasured) is directly related to the tempo. As one consequence, during any accel. or rit. the trill/tremolo likewise changes its speed throughout. I don’t see anything in playback options which would alter this.

I’d really just like to set trills/tremolos to be one speed regardless of the tempo, and to not be affected by tempo alterations. Is this possible?

Thanks!

2

What VST sounds are you using to play back your score?

And while you are at it, what version of Dorico and what computer OS are you using?

3

Hi

It’s the latest Dorico and the latest Noteperformer (certainly should have included that one), on Windows 10

4

When using NotePerformer, typically the speed of trills and tremolos is determined by settings in Playback Options, because they are played by way of Dorico generating multiple notes, rather than a recorded sample of a trill or tremolo. Try experimenting with the values in the Playback Options dialog to see if you can achieve something closer to your taste.

5

Hi Daniel, thanks for the reply.

Yes I see those Playback options - every option in there is ‘absolute’ (number of notes per second or per quarter at 120), which is exactly what I want, but this doesn’t seem to be working with accelerandos or ritardandos. During an rit. for instance, the speed of a trill or tremolo (both unmeasured and multi-pitch) decreases in clear proportion to the changing tempo.

Here’s a short audio sample (since I can’t attach mp3) of an unmeasured tremolo

I wouldn’t mind if I weren’t in the unfortunate position of having to create a ‘realistic’ MIDI in a piece that does this 50 times. Everything else works great but not sure what to do about this one. Any ideas/thoughts are welcome

6

Yes, you’re right, pthompson. Generated trills and tremolos scale according to the current tempo. There’s no option to change this at present, I’m afraid. It’s non-trivial for us to change this, too, but I’ll make a note of it as something we should try to add an option for in future.

7

Got it, thanks for confirming and for making a note of it. In the meantime, the super precise timing/tempo controls in Dorico have allowed for a workaround so it’s a happy ending.

8

I’m adding here my feature request, since I think it is somewhat related (even if in the opposite direction):

I would find it useful if the speed of trills and unmeasured tremolos could be dynamically adjusted. Maybe with controls in the CC lanes.

Being able to vary them would make playback much more realistic. Yes, one could use a hidden staff to add an actually played trill, but being able to control the written one would be cleaner. And this wouldn’t solve the unmeasured tremolo issue.

Paolo