For those who use the plugin Vhorns sax or trumpets/trombones in combination with Dorico, I have a question regarding an issue I came across.
When I have mulitple instruments in my setup…
…and I set vibrato to “manual” on all instruments (because I don’t want vibrato or want to add it later)…
… then whenever Dorico (re)loads the plugin (like on opening the project or the project window becoming active), the first instrument (= part 1) no longer makes a sound on “note-on” and makes a sort of valve sound on “note-off”.
I can reproduce this with different projects. Strangely only the first instrument I added in the plugin shows this behaviour, regardless of the midi channel it is assigned to (in above example the “Alto sax”). Other parts which also have manual vibrato always sound normal.
I have exactly the same issue with another Vhorns instance with a set of 4 trumpets and 4 trombones, in which the first trumpet shows this same behaviour.
One work around I found was to set a random CC value in the Dorico lane related to that first instrument (in my case vibrato is set to CC2, so I send value 64 on CC2):
Then when I start playback that value is sent to the first instrument and it plays normally.
Another option is setting the vibrato to “Auto” and setting the modulation values to zero:
I don’t like using such workarounds. Any Vhorns user understands what may be going on? What may be the reason that only the first instrument behaves in this strange way?
I’m a non-expert user of VHorns saxophones in Dorico so I can’t pinpoint the root cause of your issue, but I can offer some thoughts on what you may want to try. Also I will mention some differences in my use of the VHorns saxophones not because they may answer your question, but because they seem to work well for me.
Things to try (based on your screenshots):
In Preferences:
1 - adjust the Vibrato knob all the way counter-clockwise.
2 - Set “Allow vibrato with air flow” to No
Differences with my setup (not likely to solve your issue):
1 - I use a separate instance of the UVI workstation for each instrument track in a Dorico ensemble
2 - I set Vibrato to Auto Time and I edited the time envelope in preferences
3 - I didn’t change Vibrato from using the default CC11 expression.
I use a breath controller to record automation using the three default CC11, CC1 and CC91 parameters. I see you changed Vibrato to CC2, which is commonly used with breath controllers. Did you also change the controller in VHorns preferences? If you don’t want any vibrato, you can try using a CC in the upper ranges that is not normally assigned to anything. I found it important to set upper and lower CC limits with the breath controller, otherwise I did hear the valve noises you reported.
My goal was different than yours: to tame the vibrato but not eliminate it. I do hope you can find a solution that accomplishes your goal because VHorns can produce great sounds. If you haven’t solved your problem, you can create a post on the KVR Audio Acoustic Samples support forum, because this is most likely a VHorns configuration question they can address there. Good luck!
I also found Simon Passmore’s YouTube overview of VHorns saxophones very helpful (even though he uses a DAW).
Oh, I forgot to add that if you are using the Acoustic Samples VHorns expression maps in Dorico, they have set CC11 for Vibrato. If you change the CC in the VST, I recommend you edit the expression map too.
This actually solved my problem. The vibrato knob was almost down counter-clockwise on my instruments (it “looked” like zero but actually it was 100%) . Now when I set the vibrato to Auto and the vibrato knob entirely to zero, I no longer have vibrato. Better solution than setting the vibrato to manual as I had done.
I chose for one instance for reeds and one for brass because I find it easier to manage the instrument sections this way. I tend to use similar settings for the instruments, so it’s easy to switch between them. For each set (reeds, brass) I have an endpoint configuration.
Are there any benefits I miss by not having separate instances?
Bit off-topic, but that’s on my bucket list… I have an EWI5000 wind controller but it has bite controller issues, now thinking of buying a Roland AE-20 or a Tecontrol. Would like to use it with Vhorns. Your tips will be useful.
Wasn’t really aware of the existence of this forum, thanks for the tip. May post my vibrato issue there just out of curitosity (even though I have a solution now).
Again a nice tip, will have a look.
I created simple expression maps, expanding them as per my needs. Where did you find Vhorns expression maps for Dorico?
The choice of using a multi or not to load virtual instruments is mostly personal, I guess. I prefer having maximum control over each instrument with the Dorico mixer and whatever plugin inserts and sends that I may apply. It is not unusual for me to use four plugins (such as EQ, compression, saturation, transient designers, amp sims, etc etc ) as well as the up the 8 FX buss sends (for reverbs and limiters) that Dorico now allows.
I use the Hornberg HB1 breath controller. I’m very happy with it. It’s not inexpensive. One tip I can give is to make sure that “Filter out midi controllers” is unchecked in Dorico preferences, in the Play / Recording section.
The Acoustic Samples VHorns expression maps are bundled with playback templates here: https://blog.dorico.com/playback-templates/. If you are not aware, do NOT apply a playback template to an existing project if you have put a lot of work into mixer settings and plugin inserts. It is highly destructive, resetting all faders and removing all inserts. Instead, create a new blank project, apply the playback template, and export the expression maps to a folder. Then you can go back to your original project and import only the expression maps. I learned this the hard way a while ago after I updated my endpoint configurations and reapplied the playback template of a project. There are times when re-applying a playback template becomes necessary, but fortunately they are rare. Understand the impact to the mixer and save all your plugin presets so they can be reloaded with less time wasted.
Sorry to bring up an older thread, but any chance the VWinds playback template could be updated to include Flutes? Or any suggestions for maybe editing the oboe Xmaps.
