In the Download Assistant, “Content Dorico Pro 4 (recommended)”, nearly 20 times the size of the Dorico 4 app itself — Before I start downloading, what is in this, please?
Probably the HALion samples.
Indeed, these are the samples for Dorico playback. If you are upgrading from a previous version you may be able to use the smaller upgrade patches instead of the full content installer.
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Ah – “content” for the HALion Instrument, I see. Thanks!
Yes, I had this question too. I suspect it will puzzle many people. I didn’t need or want to install those samples. Steinberg really ought to explain what this is clearly in the Download assistant interface. There’s enough space.
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Can I get some clarity here? It’s insinuated (but not conclusively described) that this is the HALion sample library. But “answered more accurately” by @dspreadbury leads to a link where he says it is, “It is an update to the Olympus Choir Micro sounds, recommended but not required.”
So…to take Daniel at his word, it’s 10GB of updated choir sounds? Not a high priority to me, so I’m glad to skip it…but something tells me this is not accurate, and that if I skip it, HALion may have no sounds at all.
I’m installing Dorico 4 on a brand new computer with limited internal drive space so am eager to skip installing anything I don’t absolutely need. I don’t need 10GB of choir samples.
No it’s 437.69 MB. Go to the Dorico > Dorico Pro 4 Update section.
I’m not 100% sure, but around 8 or 9 of the 10GB is the HALion Symphonic Orchestra library and the rest is the other HALion sounds like piano, etc and the Olympus choir. So you definitely want to have all of them, unless you have a better sample library.
@craig_f: it’s 10GB. As mentioned in my post, I’m installing Dorico for the first time on a new computer:
So…can I surmise the correct answer is:
10GB is the entire HALion factory library for those who want access to all those sounds.
438MB is the difference in the factory library, between Dorico 3 and 4, which includes updates to the Olympus choir sounds.
Therefore, I, as a user doing a clean install on a new computer, probably need the 10GB HALion factory library, or else I won’t hear anything.
It would be great if this was labeled as such. Right now, in the screenshot above, all it says is “Content Dorico Pro 4” which isn’t very explanatory as far as letting users know whether they need to download it or not. Just name it “HALion Sample Library” or “Dorico Sounds Library” or something like that so that people can make an informed decision. “Content Dorico Pro 4” is weird grammatically and doesn’t actually let the user know that the download is for sounds. For all I know, it could be fonts and glyphs and page layout and who knows what else.
Yes, you are right with that.
Yes and no. The 10GB is the luxury solution for good sound. If you are tight on disk space, you could instead just get the sound contents package of Dorico Elements (which is much much smaller) and then tell Dorico to only use the “HSSE (Elements)” playback template. With that you will also get playback for (nearly) every instrument, but the sound quality will be rather poor for most instruments. So there is no definite answer, just the recommendation to get the big 10GB package.
And regarding the naming of that installation package, you are quite right, I think. Even I as a non-native English speaker always felt that it was not appropriate, but since the native speakers never raised their voice about it, I also did not, but I guess the time has come now…
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Thanks for clarifying and confirming @Ulf.
The only additional thing I’d like to mention is that it would be great if the “elements” version was also explained better. On a travel laptop with a small boot drive, I’d be totally happy with a lite elements version to save disk space and RAM. On a bigger studio machine, maybe I’d opt for the 10GB whole enchilada. But it’d be nice if this was clear inside the Steinberg Download Manager. I wouldn’t have ever known to look for that.
Hi, user 450.
Just a little piece of information, in case you’re not familiar yet with Dorico… The best quality/size library is NotePerformer (hands down), and if you’re interested in playback quality without having to spend time tweaking CCs, you’ll probably get your license for this. You’ll probably won’t need any HALion instrument — at least, none of the HSO library… and it will fit any kind of computer (especially the one with less memory and storage).
My guess is that is the reason why this whole labelling name hasn’t raised so much complaints : once you’ve discovered NotePerformer, you don’t really care about the solution that comes with Dorico. (But Olympus micro was indeed a very good addition).
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@user450, I just want to add another plug for NotePerformer, which is used as the default library by many professional users ( although I am more of a reasonably competent amateur). It contains the widest selection of instruments of any collection I am aware of, phrases music in far more “human” way than most libraries, sounds great, especially when used with larger instrument groupings (the sound of individual instruments is its weakest point), and uses minimal computer resources that almost any laptop or desktop of the past 10 years can handle with comfort. Incredibly, its retail price is only $129 US and there is a month-long trial version as well as an option to pay by the month until the full retail cost is covered. Further info can be found at https://www.noteperformer.com
A google search will uncover many posts on this forum with links to playback of Dorico files using NotePerformer if you are interested to have a listen.
PS I am an enthusiastic user and supporter but have no connection to Wallander Instruments.
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Many thanks for that suggestion, Ulf (the voice of sanity around here)!
@MarcLarcher
As someone who 99.99% of the time has no use for playback and the audio turned off when working in Dorico, would NotePerformer be your recommendation for when I want to listen to a passage without having to waster time fiddling with balance settings?
Do you know how much disk space Note Performer needs in comparison with a minimal Halion installation?
Thanks,
David
Dear David,
I would certainly recommend you to try it, as there’s a free trial. And you’ll probably will like it.
On the top of my head, I don’t remember the storage footprint but it’s below 1GB (actually 1.2GB) which is remarkable, as there are many instruments included.
Another plug for Note Performer. For me, it’s indispensable while working with Dorico and miles better value than any other library I’ve bought.
Note Performer have been hard at work on the next version for some time. My understanding is that it’s a major update. They haven’t announced a date as yet - it’ll come when it’s ready.
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Everyone I’ve heard who tried it loves NotePerformer and the demos are impressive!
I know it’s limited in flexibility (compared to a large orchestral sample library), but for what it does, it does extremely well.