What is your opinion on Noteperformers dynamic in a symphonic setting ?
Is it balanced, so that e.g. a trumpets forte is louder than say a clarinet ?
And what about the different instrument’s loudness in the different registers ?
Do we have to fiddle with the mixer to get the balances right ?
TIA,
Mads
NP’s built-in sounds were explicitly designed to work well for creating realistic-sounding symphonic tuttis without any fiddling at all, the defaults are set up for that specific purpose so yes, in that sense it’s balanced. They have a playlist of demos on their website to convince you of this fact. But for that reason, all the instruments sound very classical, so in for example a big band context the trumpets and saxophones are somewhat less convincing.
This is exactly what NP aims to solve at its core – balancing instruments across all registers, sections, and various playing techniques (so even when you’re switching quickly from staccato to legato to tremolo with octave leaps, it sounds as you would expect and per your written dynamic, with no sudden surprises).
I am speaking primarily with NP’s native sounds. They also have engines, known as NPPE, which utilize major sample libraries. These are also very balanced (much more compared to using the libraries with your own maps), which again is what the NPPE is designed to do. But, these are slightly more flawed, and I find I sometimes have to add manually automation in the lane CC11 most of all.
No, not really. It’s pretty much set-and-forget. The only changes I ever have to make are based on subjective taste and musical context – for example a soloist I might reduce the reverb on its channel so it sounds more close (on the whole, I do think NP’s default reverb setting is a tad wet, but that’s just a personal preference). Also, I sometimes like to turn the volume up on percussion, but that’s simply because I like loud drums, not because NP has balanced them “incorrectly” 
Well, I don’t feel quite as positive about it as your other respondents do, but I will say this: Compared to the sounds that come with Dorico automatically, it’s a three thousand percent improvement in all the regards you’re concerned about. I’m very glad I took the plunge and bought NP. Yes, there’s still a bit of ‘fiddling,’ as you put it, needed, but nowhere near as much as before I installed NP.
Hello there ! I’m using NotePerformer with the playback engine for Spitfire SSO. My audio mockups sound remarkably similar to the actual performance of an actual orchestra. My two most recent concert recordings with an actual symphony orchestra were astonishingly close to the mockups. As a result, I feel quite relaxed when writing my scores, knowing that I won’t be surprised during rehearsals.
The only problem arises with instruments that aren’t part of the SSO, like the piano. The best solution I discovered is to employ a close mic and a spatialization software like MIR PRO 3D. Then, position the piano at the appropriate location (either in front of the conductor for concerto or to the left behind the violin II sections).
Comparison Mock-up vs actual orchestra (I made few minor changes in the score between the mockup and the concert) :
Noteperformer Mockup : https://youtu.be/qbbeb2XWgyA
Budapest SYmphony Orchestra : https://youtu.be/4MQDUx78iPs
Very useful answers!
Thank’s 
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