Harmonics playback in Dorico

[Cadenza]

Hi!

Wonder how to deal with string harmonics, both natural and artificial. Since the harmonics in the strings Synchronised SE is already sounding one octave above notated, I have problem to make the correct notation in Dorico. Any solution to this?

[andi]

Hello Cadenza!

As far as I can see Dorico treats artificial harmonics like natural harmonics. They both use the same "Playback Technique" "Natural harmonic 1". In the expression map there is an entry for artificial harmonics to sound an octave lower to compensate the octave shift in the preset, but unfortunately this "Playback Technique" does not get assigned to artificial harmonics. Natural harmonics are played correctly, so adding an entry for natural harmonics to sound an octave lower, would make the natural harmonics sound in the wrong octave. If you are only using artificial harmonics in your score, you could edit the expression map and transpose the Natural harmonic entries down by 12 half-tones.

Best regards,
Andi

[Cadenza]

Hi Andi!

Thanks! As I can see there are two entries of harmonics in the expression map, one for natural and one for artificial harmonics. I made the natural to be sounding an octave lower and now it works with the notation, both with sounding and fingered notation.

Best,

Anders

[Cadenza]

@andi said:

Hello Cadenza!

As far as I can see Dorico treats artificial harmonics like natural harmonics. They both use the same "Playback Technique" "Natural harmonic 1". In the expression map there is an entry for artificial harmonics to sound an octave lower to compensate the octave shift in the preset, but unfortunately this "Playback Technique" does not get assigned to artificial harmonics. Natural harmonics are played correctly, so adding an entry for natural harmonics to sound an octave lower, would make the natural harmonics sound in the wrong octave. If you are only using artificial harmonics in your score, you could edit the expression map and transpose the Natural harmonic entries down by 12 half-tones.

Best regards,
Andi

Hi again,

I thought I solved the problem, but when I checked the harmonics playback it wasn't. Since I'm using both natural and artificial (see screenshot), it's quite complicated - what do I have to change in the expression map to get both sounding right?

Best,
Anders

[andi]

Hello Anders!

As mentioned in my previous post, Dorico uses the same playback technique for artificial harmonics and natural harmonics. Unfortunately this means that it's not possible to have them both sound in the correct octave. At least I wouldn't know how.

Best regards,
Andi

[mducharme]

Have you tried using the octave shift property for the clef change? It was just an idea that came to mind.

It is normally meant for the ottava clefs to allow you to control whether they adjust the octave or not, but I think the setting is available for all clefs.

[Cadenza]

@mducharme said:

Have you tried using the octave shift property for the clef change? It was just an idea that came to mind.

It is normally meant for the ottava clefs to allow you to control whether they adjust the octave or not, but I think the setting is available for all clefs.

Hi and thanks, but it didn't help me since there's no alto clef with transposition upwards, only an octave below. I managed though to make the artificial harmonics to sound right with an octave line, but then I can't hide the line itself - if I do the notes jumps up an octave. So I guess the only solution to this is to write all harmonics as natural ones and trust the musicians to play those which are not natural as artificial.

[mducharme]

@Cadenza said:
Hi and thanks, but it didn't help me since there's no alto clef with transposition upwards, only an octave below.

I suspect you may not quite understand what I mean. I don't mean the octave clefs. Every manually added clef has an "octave shift" property in the properties panel when you select it.

The default is 0 (at pitch) but you can set octave shift anywhere between -3 and +3 octaves.

[Cadenza]

@mducharme said:

@Cadenza said:
Hi and thanks, but it didn't help me since there's no alto clef with transposition upwards, only an octave below.

I suspect you may not quite understand what I mean. I don't mean the octave clefs. Every manually added clef has an "octave shift" property in the properties panel when you select it.

The default is 0 (at pitch) but you can set octave shift anywhere between -3 and +3 octaves.

Aha, thanks! I'll try that.

[Mavros]

I have recently been copying a number of movie scores and none of the SY Strings Pro harmonics worked as written. All only sounded when raised at least an octave.

When I was correcting the EM for the new String Pro/Strings I integration, I noticed that in the VSL EMs for Dorico there is a -24 transposition, the top right entry in the map, for harmonics. Setting these to 0 (there are four harmonics lines I think) make all of them work correctly as written.

[andi]

Hello Mavros!

I have re-checked the harmonics settings in the Dorico expression maps for Synchron Strings Pro. They seem to be correct. Please note that we have only recorded fourth harmonics. The sound of these is two octaves higher than the base note. So if you have written lower harmonics, they will remain quiet.

Best regards,
Andi