David, thank you for your considerations. What I’m missing is probably a single feature solving two problems:
a) a way to save instruments definitions, expression maps, playing techniques and playback techniques for the sound libraries I want to use for sketching;
b) a custom instrument definition, allowing for the use of more sound libraries for the same instrument. Playback templates allow for the replacement of an instrument’s family, but not the simultaneous use of more sound libraries for the same instrument.
Sketches have never a fixed form, since they grow while composing. You have to keep the staves at the bare minimum, but they may grow as you progress. Instruments in a stave may change. So, there is never a standard instrument definition fitting every situation.
And, sketches are not based on standard instruments, since you might start with a “brass crescendo”, followed by a short “violin solo” passage, completed by a response from the “high strings”. Ensemble/sketching libraries are a match to this way of holistic musical thinking.
Score templates, with every situation programmed (instead of a playback template) wouldn’t work for me. If they have to include all the situations, they would be incredibly big. Many composers start with a huge template in their DAW, and only turn on the tracks they need at the moment. I find this way of working distracting. The reasons why I love Logic’s track setting presets is that you can start with a single track, and quickly program as you need it. And then add all the tracks you need, letting the piece grow with sort of a snowflake method. You can think starting from the blank page, growing to the full piece without losing focus.
Playback templates in Dorico want a precise match between instrument definitions, sounds, playing techniques, expression maps, etc. What I’m looking for is something more casual, less precise, free to use at a particular time. The freedom to switch instrument at any time, and use any timbral combination when I want it, at any level of zoom on the piece.
I know I may be foggy, but I understand this is one of the most complicate issues of making music, and there aren’t many example to which to refer to.
Paolo