Hear the Words that the Choir Sings while Composing: Scoring with Dorico 5 & ACE Studio

Video Content:

If you are a composer writing for a choir or orchestra, you might really want to hear the words that the choir sings while composing. In this video, I will demonstrate how to achieve this using ACE Studio in combination with Dorico 5.

ACE Studio allows composers to input lyrics into the score and have them sung with real vocals. Next, I will use a sample score provided in Dorico 5 to demonstrate the process.

ACE Studio currently cannot directly import Music XML, so we need to export MIDI from Dorico. ACE Studio generates AI singing voice through MIDI and lyrics, so we need to import the MIDI into ACE Studio and then add the corresponding lyrics to the MIDI.

Open ACE Studio and drag the MIDI exported from Dorico into the track area to complete the MIDI import.

Remember to select "apply the tempo and signature from the MIDI file."

Click the play button, and the AI will start rendering the vocals. Note that since ACE Studio uses cloud servers for AI vocal synthesis, an internet connection is required.

We export the lyrics from Dorico so that we can paste the text into ACE Studio.

In ACE Studio, the notes are grouped according to musical phrases, allowing us to copy and paste an entire sentence of lyrics at once.

Note that you need to select the clip you want to add lyrics to in the track, and then the lower part of the interface will display the MIDI corresponding to that clip.

Let's solo this track and click the play button to hear the result.

In ACE Studio, different singers have different timbres and singing styles. I think Karolyn is the most suitable for this song. Drag her from the voice list into the track head to replace the singer.

Next, we'll add lyrics to the other tracks as well. Use Karolyn for all female vocal parts, and Barber for the male vocal parts.

ACE Studio, like a notation program, allows only one syllable per note. However, in ACE Studio, multi-syllable words are automatically distributed across consecutive notes, so you don't need to split them manually. When pasting lyrics into ACE Studio, you might sometimes find it difficult to determine how many words from the lyrics correspond to a particular note group. In such cases, I suggest you pause and listen to the performance in ACE Studio to decide how many lyrics should be copied into that note group.

After exporting the dry vocals, add some reverb in the Daw to achieve the final effect that I played at the beginning of the video.