Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) receives control signaling from the base station indicating a set of transmission mode indicators or transmission mode options and a set of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configurations for every transmission mode from a set of transmission modes. The base station transmits additional control signaling to dynamically indicate a transmission mode or a combination of transmission mode indicators and DMRS configuration parameters to signal the transmission mode and one or more associated DMRS configurations. The UE identifies a DMRS configuration and a transmission mode based on the additional control signaling. The UE receives one or more DMRSs from multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) based on the joint/disjoint DMRS and transmission mode signaling. The UE receives one or more data messages from the TRPs based on the transmission mode indication and based on the received DMRSs.