Hello, I'm a young drummer just getting started composing Cadences and small percussion ensembles. I don't a whole lot about programming on the computer, bu I do know some. I used to just write down my compositions on paper. For my past birthday, I got Sibelius 3, Kompakt, and the Virtual Drumline. As of now, I have already installed and registered Sibelius and Kompakt. I am having trouble getting Kompakt to be my primary play back device (right now is Kontakt I think) through Sibelius, as well as getting the VD sounds to play in the program. I guess you could say my main problem is getting everything (Sibelius, Kompakt, and VD) linked together and understanding how to play it back. One main difficulty I have is understanding all the technological terms that are used in the manuals. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just want to get to composing on the computer as soon as possible. Thanks!

Edit: Also, if I uninstall Kontakt as a playback device, would that affect Sibelius? I know you can't run VD through Kontakt, so I think I have to uninstall it. Thanks again.

Scotty,
One thing to keep in mind is that KONTAKT PLAYER SILVER is the included component that came with Sibelius 3. This is different that the actual program KONTAKT (which is available separately). KONTAKT is capable of loading the sounds, just as KOMPAKT is (the other program you have). You should keep KONTAKT PLAYER SILVER installed, as it's great to use for other sounds (brass, woodwinds, etc). It's only useable directly from within Sibelius though.

There was someone with a similar question to yours the other day, so you might find this link helpful to get the basics up and running:
https://www.tapspace.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=172

Let me know if you have any specific questions in the process where you're running into difficulties. It can be a little confusing when you're first getting started, but once you begin to understand how everything interacts, it's not so bad. Just be patient, and be willing to learn as you go!

Good luck,
AB

Thanks for the help Adam. I did take a look at that post yesterday, but after I had asked my question.

I am still encountering some problems.
Following the instructions in that post, I took care of everything up to setting the snares, tenors, basses, and cymbals to channels 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively on Kompakt and saving it.
After saving and closing Kompakt, I opened the VD template for Sibelius and came up with the sheet of music that says <TITLE>, COMPOSER, with several lines of music. I pulled up the "Devices" menu and looked for Maple Midi Port 1, but I didn't see it. Right now, the devices it says I have avaliable are:
Kontakt Player
Microsoft GS Wavetable SW...
MPU-401

Right now, I have Kontakt Player on YES and the other two on NO. But whenever I play music written in the VD template, it comes out funky. (i.e. the snare is a "woot" and the basses are a bunch of bells, woodblocks, and whistles)

I used the "Find New Devices" option, but nothing came up.
Is the Maple Midi Port device under a different name? Or is it a seperate download? I noticed in the other post, he had the programs I have, but he also got "Maple Midi Tools." I don't know if that's the problem or not. I took care of the other steps very carefully, but I'm going to double check today. Your help has been fantastic. I really appreciate it.
Thanks, Scotty.

You need to download and install Maple. Actually, it may be a little less confusing to simply use the MAPLE VIRTUAL MIDI CABLE which basically just creates a windows midi driver that allows your midi programs to speak to each other. You can get that (free) here:
http://www.marblesound.com/Maple_driver.html

Once you've installed that, you may need to re-boot your computer. You should see it as a device in Sibeilus' devices window. Let me know if that's not the case, and we'll get it figured out.

Once it's installed, the Maple driver will be your INPUT IN Kompakt, and it will be you OUTPUT device in Sibelius. Note, once it's installed, you'll probably want to hit the "reset sounds" button again in Sibelius so it recognizes the addition of the new driver.

good luck!
AB

Thanks again for your help, but I think I got stuck again.

I downloaded the Maple file that was at the link, unzipped it, and set it up. Now I think I've overly confused myself. The instructions say to keep Maple running in the background, but it doesn't show up as a program in the program folder of Maple. I went into Kompakt and changed the INPUT devices accordingly and did the same in Sibelius the best that I could understand.
Now, when I play something from the VD template no sound comes out. I might have connected something the wrong way somewhere along the way. I've gone back many times and tried to fix it but I think I just made more problems.
Would it be easier for me to uninstall everything (Sibelius 3, Kompakt, Maple, and VD) and start from scratch? And if I do that, would it be necessary to re-register my products? Thanks for being so patient. Your advice has been a big help to me.
~Scotty

Since the Maple Virtual Midi Cable is just a midi driver, you won't see it appear as a program. Sorry about the confusion with that. Basically, that driver will simply allow one program to speak to another program.

No, you shouldn't need to uninstall or reinstall anything. It usually takes a little trial and error to get up and running in the beginning.

So:
In kompakt, Maple port 1 should be set to "ON" as the midi input. You should have each instrument loaded into a unique channel:
snare=channel 1
tenor=channel 2
etc...
With your mouse, click on highlighted (mapped) notes to verify that you're hearing audio.

In the Sibelius template, go to the devices menu, and set Maple port 1 as your default device (click on the word so it becomes highlighted). Also click on your input device (midi keyboard). If at any point you get a message that says "your midi devices have changed....do you want to reset sounds?" click yes. Also, be sure "MIDI THRU" is clicked in this window.

In the "mixer" window, select your SNARE track. Then over on the right hand side of the window, in the device menu, be sure maple port 1 is selected, then enter CHANNEL 1 since that's what it's set to in Kompakt.

Do the same for Tenors (channel 2), basses (channel 3), etc.

Let me know if this helps at all.
AB

Aha! It's all connected now! Thank you so much for helping. The different Channels for the four sections was thrwoing me off, I think before I didn't notice the channel selection on the Mixer Window.
Anyways, your help has been great! I'll probably be back sometime for some help on refining my writings. Thanks again!!