I have downloaded the new soundsets for Sibelius 3. I have 3.1.1. In the "Read Me" file, it says "You should also be certain that you've actually loaded the soundfont bank INTO BANK 001 of your soundblaster card. . ."

This is what I see and what happens when I try to follow that direction.

First, what I see:

I open the SoundFont Bank Manager and click on "Bank". That takes me to a "Configure Bank" option with a drop down box that says "Select Bank". I do just that and choose [001] which also has the text "4MB GMGSMT" to its right. In the "Bank Stack" window, there is the same thing, 4MB GMGSMT. Near the bottom of the screen, I select the "Load" button. That opens a box with "Sounds" loaded in the "Look In" prompt. I go into the "Files Of Type" prompt at the bottom, find VirtualDrumlineinbank1ofso.set! When I select Open to load the sound set, I always get the error "Load the SoundFont File Failed".

So when I enter notes on the template, I'm getting piano. . .not drum sounds.

What am I doing wrong??? :(

Thanks,
Steve Filippelli

Steve,

Here's what you're doing wrong. You're trying to load a Sibelius soundset file into your Soundfont bank manager. That won't get you anywhere. In the Soundfont Bank manager, you load the actual Vdrumline.sf2 file (into bank 001).

The soundsets (three files with the .set filename suffix) should be dropped into the SOUNDS folder within your Sibelius 3 program folder.

When your soundfont is properly loaded (in the bank manager), and your soundsets are placed in Sibelius' 'sounds' folder, you should be able to see the Virtual Drumline soundsets within Sibelius' devices window. In this case, you'd choose the one that says:
"Virtual Drumline (in bank 1 of soundblaster card).

Then you can more easily make your staff settings in the mixer window.

Jim, I must be thicker than my friends proclaim. Is "Vdrumline.sf2" the actual name of the file I need to load into the Soundfont Bank (via manager)? When I open the Sib3 Sound Sets folder provided by the Tap Space link, I see the files:

Virtualdrumlinegigakontakt.set
Virtualdrumlineinbank1ofso.set
Virtualdrumlinesoundfontpr.set

Or am I still misuderstanding?

Also, in my SoundFont Bank Manager, Bank 001 is loaded with the information I noted before. . . ."4MB GMGSMT".

Can I load additional sound fonts to 001 with the others already present? Or must I find an empty bank?

Sorry for the density but I don't quite understand.

Thanks for your patience.

Steve

[quote="drumzx"]Jim, I must be thicker than my friends proclaim. Is "Vdrumline.sf2" the actual name of the file I need to load into the Soundfont Bank (via manager)? When I open the Sib3 Sound Sets folder provided by the Tap Space link, I see the files:

Virtualdrumlinegigakontakt.set
Virtualdrumlineinbank1ofso.set
Virtualdrumlinesoundfontpr.set

Or am I still misuderstanding?

Also, in my SoundFont Bank Manager, Bank 001 is loaded with the information I noted before. . . ."4MB GMGSMT".

Can I load additional sound fonts to 001 with the others already present? Or must I find an empty bank?

Sorry for the density but I don't quite understand.

Thanks for your patience.

Steve[/quote]

No worries Steve. These are all simple questions, but if you haven't done this stuff before, it can be a little confusing...

Files with the .sf2 extension are SOUNDFONT files. This is a bank of sounds that you load into your soundblaster card (in this case, load it into bank 001).

The "4MB GMGSMT" soundfont bank is your general midi bank, most likely the one that was included with your soundcard. It'd be best for you to have that loaded into bank 000 (if it isn't already).

If you want to load other soundfont banks, simply use an open bank. You can't have multiple .sf2 files sharing the same bank.

In regards to these files:
Virtualdrumlinegigakontakt.set
Virtualdrumlineinbank1ofso.set
Virtualdrumlinesoundfontpr.set

These are the Sibelius soundsets. Just drag-and-drop them into C drive>Program Files>Sibelius Software>Sibelius 3>Sounds. Once you've done this, the soundsets will be available within sibelius (in the devices menu).

Please note: the Sibelius "soundsets" are not actually the sounds themselves, but rather convenient tools to help make it quicker and more intuitive to set up your sounds in Sibeilus. The included instructions should walk you through the Sibelius setup process.