Here's my specs:
Windows XP; 2.4 GHz; 1 GB RAM
Virtual Drumline
Sibelius 3
Gigastudio 96
MAudio Audiophile 2496 sound card
7 year old Casio p.o.s. keyboard (bought at WalMart when I was still in college) that I keep because I haven't had the funds to upgrade to an actual keyboard.

Here's the scenario:
When I use the VD Template everything works fine.
When Key Poulan sends me the .sib files to write the drum parts into, I have to add the VD staves to the file. I use the updated Sound Sets and get all the channels lined up with Gigastudio. Everything appears in order.

Here's the problem:
When I ENTER the notes, they sound like they should in Live Playback on all staves. When I playback what I enter, the Snare voice is silent (although the meter lights up in the mixer), the Tenor voice plays back the sounds from the octave above (the staff shows D#5 and D5, yet plays back D#6 and D6). The same thing happens in the Bass line (shows F#4, and plays back F#5).

I'm really not sure where the problem lies. I will openly admit my ignorance in this subject, so I am sure it is easily fixable. PLEASE HELP!! I would love to have a kick@*s MP3 to send out to the kiddos before camp starts instead of the usual machine gun playback. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Ralph

Ralph,
Ask Key Poulan if he's using the band template that's mapped for Virtual Drumline. I know that Jim Casella is writing some charts with him this way for some bands. If he's sending you scores that are already mapped, you shouldn't even have to worry about re-mapping the drumline staves.

If however, he's sending you wind scores (no percussion staves), your best bet would be to start from the VDL template (download the latest from https://www.tapspace.com/vdsupport.html). Then ADD WIND STAVES TO IT. It's definitely better to do that than to add VDL staves to a wind score (it's a sibelius thing...long story).

If you aren't hearing certain staves, it may be best to bypass the settings created by simply selecting the instrument from the SOUND menu (in the sibelius mixer), and manually enter in your settings into the appropriate fields. Since you're using Gigastudio, you should be sure the device is correct, as well as PROGRAM, and CHANNEL settings are correct. If you aren't hearing one staff, it's possible you may simply have an incorrect setting for "program #" in the sibelius mixer. Manually entering it should do the trick.

MIDI-lingo can be kind of inconsistent. For example, Middle-C is commonly referred to as C4. However in some circles it may be referred to as C3. You shouldn't have any octave problems if you're using the VDL template, however, if you've started a score from scratch it's possible that the octaves are being interpreted incorrectly. It's odd that entering the notes would sound correct, but that they change upon playback. Not sure about that.

AB