I've tried to search through the forum and through sibelius to find the answer but I haven't found anything.

Can the VD2 sounds be used for program changes in Sibelius? i.e. xylophone and bells on the same staff

I've read up on how to do the program and bank changes in sibelius but I don't know if that can be applied to the VD2 sounds since I only have them assigned to a midi channel.

Is this possible or does anyone have any suggestions to get around it?

Update to this thread. The new version of Kontakt Player (which comes with VDL 2.5) is capable of handling instrument banks, and thus, can accommodate program changes. Previously in this thread, it was stated that Kontakt 2 was required to allow for banks (not Kontakt Player, but the full version of Kontakt). At the time, that was true, but as of VDL 2.5, this is possible without the need to upgrade to the full version of Kontakt.

Using the current VDL2 Kontakt Player, there is no way to send program changes in either Finale or Sibelius.

If you are using sounds from Finale's soundfont (smartmusic softsynth), or Sibelius' built-in Kontakt Player (silver or gold), you can send program changes.

Look for these features to improve in the future, but for now, the best way to perform program changes while using sounds from VDL2 is to load them into the full version of Kontakt 2.

So, there's simply no way to easily do a program change in Sibelius like you can do in Finale (MIDI tool or Text Espressions), without the Kontakt full version?

Thanks!

[quote author=mistah link=topic=573.msg4727#msg4727 date=1147208709]
how is this same feature executed in finale?

i have the banks/channels loaded the way i'd like to, but i'm not sure how to change finale to look in the bank i need it to. usually i've just done a patch change by switching instruments...add in a bank and i'm clueless
[/quote]

You should only use one instrument bank PER CHANNEL. So, if you have five players in your pit, each whom needs to occasionally switch instruments, you should load FIVE instrument banks in K2, and assign each one of them to their own unique midi channel. Once you've done this, load each bank with whichever instruments you'd like that particular player to access.

If your Marimba 2 bank contains:
001 Marimba Med
002 Tambourine Orch
003 Guiro
etc...

...then to switch from Marimba to Guiro, you'd need to do a patch change to patch 3 (aka program 3).

Finale gives you a couple ways to do this.

Using the MIDI tool:
-Click midi tool
-double click bar where you want to insert patch change
-In MIDI Tool window, click the patch change button, then drag (with your mouse) over the portion of the measure you'd like to insert the program change so it's highlighted.
-Go to the MIDI menu and select ";set to";  - a patch change window appears
-enter in the number of the patch you want to change to.

You can also attach these program changes to Text Expressions. So, you might enter in the text:
";To Guiro";. When you click the ";edit"; button to edit this text expression, select the ";playback"; option and select ";Patch";. Then enter the patch number in the ";program change"; field.

Keep in mind if you do this with a text expression, any other staves that use that text expression will also carry the same playback info, so you should be careful.

how is this same feature executed in finale?

i have the banks/channels loaded the way i'd like to, but i'm not sure how to change finale to look in the bank i need it to. usually i've just done a patch change by switching instruments...add in a bank and i'm clueless

I sounds like you just have an instrument loaded.

Click the load/Save icon and select ";new instrument bank"; instead of ";new instrument";. You should see the slots there.

What you said makes PERFECT sense now. Is creating an instrument bank fairly simple? I clicked on the wrench icon like my K2 manual said to do, but I don't see the 128 slots, just a group editor with a long list of effects. Could you or anybody else explain how to do that real quick?

[quote author=Lydian9 link=topic=573.msg2916#msg2916 date=1122755127]
Here's the scenario:

Marimba 3 puts down the mallets and goes to Tambourine for a section. Marimba is on Channel 3, General MIDI Set is on Channel 8.
I type ";Ctrl-t";, then ~P8 but nothing happens. I made the correct staff type changes, am I doing something wrong?
[/quote]
Ralph - this won't work. There's a difference between a MIDI [b]Channel[/b], and a [b]Program[/b]. Think of the ";program"; as the You can't change channels in the middle of your Sibelius score in order to access an instrument that's assigned to a different channel. Instead, you have to load multiple instruments into an [b]Instrument Bank[/b] in Kontakt 2. Assign an instrument bank to your marimba 3 staff (on channel 3). In this instrument bank, you'll have 128 slots to load different instruments into. So you'd start by loading your marimba patch into slot 1 (program 1), then your tambourine patch into slot 2 (program 2), etc. Then to initiate the program change, you'd enter ~p2 as text on that staff, and the instrument bank will swap the loaded patch. If you need to utilize this sort of power, you'll need to be using Kontakt 2 since banks (and program changes) are not possible in Kontakt 1.5.3, or the VDL2 Kontakt Player.

[quote author=Cobybos link=topic=573.msg2926#msg2926 date=1122757815]
Yes.�� Should be CTRL+E.

Gabe
[/quote]
Gabe, I haven't checked to verify this, but if memory serves, I think MIDI commands in Sibelius will work as either ";Expression Text"; (ctrl-E), or ";technique text"; (ctrl-T).

Yes.  Should be CTRL+E.

Gabe

Edit:  I should also read the ENTIRE post before replying.

Here's the scenario:

Marimba 3 puts down the mallets and goes to Tambourine for a section. Marimba is on Channel 3, General MIDI Set is on Channel 8.
I type ";Ctrl-t";, then ~P8 but nothing happens. I made the correct staff type changes, am I doing something wrong?

Actually, Kontakt 1.5.3 does not handle program changes. The new version however (Kontakt 2) allows you to load ";Banks"; which do accept program changes.

To send a program change from Sibelius, simply type in the following as ";technique text";:

~p2

Basically, what the above command will do is tell the staff to send a program change from its current program (i.e. program 1) to program 2. It's very similar to typing in controller changes for things such as mod-wheel.

I do have Kontakt 1.5.3 on my computer at home. I'll give that a shot when I get home today.

Thanks.

You cannot do program changes with Sibelius only using VD:2. You can do program changes if you have a [b]full version of Kontakt[/b]. With Kontakt, you load the instruments into different banks, not channels, and can change on the fly, same as Gigastudio if you are familiar.

Gabe