First...I'm running Sibelius 3.1.0 with Kontakt 2 on a G5 (dual 2.3 ghz, 2.5 gb ram) with 10.4.1. Second...I'm writing a chart using an instrument bank for each pit instrument. I've got lots of program and controller changes that are working fine except on xylophone. I can't seem to get it to switch to bells with ~p2. This is really baffling me. I've triple checked it and compared it against all my other program changes but haven't found a mistake on my part. Does anybody know anything about this? Jim, could this be one of the minor issues with loading VDL2 sounds into K2? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
David Knight

David,
In Sibelius, go to the ";PLAY"; menu, and check the ";Dictionary."; Once you've opened the dictionary, check ";staff text"; and see if there are any text terms assigned to ";bells"; or ";glock"; or ";xylo"; (or instrument names of that nature).

The dictionary in Sibelius may be conflicting with your customized program change messages. The dictionary can be a handy tool, but when you're customizing to the degree that you are, you'll most likely find it unnecessary. When I've had this sort of thing happen before, I've simply deleted those dictionary terms that were conflicting and it's seemed to fix it.

Let me know if that solves it.

Unfortunately, that wasn't it. I deleted everything in the Dictionary that was related to banks/program changes but it did not fix the problem. I tried reloading the bank and creating a new staff but that didn't fix it either. Do you have any other suggestions?

Darn...

Try this - Assign that staff (as well as the corresponding nstrument in Kontakt2) to a different MIDI channel. Sometimes MIDI channels can get ";stuck"; and cause problems.

I reassigned the channels and that didn't work. I also did one more restart of my machine. Still no bells...

A few more questions to check out (sorry if some of these are obvious...just thinking out loud to try and troubleshoot)....

Are you able to hear the xylophone playback before the desired program change to glock?

In the Kontakt2 Instrument Bank for this staff, is the glock instrument loaded into slot 002?

Do other program changes (on that staff) seem to work, but just not ~p2? If so, have you tried dragging the glock into a different slot, then reassigning program change number in Sibelius to correspond to that?

Make sure the staff isn't set to ";mute"; in the Sibelius mixer.

Double-check to make sure the Sibelius staff type is set to ";pitched/5-line"; by clicking on that measure, then going to house style>edit staff type, and observing which staff type is highlighted (to tell you what that point in the staff is currently set to). This one has tricked me before when I've done lots of staff type switching.

Are you able to observe the instrument bank in K2 while Sib is playing back? In other words, can you confirm the program change is in fact not making it to K2, or perhaps is it switching instruments, but for some reason you're not hearing glock?

Sorry for all the ";stabs in the dark."; I know how a little glitch can drive you batty....

In case you hadn't yet, it's also worth suggesting that you update Kontakt 2 to its most current build. Currently, this is 2.0.1.002.

I am able to hear the xylophone playback before the program change.  The glock instrument is loaded into slot 2.  No other program changes on that slot seem to work.  I dragged the glock into slot 3 and updated the command on the score but that didn't fix it.  No staves are muted on the Sibelius mixer.  Staff type is set to pitched, 5-line.  The program change is not making it to K2 when I watch K2 during playback.  My K2 is the most current build.  Incidentally, my staff for vibes, crotales, and chimes is no longer switching instruments.  This was working before I went away for the weekend.  The symptoms for this staff are identical to those stated above.  The program change just isn't making it to K2.  All other program and controller changes are still working for the time being.  Any other ideas?

One more thing...even if I highlight the slot in the bank with bells I go back to xylophone when I start playback on the bell part.

[quote author=gte411k link=topic=674.msg2555#msg2555 date=1119214307]
One more thing...even if I highlight the slot in the bank with bells I go back to xylophone when I start playback on the bell part.
[/quote]

This is actually ";expected"; behavior since the staff in question is likely set with Xylo as the default patch. You can check this in the sibelius mixer in the ";program"; field, which would be set to 0 (zero) to access what's in slot 001 in Kontakt 2.

Regarding your other program changes not working...hmmm. I'm not sure exactly. As thorough as it sounds like you've been, I'd still suggest you double-check the syntax of your program change message in Sibelius to make sure you haven't accidentally typed a space, or something before the ~ tilde or after the ";p";. You'd be amazed how many times I've busted myself having typed ~C1, 127, only to realize after much troubleshooting that I mistakenly entered a space after the comma. Lots of variables.

When you checked the DICTIONARY in Sibelius, I assume you checked in the ";staff text"; as well as ";system text"; right? Another lesson I've learned the hard way...

I'm not sure why your other staff stopped behaving properly. As a test, it might be worth loading a new instrument bank, and re-loading those instruments. This might expose whether something in Kontakt is causing the functionality to distort. You might also search around NI to see if any other K2 users have mentioned this: http://www.nativeinstruments.de/forum_us/

If you'd like to send me the sibelius file and your saved K2 multi (be sure ";absolute sample paths"; is NOT checked), I'd be happy to take a look at it for you.

Per Jim's suggestion, I tried using MIDI Patchbay instead of the IAC bus.  That solved the problem as now all program and controller changes are happening seamlessly.  If anyone else has any baffling MIDI message troubles it might be a good idea to use MIDI Patchbay instead of the IAC bus.  Jim, thanks for your help.
David