I have a question. I have searched and searched to no avail. I'm using VDL2 with Finale 2005 with the provided template. My question is:

Do you need the exact order of instruments loaded in VDL 2 as they are listed template?

Example: In VDL2 I've loaded SN, Tenor, BD, glock, Xylo, Vibe, Marimba, Timpani.
The Finale template opens with Sn, Ten, BD, [Cym] (which I delete) glock, xylo, 2 vibe, 2 mar. (I delete the other 2), Timp.

The sounds match up just fine until you get to the deleted Cym area. The Cymbal staff is the glock sound. When I delete the Cym, it then deletes the glock sound. I also cannot figure how to assign the vibe (or marimba) sound to the 2 different staves.

I'm pretty much sure this is an easy fix, or I'm not clear on how to match up the sounds in Finale to VDL2. I have already RTFM several times and my stats show 4 hours browsing this forum, so it's not from lack of effort!

Thanks in advance.
 

You need to match midi channels between Finale's Instrument window and the VDL instrument channel assignments.

Ted

I gathered that from the VDL and Finale manuals. Anyone have a more thorough explanation of ";VDL instrument channel assignments";?

You can set any VDL2 instrument to any MIDI channel (channels 1-16) by setting its MIDI-IN. This is the little field in the VDL2 window that has an icon of a little midi symbol (just beneath where it says ";cpu usage";). Click it and you get a menu of 16 midi channels (or omni) to choose from. This is discussed a bit on page 26 of the VDL2 user guide.

So for example if in your Finale score your Glock staff is set to channel 5 (via the ";instrument list"; window), be sure to set your glock in VDL2 to channel 5 as well.

Hope this helps.

Got it, thanks guys. I knew it was easy and in the manual, I just wasn't getting it. Pardon my MIDI ignorance.