Good afternoon everyone!

What would be the best way for combining the Sibelius VDL2 template/battery
with a wind score that has already been arranged?

1.  Dell Desktop PC
2.  Sibelius 4.1
3.  Kontakt II is on the way
4.  inputting with Radium, midiman keyboard

And, if you are willing to provide some assiatance via
phone or e-mail, I surely would be grateful.  I am
transitioning from Finale to Sibelius and trying to
write percussion scores for our first halftime show.
I suspect jumping in with both feet first in the
'ole Baptism under fire will ultimately prove
helpful.  I look forward to your responses.

[email]nflum@music.ua.edu[/email]


Take care!
Neal

p.s.  If this question is answered/covered in another topic post,
please do direct me to it, and I apologize for re-posting same in this forum.

Neal Flum
Associate Director of Athletic Bands

If it's a full band+percussion score, your computer probably won't be able to handle smooth playback through Sibelius, no matter how much RAM you put in it.  Current computers just aren't quite there yet, except for [i]maybe[/i] a quad G5/Opteron.  You will likely need to use something like Cubase/Sonor to mix it all together to avoid dropouts.  For example, make a recording of just the woodwinds, just the brass, just the battery, then just the pit, and put the 4 tracks back together. 

Anyways, assuming you know the workflow of VDL2, just treat Kontakt 2 the same way.  Write parts, assign MIDI channel, link to Kontakt with virtual MIDI cable, load instruments, etc.

Neal,

IM me on Friday before 3pm central time and I'll help you out.

[quote author=Jedi link=topic=1207.msg5181#msg5181 date=1151607141]
If it's a full band+percussion score, your computer probably won't be able to handle smooth playback through Sibelius, no matter how much RAM you put in it.�� Current computers just aren't quite there yet, except for [i]maybe[/i] a quad G5/Opteron.�� You will likely need to use something like Cubase/Sonor to mix it all together to avoid dropouts.�� For example, make a recording of just the woodwinds, just the brass, just the battery, then just the pit, and put the 4 tracks back together.��

Anyways, assuming you know the workflow of VDL2, just treat Kontakt 2 the same way.�� Write parts, assign MIDI channel, link to Kontakt with virtual MIDI cable, load instruments, etc.
[/quote]

I've made it all work through Sibelius before, but you're right in that the whole thing is very ";iffy."; It just felt like the entire thing could implode at any minute. Mixing down the tracks like you described is a very good way to go.

I used to use two computers for really large scores (winds and battery on one, all pit on the other), but now using a really fast machine (G5 Quad) and a lot of RAM, I'm able to get completely uninterrupted playback all from one box now. This has raised the convenience level for me quite a bit! One quick click of the record button in WireTap and I can have a decent sounding (rough) recording right away without the need to splice together multiple passes.

Couple tips:
If using the Sibelius Kontakt Gold or Silver for your wind sounds be sure to do the following:
-Use ";eco"; instrument sets rather than full ones
-Don't use reverb
-Click the ";use same slot for identical sounds"; box