I am new to the VDL2 and Sibelius.  I need to get guitar, bass, and synth sounds on the VDL2 template, but I am having trouble doing so since the Kontak player that came with the program does not offer these voices.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve this?  Also, let's say you have a drumset on the staff and you want to have a woodblock added on that staff at some point in the music.  Is there a way to switch voices within a given staff???  Many thanks for any help!

If you're looking for sounds that don't come with Kontakt Player Silver (bundled with SIbelius 4), you can purchase Kontakt Player Gold from Sibelius.  There is also a Rock and Pop collection for purchase that would have the sounds you're looking for.

If you want to switch sounds on the same staff, you would need to use Kontakt 2 which is the full version of Kontakt Player.  You can purchase that through Native Instruments.  K2 allows you to set up program banks where multiple instruments are on one channel and you can switch on the fly on the same staff.

[quote author=BMSMUSICMAN link=topic=1444.msg6616#msg6616 date=1164649185]
I am new to the VDL2 and Sibelius.  I need to get guitar, bass, and synth sounds on the VDL2 template, but I am having trouble doing so since the Kontak player that came with the program does not offer these voices.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve this?  Also, let's say you have a drumset on the staff and you want to have a woodblock added on that staff at some point in the music.  Is there a way to switch voices within a given staff???  Many thanks for any help!
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These are more in the Sibelius arena not VDL:2, but I will help as much as possible.  To add instruments to a Sibelius score press ";I"; for instruments, from there you can add and setup the score to your liking. 

I would avoid using the Kontakt Player that came with Sibelius, it's a memory hog.  Sibelius even suggests not using it until you want to record your score.  You should map your Virtual Midi cable to VDL:2 and use the GM sounds that came with your computer for the stuff not included with VDL:2.  Map all of these through your Mixer window by pressing ";M"; from within your score.

You can switch instruments on the same staff by clicking on the measure you want to change (a blue box will highlight the measure) and then Create>other> staff type.  A small rectangle box will appear which you can move anywhere on the staff, this will be visual only as Bill stated you will need K2 to switch from VDL:2 instruments to non-VDL:2 instruments.

Consult your Sibelius manual if any of this is unclear.

HTH,

Gabe

Would someone let me know how to use VDL2 sounds along with GM sounds using Finale? I am looking for VDL2 sounds on the majority of the score and a few instruments not found in the instrumentation (bass, piano, etc.)

Thanks a million

Do a search on these forums and your questions shall be answered.

[quote author=UNT/BD Tenor link=topic=1444.msg7189#msg7189 date=1169620806]
Would someone let me know how to use VDL2 sounds along with GM sounds using Finale? I am looking for VDL2 sounds on the majority of the score and a few instruments not found in the instrumentation (bass, piano, etc.)

Thanks a million

[/quote]

GM sounds can be many things. If I'm guessing correctly, you want to run sounds from Finale's softsynth (soundfont), and VDL2 (as a NI plugin) simultaneously. If this is the case (and again, I'm just guessing because you didn't leave any details about your system or methods), this is not possible in Finale. If you'd like more specific suggestions, please include some specifics about your setup.