Using Finale2007, I'm trying to add VDL2 drum parts to Sibelius-composed brass parts.  The Sibelius brass parts have already been converted to MIDI file and loaded into Finale, which is fine.  I've also added the snare-quad-bass staves to the score and loaded the VDL2 perc maps.  But now I am stuck trying to get Finale to playback the brass sounds and VDL2 sounds concurrently.

-Since all the brass parts used channel 1-16, I put my battery parts starting with channel 17.
-MIDI input is my MIDI cable to my MIDI keyboard; base channel = 17.
-MIDI output is SmartMusic SoftSynth 1; base channel = 1.
-When MIDI -> ";Play Finale through Native Instruments VST"; is checked, VDL2 plays the sounds just fine, but brass sounds are NOT heard.
-When MIDI -> ";Play Finale through Native Instruments VST"; is UN-checked, brass sounds are played just fine, yet VDL2 sounds are NOT heard.

What do I need to do to make Finale play VDL2 sounds and brass sounds concurrently?

Appreciate anyone's help!  Thanks!

Vanguard,

When you use VDL within Finale through the ";Play Finale Through Native Instruments..."; you can only use VDL or the Midi sound, not both concurrently.  In order to hear the Midi sounds in conjunction with the  VDL sounds you would either need to use a program like Bidule, or run VDL in Standalone Mode.  Here are a couple posts that should help you along the way.  One was a questions I asked when I first started using Bidule:

[url]https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1439.0[/url] - getting a midi bass sound while using VDL in stand alone  same procedures for your issue

[url]https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=620.0[/url] - Midi and VDL sounds within a program like Bidule I asked this when I was first starting to use Bidule.  I was not sure of how to use that program at that time.

Finale does not allow you to use the internal SoftSynth sounds concurrently with NI plug-in sounds. I think you have to choose one over the other. You might try checking with their tech support to verify. There's also a Finale forum at:
http://forum.makemusic.com/

You might try running brass sounds via Finale 2007's Kontakt Player 2 (which gives you GPO for Finale sounds). That could be set in the NI Setup for channels 1-16, while you place an instance of VDL2 into channels 17-32. If you choose to do this, you would want to remove the softsynth from your midi output device settings (i believe), and set it to 'none'.  Since sounds would all be hosted within Finale, there is no need to route midi out of it.

The other option would be to do what you're doing for the brass sounds (softsynth), but NOT host VDL as a plugin within Finale. Rather, Run VDL2 in standalone mode, and route to it using a virtual midi cable on the bank of channels 17-32.

Oops! I see Coach beat me to the punch on that one. :)

Also very good suggestions, Jim!  Why didn't I think of that?  :) If you want to have some real good brass sounds you could certainly use the Finale GPO sounds like Jim has mentioned and then use everything right in Finale 2007.  VDL and GPO could be used at the same time with your document.

I think the links I mentioned are heavily MAC based, but the idea is the same, where you would need to use your Virtual Midi cable and then run VDL in Standalone mode.

Hey guys, thanks so much for the help.  However, I'm still having a bit of trouble.

Before I dive into the Bidule thing, I'm trying the VDL2 Standalone method:

I followed this post and set my MIDI in and out to the correct settings:
https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1439.0

Just to confirm once again:
1. Finale MIDI out is set to SoftSynth for base channel 1, for my brass sounds.
2. Finale MIDI out is set to Maple Midi Out Port 1 for base channel 17, for my VDL2 sounds.
3. I loaded VDL2 separately from Finale, and set VDL2 MIDI In to Maple Midi In Port 1 to ";ON";.  Everything else is ";OFF";.

When I hit Play in finale, I only hear the brass sounds.  There seems to be a disconnect between Finale and VDL2.  Any ideas?

Thanks!

This may have something to do with how the VDL2 instruments are setup in Finale's ";Instrument List"; window. Check those and let us know if things still don't seem to add up.

Vangaurd,

Like Jim says,  you may have a conflict with what the channels are saying in the Instrument list.  IN that example the second staff should be channel 17 and the first channel 1.  If this doesn't work you may also want to go to the Midi Menu -->Reload Midi Driver.  Hope that helps get you going.

Here is my Instrument list:
http://www2.propichosting.com/Images/450019301/1.JPG

Here is my Midi setup:
http://www2.propichosting.com/Images/450019301/2.JPG

Here is the VDL2 Midi setup:
http://www2.propichosting.com/Images/450019301/3.JPG


Any clues?

My guess is that you had Finale open first before the VDL player.

[list]
[li]Close Finale[/li]
[li]Close VDL[/li]
[li]Reopen VDL standalone player[/li]
[li]Relaunch Finale 2007[/li]
[/list]

When I open Finale before the VDL player I have issues with the sound not being heard or it not recognizing that it is ";connected"; - This would be the same with an actual keyboard.  You should have your keyboard plugged in before opening Finale so that it is recognized.  When VDL player is open before Finale, Finale will see that as being something it can use and that something is ";connected"; to that port.  Let's try that.  I have the same settings as you and I am able to make this work, so it may just be the order in which things are being done.

Still didn't work.  Keyboard and VDL2 were ON and loaded before Finale.  Same result.  I didn't mention that I get these errors:

1. This one occurs when loading VDL2, just like the other guy in this post:
";This application has failed to start because PRM.dll was not found.";
https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1296.0

2. This occurs after a multi is loaded in VDL2:
http://www2.propichosting.com/Images/450019301/4.JPG

Does this shine a light on anything?  Thanks for sticking with me on this.

[quote author=vanguardfan link=topic=1508.msg7036#msg7036 date=1168804042]
1. This one occurs when loading VDL2, just like the other guy in this post:
";This application has failed to start because PRM.dll was not found.";
https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1296.0

2. This occurs after a multi is loaded in VDL2:
http://www2.propichosting.com/Images/450019301/4.JPG

[/quote]

PRM.dll doesn't have anything to do with VDL, so I'm not sure what that might be on your system that is causing some sort of conflict. This would probably be some sort of third party VST instrument that was installed with some other software program or perhaps your soundcard? I'm not sure about that. You may find a more suitable answer by inquiring with NI or perhaps some other audio forums. I'll keep trying to learn more about that too as i'm not sure what that's all about.

http://www.dvhardware.net/software/2118

The link above is some thing I found when searching for PRM.dll.  It seems like a reinstall of the application fixed their issues.  Maybe if you were to reinstall Virtual Drumline this would work.  But you would want to completely uninstall first, and then reinstall to make sure you have a CLEAN reinstall.
[list]
[li][b]Start Menu -->Add/Remove Programs[/b].  Remove Virtual Drumline 2[/li]
[li]Go to [b]C:\Program Files\[/b].  Delete the Tapspace Folder if it is there[/li]
[li]In your [b]Start Menu -->All Programs[/b] list, make sure you have removed the ";[glow=red,2,300]Tapspace Virtual Drumline 2[/glow]"; folder from the list if it is there[/li]
[li]Go to [b]Start Menu -->Run[/b].  Type ";[glow=red,2,300]regedit[/glow]";.  You will see five folders on the left side.  You can expand the folders by clicking on the ";+"; or contract them by clicking on the ";-"; to the left of a folder.[/li]
[li]Expand [b]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE[/b].  Expand ";[glow=red,2,300]Software[/glow]";.  Expand ";[glow=red,2,300]Native instruments[/glow]";.  You will see a ";[glow=red,2,300]Virtual Drumline 2[/glow]"; folder.  Right click and delete the VDL 2 folder folder.  Close these folders.[/li]
[li]Expand [b]HKEY_CURRENT_USER[/b].  Expand ";[glow=red,2,300]Software[/glow]";.  Expand ";[glow=red,2,300]Native instruments[/glow]";.  You will see a ";[glow=red,2,300]Virtual Drumline 2[/glow]"; folder.  Right click and delete the VDL 2 folder folder.  Close these folders.[/li]
[/list]

You should now have VDL removed from your system.  I would try running the installation again.  It most likely shouldn't affect your registration, but if it does that can easily be taken care of by going into your account at NI and deactivating your previous authorization for that computer.

I hope this helps.  If anyone else knowns more about that specific file, input would be great.  But reinstalling would be something to try as a basic troubleshooting step.

Good Call, Jim.

Maybe there is another 3rd party PLUGIN that is causing a conflict.  But a reinstall wouldn't hurt.  Just my guess.

Are you running any High-end Adobe Imaging software like Adobe Premier, or any other High-end audio software?  NI might know something about this because it does seem that some people have had this while running GPO Studio before.