I just bought Sibelius 5, and I have to admit, the new sound setup is quite confusing for me.  I guess Sibelius is trying to make it too user friendly, that it has removed some of the stuff the user can change and setup up on his/her own.

I can't seem to use Kontakt as a stand alone player, because I am unable to change MIDI channels.

Does anybody have some sort of template setup to use VDL 2 with Sibelius 5.  I know that VDL 2.5 is supposed to work much better and easier, but 2.5 isn't shipping yet.

Thanks for any help,
Robby

Dude I'm in the same boat, I'm trying to use it through VST. There doesn't seem to be a way to change the channels that each instrument is assigned to.
This is a Sibelius issue, not a VDL2 issue. I know we're supposed to ask these kinds of questions on the Sibelius website, but they don't answer these questions nearly as fast as this forum!
Jim, can we expect a Quickstart guide for Sib 5? Possibly for VST setup as well?

I know it is a Sib issue, and Daniel (at Sib) has been really great trying to help me get this going.  He sent me a file to use VDL 2 with Sib 5, however, I hear the right samples so to speak...but they are mapped wrong.  Like, way wrong.  When I hit the notes that are RH and LH hits, I get a cymbal sound.  I get a rimshot sound if I play G below, but the G# and F# in that same octave produce some other sounds, so I am not in the wrong octave on my keyboard.  I attempted to edit the instrument like Daniel suggested, but it took me to places I am not sure what was going on.  So I stopped for now, trying to see if anyone out there had some ideas.

Robby

Please keep checking in with Daniel about solutions. He's very helpful and has really committed to learning the ins-and-outs of us percussion types. Unfortunately I won't have the time to look further into this for you at the moment as I'm a bit tied up with drum corps season, etc, but if you're in a bit of a pinch, look for Brady's post about how you can ensure your Sibelius 4 and Sibelius 5 are both activated, just in case you have to fall back on Sib4 in the meantime.

With the major re-design of the playback architecture in Sibelius 5, there may be some areas that aren't completely covered just yet. We'll have a Sibelius 5 template that will work for VDL2 users very soon. The 2.5 template will be forthcoming after that, though will take a bit longer to build due to the enormous amount of sound ID's involved with VDL 2.5. Hang in there, and some of these speed bumps will be ironed out in due course.

Looks Like I'll finish writing my show on SIB 4. Sib 5 looks like it will eventually be great once we can get solutions to these issues. The only other concern that I have is not having the choice on the Kontakt Player 2 to disable the DFD an allow me to use the 4 gigs of ram on my MAC. I can do that with Kontakt 2 but not the player2.

There is a saying in the computer industry, ";if you're on the 'cutting edge', expect some blood";.

I'm not trying to throw it in your face, but we can learn from the computer industry and how they handle upgrade cycles. My suggestion would be to wait on upgrades during the middle of writing season (whenever that may be for you) - this reduces stress and downtime. I personally do not mess with my computer once I start writing a show: no hardware updates/purchases, no software updates...I won't even do the 10.4.x bumps until I'm completely finished. The only thing I may consider is a critical security update that may put my machine at risk if not addressed.

So if you do have Sib4, I would suggest sticking to it. If 5 is your only option, keep plugging away with the Sibelius guys until they come up with something.

Couple things, I was with Robin Hodson last night talking about Sibelius 5.  One of the things that he stressed was that Sibelius was doing away with midi channels.  All of your instrument changes (sound AND text can be done with one simple click.  Youshould not be making any changes in the Kontakt Window.  Kontakt is merely a viewer for what is loaded.  The instrument changes are done in the Playback menu.  I don't have it in front of me.  Please download Robin's quickstart guide to guide you through some of this new stuff.

http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/hintsandtips/index.html

HTH, feel free to ask any questions.

Gabe

I've finally had a chance to go digging into the full Sibelius 5. I've been playing with a few custom staff maps and such and I'm perplexed and a bit perturbed about their implementation on the new playback system. I understand how they're trying to simplify and streamline things for the average user by eliminating most if not all the midi references (no more channels, no more note numbers, etc) but in the process they've made it much more difficult and convoluted for those with some midi knowledge to produce any type of custom playback. The sound set system with it's seemingly endless heirarchies of sounds is very difficult to navigate and understand and (seemingly) can only be changed by manually altering xml files. (At least until they release the sound set editor)

Perhaps I need some more time with the system and maybe the tools released in the near future will help, but it doesn't seem like it's going to easy to do any sort of custom sound production or experimenting. Something as seemingly simple as having two different sounds play the same line has been completely removed from the users hands. And don't get me started on how long it will take to make custom percussion staves. I'm a little confused why they didn't at least allow for more ";advanced"; setup features for those with a little bit of knowhow.

I hear ya Josh. We're working on incorporating our Sibelius 4 templates so they'll function in Sibelius 5, which will help. But for now, sticking with Sibelius 4 for critical work may be your best bet. Thankfully, the folks at Sibelius are very receptive, and I encourage you to visit their chat page and politely explain the aspects where it's holding you up. It's possible they may have some other suggestions, or may benefit from your insight as a VDL/Sibelius user.