Hi everyone! Okay, so I'm REALLY new to all this sibelius and vdl stuff, and even this forum (this is my first post!). I've been messing around with sibelius for a little while, and i've run into a few problems. I just bought Sibelius 5, mainly because virtual drumline was included with it. so my first question would be, should i bother getting vdl 2.5? I like all the drum sounds that sibelius 5 comes with, and i don't think i need more than that, but i've been experiencing some issues with playback ";choppiness";, and i was wondering if this could be fixed by upgrading to 2.5. I tried to follow the quickstart guide that mentions things like Midi Yoke, but does that really apply with sibelius 5 and the included vdl?

A bigger problem at hand for me is the bass drum notation. I think the bass drum order is all messed up. For instance, for the 5 bass drums, if I place notes sequentially going up the staff, the playback plays bass 5, then bass 3, then bass 4, then bass 1, and finally bass 2. Is this supposed to happen? It's really quite annoying when the top note plays the 2nd bass, etc. I was wondering if this problem was attributed to ";templates";, even though i have no idea what a template is (it just sounded important). Do you have any advice on how i can edit the notes so that they play the correct drum?

Sorry if my questions sound amateurish; like i said, i'm new to all this stuff. Hopefully I can figure some of this stuff out by playing around with it a little more, but I'm doubtful of my abilities, so I'm hoping someone responds soon with solutions. Thanks for reading!

Drew

Hey, dont feel bad im pretty much in the same boat. I've been using Sibelius 2 and VDL1 since the original release of VDL1. I recently bought Sibelius 5 since it comes with VDL now but i cant seem to get the sounds and noteheads i want (i've been messing around in the edit staff types). I'd like to sent up the bass drums and make sounds like shots and clicks and such correspond to noteheads but no matter what i do i cant seem to get the sounds to change.

are you having the same problem as I am with the bass drum sounds in the wrong order?
I hope someone with answers replies soon...

Please be patient, Tapspace is currently working on a VDL2.5 template for Sibelius 5.

Late
Hugh

so a template should fix the problem?
and what do you think about my other questions/concerns?

Yes, a template should fix all of the above.

A ";template"; is just a master file that has all of the pertinent instruments completely mapped and ready for use.

If you are trying to use the VDL sounds that are in Sibelius Essentials, the problem is that the default instruments that came on the Sib 5 installation disk have not been completely mapped.�� At least that has been my experience also. I believe someone may be working on this as well.

Sibelius 5 uses a new - and very different - system for naming and classifying sound timbres. Read the section on SoundWorld in your Sib 5 Reference for more information. You don't have to read the whole book, but spend some time reading up on the features that you are interested in; use the Index at the end to help you find topics. You will answer a lot of questions that you didn't even know to ask.

Once people figure out how this SoundWorld thing works, I think they won't have much need for Midi Yoke and the like anymore.

You can also go to the Sibelius forum/chat page for even more information:�� [url]http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpcenter[/url]

Some folks wonder why they sell an imperfect product. Well, at some point they gotta ship it. Besides, that�۪s what updates are for.

The changes that Sibelius has made in version 5 are going to free up more time to actually write music instead of messing with the playback settings. There is just a small learning curve that they are going to have to get over. So make sure to ���Do your homework!�۝

Again, be patient. The work is being done.

Late
Hugh

Drew,

Before any of us can answer the question about your choppy playback, we need to know more about your setup.  How many instruments, system spec (ram, processor speed, etc).

If you don't think you'll need more sounds than what comes bundled with Sibelius 5, then you're good to go.

We are working on the templates, be patient.

Hugh,
thanks for the informative reply. I will definitely consult the reference guide and try to answer some questions myself.

Bill,
sorry for not including the pertinent information. For now, i plan on just using the four standard drumline instruments. also, the sibelius 5 version of vdl comes with limited sounds for each of those instruments (i think), but once i figure out all the sounds it can actually play and figure out how to notate them, i should know if more sounds are required.

regarding the choppiness, here are my system specs: dell LAPTOP (for now), 1.6 ghz intel centrino processor, 512 ram, running XP pro, and sibelius 5. the problem becomes very apparent when playing long rolls, and it even seems to ";skip"; around when playing fast notes...I've read the forum posts that give explanations on how these issues might be solved, but i'm afraid most of them apply to sibelius 3/4 and vdl 2.5, not the vdl included with sib 5. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for responding!
Drew

You don't have enough memory to run Sibelius 5, your operating system and those sounds without some choppiness.  You can tweak the latency and that may help some, but 512mb of memory is the minimum to run VDL.  Add in to that your operating system and Sibelius 5.

I want to reference the topic below regarding the Sibelius 5 template:

https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1845.0

Since you can't manually configure midi channels in Sib 5, you can't assign each staff to a correlating midi channel (through VST or a 'virtual midi cable) for playback in VDL 2.5 anymore. 

Be patient though, Sibelius and Tapspace are very aware of this problem and working on it diligently I'm sure. 

Indeed this is a (large) work in progress, but we're getting closer. Thanks again for everyone's patience.

In the meantime however, Sibelius is making available updated sound sets, which are a vital part of using VI's like Virtual Drumline within Sibelius 5. There is an updated sound set available for VDL 2.5 from the Sibelius Help Center at:
http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/resources/soundsets.html

There will likely be yet another update of this VDL sound set soon, but the one available on their site is more current than what shipped on your Sibelius 5 DVD, and should help the bass drum problems.

Hi Jim,

Any idea on when the Sibelius 5 template will be completed?

How many VDL sounds are actually included in Sibelius 5... Is it only about 8 sounds in the snare instrument? I see tons of sounds listed when i do edit staff types however when i open the instruments in Kontakt all i get are 8-10 sounds per instrument.

Is there a list of what sounds from what instruments are included in the sibelius sounds available?

[quote author=BHSIndoorPerc link=topic=1957.msg9826#msg9826 date=1188356026]
Is there a list of what sounds from what instruments are included in the sibelius sounds available?
[/quote]

BHSIndoorPerc,

The list of VDL sounds that are included in Sibelius Essentials are contained in the ";readme"; file found in this folder on a PC:

C:\Program Files\Sibelius Software\Sibelius Sounds\Essentials\Documentation

I suppose it is a similar folder on a Mac too; I don't know.

Late
Hugh

[quote author=BHSIndoorPerc link=topic=1957.msg9826#msg9826 date=1188356026]
How many VDL sounds are actually included in Sibelius 5... Is it only about 8 sounds in the snare instrument? I see tons of sounds listed when i do edit staff types however when i open the instruments in Kontakt all i get are 8-10 sounds per instrument.

Is there a list of what sounds from what instruments are included in the sibelius sounds available?
[/quote]

The included sounds with Sibelius 5 are very stripped down, only the basic sounds are provided. The included sound set (which is what you're seeing when you open the staff type) supports the entire 2.5 library. It is a little confusing.

I'm anxious for the 2.5 template, I'd like to just focus on Sibelius 5 and finally be able to do the system wipe I've been looking forward to. :P It's frustrating not being able to work with the new program when I'm doing drumline stuff. I'm also still perplexed at why Sibleius made such a drastic change when it's causing many issues with even the seasoned vets like the VDL team. What hope do the little guys have of understanding the system?