any info would be greatly appreciated, i am gettin VDL for christmas, and i only have sibelius 3. I need to know if i need to buy the upgrade to sibelius 5 for it to work.

You should be able to use VDL 2.5 with Sibelius 3, however it is not going to work in the same manner as with Sibelius 5 (within Sibelius).�� Lets start by getting some of your System Specs so we can give you the best options....

1.�� If you can give us some of the information about your system like this posts recommends, that would be helpful.
[url]https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=1410.0[/url]

2.�� make sure to get the Sibelus 3 Template for VDL 2.5 from here
[url]https://www.tapspace.com/updates[/url]

windows xp
160 gb harddrive
512mb ddr sdram
(i'm not a real computer savy guy, this is all on the info sticker. I just know how to write notes with sieblius, so if this isn't enough, let me know)

You will definitely need to upgrade your RAM.  If you buy from a site like newegg.com, you can get 2 GB for under $50.  512 MB doesn't meet the minimum requirements of VDL. 

To use it with Sibelius 3, you will need a virtual midi cable program to ";connect"; sibelius to VDL.  There's info in the manual and all over this site to read. 

If you're not too computer savvy, then I would recommend upgrading to Sibelius 5.  I have no doubt that it will be MUCH easier for you to get up and going right away, rather than with Sibelius 3 where you will need to configure all the correct settings in VDL, ";virtual midi cable";, etc.  - which is frustrating for most people when learning all about those processes.  (Granted, if you did learn all them, you would be much more computer savvy) :)

But like Jesse said, youre #1 priority right now is RAM:  newegg.com & crucial.com are a few reliable sources.  RAM is a lot cheaper now-a-days than it used to be, and installing it is a breeze.

If you can drop the chunk of change to upgrade to Sib 5 after the RAM, I would recommend that...  But if not, no worries, the guys here in the forum will be here to help you out no matter which route you go!

Best of luck and keep us posted.

wait so i need more RAM and sibelius 5.1 to get up and running asap ? this is way harder than i thought, i thought i could just put VDL on my computer and keep going. i was way wrong

MCPSnareeric - Please read the replies more carefully. You do not need to use Sibelius 5.1. However Owen was friendly enough to recommend this to you. Especially if you label yourself as someone who's not particularly tech-savvy. That doesn't mean you have to use 5.1. It was merely a recommendation.

I suggest you plan to take things one step at a time and learn slowly so as to not let yourself get overwhelmed.

You can view VDL's system requirements at:
https://www.tapspace.com/vdl2

A gig of RAM is recommended. Remember, your RAM is being used for your operating system, VDL, and Sibelius simultaneously. These days, 512MB isn't very much. As others have noted, the good news is that RAM is relatively inexpensive these days.

Take your time and be patient as you learn and I'm sure the experience will be better for you.

[quote]Take your time and be patient as you learn and I'm sure the experience will be better for you.[/quote]
Priceless. . . :)

thanks jim. i know i don't have to have sibelius 5.1, i'm just not the type to want to wait. im impatient in the matter of notating things. I'm going to be purchasing the ram before i go for sibelius anyways. How much would anyone recomend ? i know vdl needs at least 1 gb, but should i go more just in case or should i just get 1?

If you can manage two gigs, that would be recommended.  More is always better.  :)

Got it all up and running with no slowing of the computer. turns out we put in ram a while back. Sounds great, thanks for all the help everyone