This is not really a dire thing and I figured you guys would be of more help here than Sibelius. When I create a score from the VDL template, Sibelius seems to randomly select instrument families to assign how the group strip is organized in the mixer. I see there are ensembles and families assigned from VDL in the edit instruments section... but doesn't seem to be using these for organization purposes! Any thoughts on how to change this... I've been beating Sibelius around for the past couple of hours and looked online to no avail. Nothing seems to work so far. It even says in the Sibelius manual that the group strips can not be modified... hard to believe, but is this true? Thanks... Peace...

To be honest, I haven't spent much time fiddling with group strips, but your question made me curious. There's limited documentation on this, however to the best of my knowledge, these group strips are created based on the instruments in your score. In in the ";Edit Instrument"; window, there is a  ";Bracket With"; selection for each instrument that allows you to define what family of instruments the instrument would be grouped with.

I don't think this is something we were really focusing on during the template creation, but if, for instance, you wanted your marimbas to be grouped as ";keyboard"; rather than ";percussion"; you could edit this portion of the instrument which (in theory) would cause them to be grouped in that type of group strip in the mixer. I can see where this might be handy if trying to place more emphasis in isolating pit/battery/woodwinds/brass.

To add to what Jim said:

My quick search of the Sibelius Reference did not reveal a way to customize the [b]group strips[/b] or [b]bracket with[/b] names. We may just be limited to the list you see in the picture below.

What ended up being assigned to each instrument in the Template was whatever the default was for each ";set"; of instruments that were defined. Feel free to alter away to suit your personal preferences.

[img]http://members.cox.net/oldhands101/pics/bracketwith.jpg[/img]

Since they're not editable, you could determine the main ";groups"; you're interested in, and edit them as Hugh pointed out. For example, woodwinds and brass are obvious. But perhaps you could assign battery instruments to PERCUSSION, then assign your pitched pit instruments to KEYBOARDS, then any auxiliary pit instruments to TIMPANI.

It'd be some busy work to get all those things edited, but could provide a useful way for group strips to be used in the mixer.

Thank so much... it was just bugging me a little. I was one step away and didn't realize it. I only went to the first 'edit instruments' window and didn't think to go further. It would be nice if Sibelius would allow this list to be editable or at least add more to it. I think what Jim mentioned will work perfectly for me though. Thanks again!

edit: Is everything in the 'edit instruments' section file/document specific or is it global to all sibelius files? Would be nice to know so I can edit the VDL template instead of every new document I make. Peace...

[quote author=TuoPohc link=topic=2222.msg11594#msg11594 date=1200009095]

edit: Is everything in the 'edit instruments' section file/document specific or is it global to all sibelius files? Would be nice to know so I can edit the VDL template instead of every new document I make. Peace...

[/quote]

I believe that this is something that is file/document specific since it is tied to each instrument that is defined. So yes, you should be able to edit your version of the VDL Template so as to save time in any new projects you start. From there it will just depend on which exact instruments you have in your score as to how the group strips show up in the Mixer.

Just changed them all and it works great. I initially thought that if it was assigned to a group and you shifted the group they would all be at one level. Some nice designing on part of Sibelius to make ensemble adjustments part of the individual instruments adjustment. Thanks again for the help! Peace...