I need help.

I have Windows Vista Finale 2008a with VDL 2.5.1.  I have two files running, copy and pasting from one to another and using as reference score to write parts.  I am a full wind and percussion score, where vdl is in the 2nd bank 17-32.  When I play the wind score and play it, switch to the wind/perc score to play, it needs to reload the sounds.  (First, when I play the wind/perc score, nothing happens, semi-freeze, then it says (not responding), then stops the not responding and loads all the sample ";basic battery and pit"; sounds, then will play. 

Is there anyway to have two files up in Finale and switch back and forth without reloading the samples all over again, everytime.  Then, all of a sudden, every sound in the wind/perc score turns to piano and no vdl sounds.  What i have been doing is closing out the program and opening it, press play, and it starts reloading the sounds and then I am good.

Any suggesting?  Do I have a wrong setting in Kontact or Finale?

Dean Ponseti
Director of Percussion
Judson High School
Converse, TX 78109

Unfortunately, this is what will need to happen and there isn't a way around it.  Because the two files are using two different sound sets, they need to be reloaded because they both are using Finale's >1< playback engine.  That would be a good feature though I must say.

If you have the RAM and CPU horses for it, I'd recommend merging your wind and percussion scores together so you'll have all parts within one score. That would seem to bypass the need to switch between two scores.

thank you.  I finally did that.  I am getting a distorted playback as i keep adding parts to my score.  I keep rebooting the file and still getting distortion at the same points and skipping of beats.  Like a CD skipping.  I have a 1.8gig dual processor with 2 gigs of ram.  Anything?

Concerned.

It may be that you're running out of resources if this occurs during times when there are a lot of voices playing (high polyphony areas). One thing that can help is fiddling with your DFD (direct from disk) settings. You can read up on DFD in various places here on the forum or in your VDL user guide. There's not a particular setting to recommend, but some trial and error can oftentimes help smooth things along a little. Results will vary, particularly if you're running on a laptop with a slower hard drive.

Depending on your soundcard, you may also try increasing the audio buffer (sometimes called ";Latency";) which will give your CPU a little extra time to breathe during high-polyphony sections.

One other thing you may try is lowering the ";release"; knob on instruments such as vibraphones, marimbas, chimes, glock, cymbals, etc. which can quickly cause polyphony to increase. Do this within each individual VDL instrument interface in Kontakt Player.

Since (from what I've heard) Vista is pretty resource hungry, 2GB Ram may be a little on the low side if you're trying to play back a large collection of instruments in KP2, run Finale, run Vista, etc. At the very least, I'd recommend you close any other programs if you have others running which may help free up some RAM.

Jim is correct when he says that Vista is ";resource hungry.";

I got a copy of [b][i]PC Optimization Guide for Windows Vista [/i][/b](pdf) from Sweetwater.com about 5 months ago.  I used several tips and greatly improved my work flow and reduced some of the ";interference.";  (Its to a point that I wonder why I even bought a laptop with Vista.)

Check out this: http://www.cleanuppc.info/Optimize.php?files=Windows%20Vista&ur=Windows%20vista%20tweaks&gclid=CJu5m4jF6JMCFQIyxwodLAVUVg

There are several ";tweak"; sites available for Vista.  However, [b]be forewarned [/b] - know what you are doing before you plunge into making any changes in your onboard operating system.

Great call Richard!!

Here's a link for anyone using Vista.
http://www.audioforums.com/resource_center.php

After using VDL2.5 on several different operating systems and different computers, I'm convinced 32-bit Vista on a dual 1.8 isn't going to be enough to handle a full wind + percussion score without playback issues.  Upgrading to more RAM on a 32-bit OS won't help much either.  If you put a whopping 32GB of RAM in a computer, a 32-bit OS will only show 3. 

In addition to the other great tips, You might try thinning the samples too- using ";lite"; instruments and only loading one marimba instrument even if you have 4 parts.

[quote author=Jim Casella link=topic=2519.msg13453#msg13453 date=1213050221]
If you have the RAM and CPU horses for it, I'd recommend merging your wind and percussion scores together so you'll have all parts within one score. That would seem to bypass the need to switch between two scores.
[/quote]

Further, I would try using the FILE MENU -->SCORE MERGER... option.  This will automatically merge your score together rather than copying and pasting.  With stuff I have done it works very well.