I hope this question makes sense, but here it goes.  I am using Sibelius 5.1 and want to know if I still need to download the VDL 2.5 template.  I want to be able to use all of the available sounds for some new concert band works, but wasn't sure if I should use what came with Sibelius or download the template.  And finally, when downloading the template, how do I save it in my sibelius?

Thanks,

Dennis

Hi Dennis - If there are specific instruments in VDL that you want to use in your concert band works, I'd recommend using the VDL template as a starting point. The template basically looks like a blank Sibelius file, but contains instrument definitions for each specific instrument in VDL. This way, you can have the ability to select ";Marimba Rosewood Med"; rather than just ";Marimba"; (which won't necessarily give you the option to specify wood/synthetic/mallet/etc. Of course, in this same file you can build your wind score with all the usual, included Sibelius instruments. Once you've built a score, if you think you'll use a similar collection for future projects you can save it as manuscript paper (so you won't have to build from scratch each time you start a project), or simply save the file as something else like ";Dennis Template.sib";.

If you haven't watched the tutorial videos, they should provide some helpful information as to how you get started in using the template, as well as the Tapspace VDL sound set (which is also an important component of all this).
https://www.tapspace.com/support/tutorials/Sib51.html