I'm writing a piece in which I've inserted an instrument change to wind chimes (Treeworks Double Row) on the xylophone staff and although Sibelius recognizes the instrument change, the sound gets choked off after the measure with the wind chime glissandi (is that the correct term?) passes. Is there any way to fix this? This problem also occurs with the playback for tam tam strikes and suspended cymbal rolls (except no instrument changes are involved here; I'm just using Rack Combo B). I was able to fix the tam tam playback problem by hiding notes in Layer 2 and tying them to the initial note, but this is a hassle I'd rather avoid if at all possible. So if anyone could help me out with getting my VDL instruments to ring with natural decay I'd greatly appreciate it. :)

I am having this problem also. I am using the latest VDL and template and Sibelius software. When I first started writing they naturally died away, but this ended when I saved and opened the file back up.

I haven't had a chance to test this out yet, but one quick fix I can think of might we worth a shot. Type this text into the staff (or staves) that is giving you problems:

~C20,126

This will sort of ";force nudge"; the release knob on the VDL instrument. The release knob controls this sustain. It's possible there's something in the sound set that's causing this knob to default to a lower setting, causing your sounds not to sustain as expected. If there's something in the sound set that's causing this to happen, we'll discuss it here.

[quote author=Joel McAda link=topic=3072.msg16267#msg16267 date=1241404260]
I'm writing a piece in which I've inserted an instrument change to wind chimes (Treeworks Double Row) on the xylophone staff and although Sibelius recognizes the instrument change, the sound gets choked off after the measure with the wind chime glissandi (is that the correct term?) passes. Is there any way to fix this? This problem also occurs with the playback for tam tam strikes and suspended cymbal rolls (except no instrument changes are involved here; I'm just using Rack Combo B). I was able to fix the tam tam playback problem by hiding notes in Layer 2 and tying them to the initial note, but this is a hassle I'd rather avoid if at all possible. So if anyone could help me out with getting my VDL instruments to ring with natural decay I'd greatly appreciate it. :)
[/quote]

Is it more like a 'half' of a decay, or is it completely choking it off immediately after the note is triggered?

Also, are you using any other sound sets in conjunction with 'VDL SoundSet 5.2.5'?

My sounds are chocking off if there is a new measure or a rest after it. It didn't do that before I saved it and then I saved it and closed it then later opened it and they started choking off. I am not using anything but 5.2.5 soundset.

I tried what you suggested, Jim, and it didn't work.

[quote author=chznvrt link=topic=3072.msg16331#msg16331 date=1242442884]
Is it more like a 'half' of a decay, or is it completely choking it off immediately after the note is triggered?

Also, are you using any other sound sets in conjunction with 'VDL SoundSet 5.2.5'?
[/quote]

Nope, I'm using strictly VDL instruments in this piece. The notes for wind chimes choke off as soon as the next measure begins, but the tam tam and suspended cymbal rolls are sort of doing that ";'half' of a decay"; you mentioned.

One easy/dirty solution to this is to [b]use pedal lines[/b] for the length of decay that you want.

For instance, if you are writing in 4/4 and want to write a whole note on a gong (any other instrument with a longer tail end) that actually rings for 4 bars, just create a pedal marking that lasts 4 bars and hide it.

The more you do this (especially at moments that are more vertically dense) you run into the issue of having a higher level of polyphony, so you'll want to make sure that you're computer can handle this at those dense moments.

I no longer have this problem. I opened the problem file and it all worked perfectly. I don't know what was wrong, but thanks for the help!

[quote author=Jim Casella link=topic=3072.msg16330#msg16330 date=1242418440]
I haven't had a chance to test this out yet, but one quick fix I can think of might we worth a shot. Type this text into the staff (or staves) that is giving you problems:

~C20,126

This will sort of ";force nudge"; the release knob on the VDL instrument. The release knob controls this sustain. It's possible there's something in the sound set that's causing this knob to default to a lower setting, causing your sounds not to sustain as expected. If there's something in the sound set that's causing this to happen, we'll discuss it here.


[/quote]

That fixed the problem, thanks!