Installed Sibelius 6 back a few weeks ago and had no problems with concert band scores that had been started in Sib 5. Started this past week on a new score in Sib 6. The percussion sounds were working fine, then, after a couple of days, it was like all the non-pitched entries had to be above the staves, sometimes an octave or more. Pitched sounds, timpani and keyboards, are fine. Previously entered notation stayed, but plays back incorrectly. Talking things like concert toms and concert bass drum, etc.

VDL 2.5 is selected for these instruments. Winds are from GPO.

Did I inadvertently reset something, somehow, when adding an instrument somewhere or am I just cyberdamned?

If the score you're playing back originated in Sibelius 5.x (even if you've opened it in Sibelius 6), be sure you're using the sound set that came with the template that score originated in. For example, a score which originated in the 5.2 template will need to have the 5.2 VDL Soundset assigned within your playback configuration.

If you're starting a new score with the Sibelius 6 template, be sure you're using the VDL 6.0 soundset, and the instruments in your score aren't the ";stock"; Sibelius instruments, but rather, instruments found within the VDL Template ";family"; of instruments. You should see these as an option if you go to Create>Instruments.

Since the soundset version must match the version of the template you started your score in, many people find it useful to create several playback configurations specific to the different versions of the template. That way, rather than reassigning sound sets, you can simply reassign playback configurations containing multiple instances of KP2 (with soundset versions already assigned) if so desired.

Thanks Jim.

Under ";Add Instruments";, the Choose From menu does not include VDL Template 6.0 as shown in the VDL Template 6.0 Manual for Sibelius on page 10. The Playback Devices menu does show VDL SoundSet 6.0 under Active Devices. I've got toms now, but concert BD is two octaves out of the staff! I can enter and then move it down, BUT...

Different question(s): Is there a way to set up an instrument for three (or four) different snare drum pitches? It would be to do melodic snare drum voicing, much like toms, with 15";, 14";, 13";, (10";) snare drum sounds as a single ";instrument";. I also have a need to do multiple pitch concert bass drum sounds, higher-lower, as a single ";instrument";.

Problem 1: If you're working in a piece that does not originate from the 6.0 Template, you need to make sure that you're importing the [b]House Style[/b] from the VDL 6.0 Template... as it says in the Readme. 

Problem 2: A few solutions...

1) Open a variety of the available snare instruments (concert snare, firecracker snare, and field drum), write them on separate staves, then use a separate, non-playing staff to notate the composite on one staff.

2) Make sure you have the Sibelius preferences set to open a new instrument for each staff, which would require you to uncheck the setting in Preferences -> Playback -> Use Same Slot For Different Instruments. Create your 4 concert snare staves. Then, the Kontakt Player 2 instance containing those instruments and use the Tuning feature to make each one produce a different pitch. I'm not sure if the pitch tweaks will be saved, but this might also work for you.

Hopefully these will get you down the right path.

Thanks for the tips Bryan. I'll have to give the Problem 2 solutions a try.

The Problem 1 issue yet remains where the VDL Template 6.0 does not appear in the ";Add Instruments"; menu, even though VDL SoundSet 6.0 instruments are selectable under Active Devices.

I don't think you're understanding the difference between the sound set and template.

[b]Sound set: [/b].xml file responsible for interacting with the actual VDL .nki (instrument) files that call up samples from either Kontakt Player 2 or the full version of Kontakt, depending on which one you assign in Playback Devices.

[b]Template:[/b] This is the .sib file named ";VDL Template 6.0"; or ";VDL Template 5.2.5";, etc. depending on your template version.

Your problem doesn't pertain to the sound set, as it seems you've figured out that part of the puzzle. You need to make sure you are actually using the template, or a House Style that originated from the Template. The VDL Template 6.0 family of instruments will not appear in the Add Instruments dialog unless you're working in that template or have imported the instrument definitions and playback dictionary from the Template. Once again, this is explained pretty well in the Readme that came with the 6.0 template, but I'll explain here.

1) Open 6.0 Template
2) House Styles > Export House Style, and name it (perhaps something like VDL 2.5 - 6.0)
3) Open the score in which you would like to import the VDL Instruments
4) House Style > Import House Style, select the House Style you just created (in my case, VDL 2.5 - 6.0)
5) All you really need are Playback Dictionary and Instrument Definitions.
6) You should now have a new ";VDL Template 6.0"; Family of instruments in the Add Instruments dialog, as well as the Instrument Change dialog. If not, you've missed something along the way.

The sound set has nothing to do with the interface of adding instruments to your score; it is what controls what's going on underneath the hood.

Thank you for your patience on this. Problem of errant notation resolved. Seems, as I think back, that I had a similar issue when first installing VDL with Sibelius 5. Seems like maybe one more step needs to be in the installation sequence for people like me!

The multi stave approach with different snare drums, each on a staff, and then one non-playing staff that shows it as it would be played, multi-percussion style, would seem to be so very cumbersome and time consuming. Is there is no way to make an ";instrument"; that has sounds from several others, a custom set-up, kind of like a personalized rack?

I'm glad you got the first issued squared away.

As far as the second issue, you wouldn't be able to do what you're needing, unless you have the full version of Kontakt, and working knowledge of how to build templates in Sibelius. I'll send you a PM about this.