So i insert an instrument change onto a marimba staff. place a note into that staff, assign the appropriate notehead (which doesnt look like what is shown in the 6.1 template readme btw). the roll doesnt play back and doesnt preview on note click. so then i try hitting record and playing it on the midi keyboard, it'll playback during record, but wont assign the right notehead or playback after the fact. when i do step entry via the keyboard, its kind of erratic where on the staff it will place and never has the right notehead, and never plays back.

any ideas?

Keep in mind, the suspended cymbal sounds included on marimba and vibes patches were put there prior to the new playback functionality of Sibelius. These cymbal sounds are limited in comparison to what you get in the full suspended cymbal patches.

Once Sibelius 5 came along and Soundworld was introduced, utilizing a non-pitched [i]staff type[/i] (instrument change) to call up a pitched instrument (suspended cymbals within the marimba patch, for example) wasn't particularly beneficial as it may have been in Sibelius 4.

Still, Bryan's workaround is one way in which these sounds could still be utilized, and Finale folks still use them quite a bit.

Be that as it may, you [i]could[/i] still use the sounds in the Marimba patches, since they are technically still there.  In the attached image, the D way above the staff is hidden in Voice 2, while the A space note with notehead 1 and a 3 slash tremolo is there purely for notational purposes and the Play On Pass box has been unchecked for that note (A space).

For someone wanting to just do a suspended cymbal swell here and there, this would be a handy little workaround, without having to load the extra sounds, thus also saving on RAM usage.

The following is from the Sibelius Template 6.0 Readme (page 17):

[u]Sounds Above the Range[/u]

For those of you who have been using VDL2 or VDL 2.5 for any period of time know that there are suspended cymbal sounds mapped above the ranges in most of the Marimba and Vibe KontaktPlayer2 patches. Until now they have been quite handy.

The problem we had in incorporating these sounds into the Template is that Sibelius requires you to choose between either [b]Pitched[/b] or [b]Unpitched Percussion[/b] when creating an instrument. [b]An instrument must be either pitched or unpitched; it can not be both.[/b]

We could have made two separate instruments for each patch to accommodate this, but then the memory usage would have been ridiculous if you did not load the correct matching instruments. Anyway, to make a long story short, here is what we did as it pertains to you now.

You will not be using those sounds anymore. Instead, use one of the SusCym instruments located in the Cymbals Family of the [b]Create > Instruments[/b] dialog. Here�۪s why:
[list]
[li]You would have to make an instrument change on that staff anyway.[/li]
[li]You'd waste valuable RAM, as previously stated.[/li]
[li]You won't be limited to just the few sounds in the keyboard�۪s cymbal patches; the
SusCym instruments have more than three times as many sound choices available.[/li]
[li]Why be limited to just the SusCyms? You can use any of the cymbal instruments that
are in the Cymbals Family. (Such as chinas, splash cymbals, hihats, ride, etc)[/li]
[/list]

Warren they do have them, and you could do the whole hidden layer trick to make it happen, but some people prefer to use the built-in mappings of the template without having to fool with hiding layers, want the notation to look good without a bunch of tricks, and want to have access to the full array of sounds in the cymbal ";instruments"; in Sibelius.

That it a good point though, so thanks for bringing that to the discussion.

Do you really need to enter the instrument patch? Marimbas have 7 suspended cymbal sounds in the range just above the playable range of the instrument.

This is might stem from an issue with instrument changes in Sibelius as they relate to un-pitched instruments and their noteheads.

1. Try entering your instrument change, then (with the instrument change still selected) nudge it to the left by tapping your left arrow once. The mapping should work and you should get proper playback upon triggering with the MIDI keyboard. As it states in the template Readme, most sus cymbal rolls require a 2 or 3 slash tremolo with the proper notehead to trigger the sounds.

2. Once the note has been entered, reselect the instrument change box, and nudge it back to right  by tapping your right arrow once. This is important if you want it centered on the barline and not in the measure before you where you want it. 

Hopefully this issue will be ironed out in future releases up Sibelius, eliminating the need for such parlor tricks.

Hope this helps!