Hey guys,

I used the search function but can't find the problem that I am having.  I would like to use the sounds from the concert bass drum staff in the staves of other instruments (say, marimba staff).  I know that I can utilize the rack combo but I am writing a long concert bass drum roll and would like it to be smooth during playback instead of the pulsating roll in the rack combo.  Any help on this would be great.

Also, if I wanted to write a gong part on the rack combo A while rack combo B is rolling on the bass drum is there a way to do that?

Also, I am attempting to write this in the band score for the marching band show this next year and I am unable to get the proper sounds to play back.  I did the house styles thing and all that from the readme file but it's still not coming through.

I use a Mac Pro with 4gb of RAM, Sibelius 6 and VD 2.5

1) You first problem is an easy fix.  Just enter an instrument change and load the Concert Bass Drum instrument under the Drums instrument group.

2) Second problem: Not completely sure I'm understanding what you're wanting.  There isn't an actual bass drum roll mapped on the Rack Combo B.  Do you have Rack Combo A and B on separate staves, or are you wanting to access both sets of sounds on the same staff?  If the second option is hat you're wanting, that's not possible. 

3) Marching band issue: By ";house styles thing"; are you referring to Exporting the VDL House Style from the VDL Sibelius Template and importing it into your band score? If so, you should see the - VDL Template 6.0 group in the Instruments box.  You need to make sure that you are loading an instance of Kontakt Player in Playback Devices and assign the VDL Template 6.0 soundset to that instance.  For that to work, you need to make sure you've copied the soundset (.xml file that came with your template packet) to the proper place, as it instructs you to in the Template Readme.

Once you've got that squared away, you'll be ready to rock 'n' roll!  If you could clarify what you mean in the second issue, we'll be able to better address you request.

Fixed most of the problems, but the for the first one I'm still having just a bit of trouble.

On the vibe part I start with a concert bass drum roll, but when I do an instrument change to concert bass it changes the name of the entire staff.  Also, do I have to go the the instrument change window every time I want to do an instrument change?  It's not a big deal, just want to know if I have to.

Oh, I'm changing the vibe part to bd and Tam-Tam.  I just got Sibelius a week ago and am still learning it.

One more thing with the instrument change.  When I set it to change the instrument it asks me to set the ";To BD"; or whatever in the box, but when I click yes it doesn't use what I wrote there, instead it says ";BD and Tam-Tam"; or ";18 Const. Suspended"; etc.  How do I fix this?

Staff naming: If you instrument an instrument change on the first bar, Sibelius assumes you're wanting to change the staff to that instrument.  However, you could can double click on both the full and short instrument names (first page and consecutive pages, respectively) and changes them there.

Instrument changes: 1) Yes, you will have to go to that menu every time to perform an instrument change.  There is an option in Preferences under Note Input that allow you to select or deselect whether or not you want 1 measure instrument changes to change back to the previous instrument i.e. the one loaded before it on the staff.

2) The whole ";To [instrument name]"; text option adds the text on the last note played on the staff.  It's there more or less for the performer, so he/she can be prepared for the next instrument that might be used.  The actual instrument text (BD and Tam-Tam in your case) will be attached to the Instrument Change.  Experiment with that option and just figure out which one you feel works better for you.

Hope this helps!