I have VDL2.5, Kontact Player 2, Finale 2009 and I'm using VDL2 as a plug in. The problems I have been having are leading me to believe that perhaps I should just use Sibelius instead but I really would like some help as to whether I'm actually doing this right and if Finale is just the problem.

Problem #1: I have downloaded the template, but it doesn't seem to help much. I never write scores with a drumline and that many keyboard instruments. For instance, if I try and delete the instruments in there and add new instruments, say, a Brake Drum, triangle, concert bass, cymbals and accessory percussion - I cannot seem to load sounds into these instruments once I have added them into the score via the ";New Staves"; option. (I am also very confused by how MIDI channels work, but I tried following the VDL User Manual and it was too vague.)

Problem #2: Say I wanted to write just for a basic drumline - Snare, Tenor, Bass. I figured out how to get the sounds working okay for this. I deleted the vibes, marimba and other stuff, but the problem is that the score is so small even though there are just three instruments. I tried making the staves bigger, but after that, there was a big huge blank space between the snare/tenor/bass and the next line of snare/tenor/bass. Is this just a side-effect of using the Finale template, and should I just switch to Sibelius for a neater score? Or has someone encountered this and been able to correct it?

[b]First Item[/b]
It can be a lot to digest if you've never dealt with this sort of thing before.
1) If you're on a PC, make sure you've copied the KontaktPlayer2.dll file as it suggests in the VDL manual.
2) Make sure you have selected ";Play Through VSTs";. If you're on a Mac, that will say Audio Units instead of VSTs.
3) MIDI > Instrument Setup > VST Instruments (or Audio Unit)
4) From the drop down, select KontaktPlayer2, then click the Edit icon.
5) You now have an active instance of KP2.

Are you wanting to have each of those accessory instrument on a separate staff or all sharing a staff? What you're wanting to do will dictate what direction you need to take. If you are wanting to have each of these instrument on separate staves, you simply need to make sure that you've applied the appropriate Staff Style, then go into Staff Attributes for each staff and select the Percussion Clef and Percussion Notation Style.

With regards to channel numbers, it sounds like you need to get a bit more familiar with the Instrument List how to change channels in Kontakt Player 2. See the attached images for a visual explanation.

Note, once you go over 16 instruments in KontaktPlayer2, you'll need to start using a second instance, for which the channel number start at 17 in the Instrument List, but 1 again in your new KP2 instance.

[b]Second Item[/b]
1) Choose the Page Layout Tool, then select all of the systems using Edit > Select All.
2) Right click one of the handles (the little box at the top left of each system) and choose Edit Margins.
3) Uncheck everything except [i]Distance Between Systems[/i], and give that a value of something like 0.1 or 0.2.
At this point you should have better spaced systems, but the top systems are all way too high up on the page.
4) Click somewhere outside any of the systems to delect the systems.
5) Now just click inside the dotted box of top system and drag them down so they are under the title, headers, and such.

Yes, this step would be easier in Sibelius, as this sort of thing is primarily managed with the Document Setup and Engraving Rules dialogs and staves/systems are automatically spaced within the page margins according to those settings. Finale does, however, offer a slightly more obvious way of moving the systems around, though it's not automatically adjusted like it is in Sibelius.

Is there anyone that could help with the second issue but on a mac instead?  I also have Finale 2009 and VDL 2.5

The solution should be essentially the same for a Mac version of Finale as it is for the Windows version.  The only real difference is that a button or 2 might be in a slightly different place. The proceedure is the same.

Warren