I'm having a strange issue related to Concert BD ties with a piece I'm working on in Sibelius 6.2 using the 6.0a template.

This rhythm works and plays back properly (in a 4/4 measure):
dotted 8th note / 16th note tied to 8th note / 8th note tied to half note

This does not play back properly:
staccato quarter note / quarter rest / 16th rest /  staccato 16th note tied to regular 8th note / quarter rest

However, if I make all notes have a staccato articulation, it does play back properly:
staccato quarter note / quarter rest / 16th rest /  staccato 16th note tied to [i]staccato[/i] 8th note / quarter rest

The last example, while sounding correct, is an example of incorrect notation practice. It seems VDL is requiring staccato notation across the board for the playback to be as written. This behavior does not occur with other articulations, such as accent, marcato accent, and tenuto.

Hiding the staccato dot is not a valid workaround, either, since Sibelius hides the entire note.

That's unfortunately one caveat of the way the template is currently built. One option you could entertain is going into the Staff Mapping (via House Style > Edit Instrument, Select Your instrument, then click Edit Staff Mapping) and change the staccato notes to a different notehead and remove the staccato mark.

As is noted in the Read Me, those staccato notes require the assigned note, as well as the staccato mark to function properly, so you're probably getting the regular hit instead.

One work around would be to select the eighth note to which the sixteenth is tied and turn off the Play On Pass for that note. A dirty work around, but one nonetheless.

[quote author=Bryan Harmsen link=topic=3873.msg20410#msg20410 date=1290286727]
That's unfortunately one caveat of the way the template is currently built. One option you could entertain is going into the Staff Mapping (via House Style > Edit Instrument, Select Your instrument, then click Edit Staff Mapping) and change the staccato notes to a different notehead and remove the staccato mark.[/quote]Does this problem not manifest itself with other articulations because those articulations only change the velocity and not the sound sample?

[quote]One work around would be to select the eighth note to which the sixteenth is tied and turn off the Play On Pass for that note. A dirty work around, but one nonetheless.[/quote]Yeah, I thought of that. I see I didn't do a good enough job describing what exactly is wrong with the ";This does not play back properly"; rhythm. Not only does the tied note play when I don't want it to, the next note (the first quarter note at the beginning of the next measure) doesn't play back at all. Put a few bars' worth of that rhythm into a clean version of the 6.0a template to see what I'm talking about.

[quote author=Bryan Harmsen link=topic=3873.msg20410#msg20410 date=1290286727]
That's unfortunately one caveat of the way the template is currently built. One option you could entertain is going into the Staff Mapping (via House Style > Edit Instrument, Select Your instrument, then click Edit Staff Mapping) and change the staccato notes to a different notehead and remove the staccato mark.
[/quote]

Shouldn't have to edit the maps. There are Input Variables at play here. (There are two notation options for each of the Dampened Hits.)

If I remember correctly, when tying two notes together in an unpitched instrument the notes have to be the same. As in, the notehead/articulation/line/space has to be the same. Otherwise, Sibelius will ignore the tie and trigger the next note anyway, knowing it is different than the first. By the way, this is how several of the sounds have been intentionally setup, i.e. all of the orange highlighted sounds.

I'll look at this thread again tomorrow after I have gotten some sleep. :)

OK, sleep is good.

As per my previous post, take note of the following scenarios.

[quote author=Joe link=topic=3873.msg20408#msg20408 date=1290280675]
This rhythm works and plays back properly (in a 4/4 measure):
dotted 8th note / 16th note tied to 8th note / 8th note tied to half note
[/quote]

Works because the notehead/articulation/line/space items are the same.

[quote author=Joe link=topic=3873.msg20408#msg20408 date=1290280675]
This does not play back properly:
staccato quarter note / quarter rest / 16th rest /  [color=red]staccato 16th [/color] note tied to [color=red]regular 8th [/color] note / quarter rest
[/quote]

Does not work because the [b]staccato 16th [/b] and [b]regular 8th [/b] notes are not the same. Sibelius ignores the tie and triggers the different sound/notehead - according to what is in the instrument mapping.

[quote author=Joe link=topic=3873.msg20408#msg20408 date=1290280675]
However, if I make all notes have a staccato articulation, it does play back properly:
staccato quarter note / quarter rest / 16th rest /  staccato 16th note tied to [i]staccato[/i] 8th note / quarter rest
[/quote]

Works because the notehead/articulation/line/space items are the same.

I've made a note for myself to do a writeup or something to cover this in more detail, since I maybe didn't give it enough time in the documentation (it being both the yellow and orange highlights).

I hope this all makes sense. Let me know if I need to explain further.

Hugh,

Everything you've typed is clear and makes sense. That addresses why the tie isn't working as expected. This is easy enough to work around by deselecting ";play on pass"; for the tied-to note.

However, there is still the issue of the note [i]after[/i] the tied-to note not playing back at all when the notation is made to look correct in Sibelius. Note what I posted above:
[quote]I see I didn't do a good enough job describing what exactly is wrong with the ";This does not play back properly"; rhythm. Not only does the tied note play when I don't want it to, the next note (the first quarter note at the beginning of the next measure) doesn't play back at all. Put a few bars' worth of that rhythm into a clean version of the 6.0a template to see what I'm talking about.[/quote]

[quote author=Joe link=topic=3873.msg20427#msg20427 date=1290525504]
However, there is still the issue of the note [i]after[/i] the tied-to note not playing back at all when the notation is made to look correct in Sibelius.
[/quote]

My bad. I missed that part.

I believe I've had something similar happen and still don't know exactly what was causing it, other than thinking it is a Sibelius quirk of some kind. Is the note after the tie the same as what proceeds it? If so, try a different notehead to see what that does.

Sibelius is getting better at supporting us percussion types, but there is still work to be done ...