When I launch Finale 2011 with the Setup Wizard, there are no VDL 2.5 instruments to choose from in the instrument list. The only instruments to choose from are SmartMusic SoftSynth, Garritan Instruments for Finale, and Tapspace Drumline for Finale(which is all the VDLite sounds that come with Finale). I'm not quite sure how to access all of the sounds that VDL 2.5 offers. For example, when I choose VDLite Snareline and set it up to play through the Kontakt player, I can't access all of the sounds that are shown on the keyboard in the Kontakt player. Same thing happens when I choose Bassline, Tenorline, Rack Combo A or Rack Combo B. I'm just not sure how to access all of the sounds available.

Are you using this?

  [url=https://www.tapspace.com/VDL-Template-for-Finale-2011-pr-159.html]https://www.tapspace.com/VDL-Template-for-Finale-2011-pr-159.html[/url]

Yes I am.

The instruments for the full version of VDL are not listed in the Set Up Wizard because those files have not been created. Start with the template and if you need to add or change instruments then do so through the template. 

A quick explanation about VDL and the Setup Wizard. If I'm incorrect on any of these details, someone please correct me.

Before we were all hosting virtual instruments as plugins in Finale, things were a little more limited. In those days, the typical MIDI standard reserved channel 10 for percussion. Oftentimes *all* percussion - on one channel. If you're only interested in using the basic set of GM (General MIDI) sounds, this may have been fine, but these days, percussion instruments are essentially treated more like any other instrument, with each requiring its own channel to utilize it to the fullest.

This older foundation of only placing percussion instruments on channel 10 is still used by the Setup Wizard. Finale does allow 8 slots of VI plugins to be loaded (each with 16 MIDI channels), but that still only means that each of those plugins would have one unpitched percussion sent to it by the Setup Wizard, always reserved the Plugin's corresponding Channel 10.

Long story short, this is a limitation of Finale's Setup Wizard that will hopefully be redesigned sometime in the future. In the meantime, all the functionality you need in assigning boatloads of unpitched percussion instruments to any channel you want can be accomplished by adding/deleting staves accordingly, then loading the VDL instruments and assigning MIDI channels manually.