Hey everyone

I've been hired to write a battery book for a high school marching band.  I do this often, and I'm been fortunate to work with bands that use the exact same system as I do.  They use Sibelius 6 with VDL.  So when they send me a score, it usually has the wind parts already in the score, with pit percussion parts written using VDL sounds, and battery staves are there ready for me to input the notes, using VDL sounds.  It's great!

This particular band is different.  They sent me a score with all the wind parts and pit percussion parts already inputted.  It is a Sibelius 6 files, which is great.  But they did NOT use VDL for anything.  There are empty staves for the battery instruments, but the sounds assigned to them are NOT VDL.

How can I change this?  I'd like to assign the VDL sounds to the score.  Is this possible?  I've tried to go under Create, Instruments, but VDL is no where to be found. 

Help!

Thanks in advance!!!

Brian

I just realized I committed a sin in this forum.  Here is the system I'm running:

Mac OSX 10.6.8
Sibelius 6
VDL 2.5.2

Thanks!

You have a few options:

1) Copy the music from the file you received over to a new score, using the VDL template. You have to add all of the staves that are in the score to make sure everything moves over smoothly. Make sure you also create the appropriate time signatures, key signatures, and number of measures. Then just copy the music over.

2) Follow the steps outlined in the Template Readme file that explain how to import the VDL Template house style into another score. That will bring all of the noteheads and dictionary definitions into the file, allowing you to add VDL instruments to the score.

Both will work and the choice is ultimately up to you. Good luck!

Ok thanks. Wow sounds like a lot of steps!  I wonder why Sibelius won't allow me to access my VDL sound library in this new score?  That would seem like a pretty obvious feature that most people would want to implement.  Copying things and pasting them sounds pretty sloppy if you ask me.

Do you know if this feature will exist in the future?

Did you look at Step 2?

I think you might have misunderstood my post. Those are two separate options, not steps - hence the heading ";you have a few options";. Honestly the importing of the house style option is the simplest, but you sometimes get duplicates of the Sibelius instruments when importing the VDL house style. Just read the template Readme (as it is aptly named) where it instructs you on how to do that. It's a very simple 4 step process.

The reason Sibelius can't play back your VDL sounds automagically is because the VDL soundset (among the hundreds of others that exist for other sound libraries) aren't included with Sibelius. If it could find the sounds and play them back all on their own, their wouldn't be any need for sounds and templates and such. However, the Sibelius and Finale teams simply don't have the manpower to create what would be millions of lines of code to facilitate every sound library being able to work out of the box, with proper notation and such. Hopefully that makes things a bit more clear.

Again, the house style importing is very simple. I was simply offering a few options.

Yep I checked it out. That will be my best bet. It still isn't the ideal way to go though. It would only make sense to be able to simply go to Create, Instruments, and add an instrument. That is a pretty logical assumption. It turns out the current ";easy"; way to accomiplish this is to access an outside file, the template, and import what I need. It's not already there for me. I have to go import it.

This is obviously easy to do. I was just hoping the process would be much more built in.
But VDL is always improving, as is Sibelius. So I'm sure eventually there won't be as many steps involved to complete something like this.

Thanks for the help Bryan. You always help me find my way!

Hey Bryan

Oh trust me dude, I know your advice is always golden. That's why I always take it!!

Here's a point I'd like to make. I'm always told, in mostly sarcastic words, to ";simply read"; the ReadMe file. I'm very aware that the majority of information I need can be found in the documentation that comes with VDL, templates, and Sibelius. But please keep in mind. I'm not a software or notation wizard like you, or many of the musicians who post here. I'm a simple guy who is somewhat handy with my computer. I'm also married and a father of two. The idea of searching HUNDREDS of pages of documentation does not sound very appealing. Especially when I have experts, like Bryan and Jim, who typically respond to my posts within an hour or two.

So I weigh my tactic. I could spend potentially a LONG part of my day searching for answers to a question I don't really know how to ask. Or, I could post on this forum and complete other projects while I wait for my answer, which typically comes within the hour.

I am fully aware that there is documentation. I'm aware there are hundreds of pages of documentation. But I trust that I will fin my answer here MUCH faster.

Does that make sense?

Seriously though, thanks for the help. Bryan you have always pointed me in the right direction. I appreciate it!!!

:-)

No problem, Brian. Maybe one of these days all software will be able to function under the Apple mantra: ";It just works."; However, that's a pretty unrealistic expectation, especially as the inner workings things get more and more complicated.

I was simply trying to steer you in the right direction. I can understand having few spare moments for mundane tasks like searching documentation. Everybody's situation is entirely different, and many people simply aren't aware that the Readme file exists, whether they just overlooked it or for some other reason.

I'm glad you're always able to have your questions answered; that's why this forum exists!

You're the man Bryan!!!!

[quote author=Bryan Harmsen link=topic=4071.msg21376#msg21376 date=1310148063]
1) Copy the music from the file you received over to a new score, using the VDL template. You have to add all of the staves that are in the score to make sure everything moves over smoothly. Make sure you also create the appropriate time signatures, key signatures, and number of measures. Then just copy the music over.
[/quote]

As per [url=https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=4074.0]this thread[/url], I think you're going to be better off if you use Bryan's first option. The idea is that you won't have as much data being copied from one file to the other that could get things ... um, messed up.

I am a recent graduate of the ";can't sit the right way on a toilet seat"; in the school of VDL.
Once you fit making the new score into your ";process";, there will be very little issue.

What I did was simply close the old score window down to just the top staff, then shrink it down to get as much in the window as possible. Then just go to work...
I had to create a few ";new"; scores wherein multiple time signatures and tempo changes had to be input.

Since I'm new to Sibelius and VDL, I can't say I didn't need the practice.

I have one more closer to write for outdoor, and I'm looking forward to it.
I've learned so much over the last few weeks. I am grateful for the accumulated knowledge and helpful peers on this board.

Keep in mind that for what the program DOES, it's well worth the extra effort you need to commit every now and then.

<sarcasm>Although I kind of miss using woodblocks for tenors and taiko drums for basses</sarcasm>