Very basic questions about VDL:
Purchased VDL 2.5 for son to compose and playback percussion music without knowing that a notation program is also needed.
What are my choices? only Finale and Sibelius? What about Cubase?
There seem to be issues with templates and Finale 12: are templates necessary?
Finale 12 has numerous percussion voices: do we need VDL 2.5?
We have a trial version of Finale 12 and know how to compose with it, but is unable to utilize (play through) VDL 2.5: are there tutorials for newbies?
System: Intel Q9550; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.
Thanks for any suggestions, wikksmith.

Welcome to the world of VDL and virtual instruments. To answer as many of your questions as possible:

Your choices for notation programs that work with VDL are limited to Finale and Sibelius, and yes you will need to purchase a template regardless of which notation program you choose. The templates are designed to save the user a great deal of time in setting up all of the needed support files which allow VDL and the notation programs to 'speak' to each other.

Cubase is a digital audio workstation program used for recording. It is possible to use VDL with Cubase for this purpose but the noation capabilities of Cubase do not allow for it to work with VDL in this area.

The templates themselves are currently produced and distributed by The Write Score. Tapspace no longer distributes or sells templates. Those individuals responsible for creating versions previously available through Tapspace continue to do so as The Write Score. You can go to this site for more information [url=http://www.thewritescore.com/]http://www.thewritescore.com/[/url] .

Templates for both Finale 2012 and Sibelius 7 are currently under construction. Information about release dates are available through The Write Score site.

Regarding issues with templates and Finale 2012, Finale has made several major design changes since 2010 involving percussion and playback. The currently available template (Finale 2011) will work with Finale 2012.

There are tutorials and quick start videos with the full version of Finale, they may even be available if the demo version if you look under the Help Menu. I would suggest your son take some time to learn how to use Finale and all of its inner workings. The included percussion sounds, while not providing the variety and depth of VDL, will supply a good foundation.

Let us know if you have any more questions.


Ted Boliske
Finale Template Developer
Tapspace VDL/ The Write Score

Ted:
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
I have the 2011 templates.
I've watched the tutorials on Youtube.
I've read through the manuals for Finale 2012 and VDL2.5
I've copied the .dll file into VST folder.
I've configured my soundcard, although the only interface choices are DirectSound and Multimedia (40ms latency).
I've installed the latest driver for the sound card.
I can get sounds from the metronome and the reference tone, but, I can't get any sounds from the virtual keyboard with a instrument loaded - just a red flash on the controller, just below the ";Purge"; button.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Donald

Sorry, got it - I was in purge mode!
Thanks, Donald

Donald,

Good to hear things are working out. Please stay in touch if there are any more problems or questions. Also, you may post template questions at The Write Score site.

Ted:
I tried to purchase the 2011 template, but got a warning that I had been redirected to a potentially dangerous site.  What should I expect to see when I go to checkout?
Also, is there a way to purchase a downloadable file?
Thanks, Donald

Are you purchasing through The Write Score at [url=http://www.thewritescore.com]www.thewritescore.com[/url] ? If you have any problems or questions with the site contact them directly. The templates are downloadable, so there is no waiting for physical delivery.

We recently renewed our SSL certificate and it appears that there's a problem with it. We'll look into it.


EDIT:  It looks like our host has resolved the issue with our SSL certificate. Regards, TWS

OK.  About when will the template for Finale 2012 be available?
What will it cost to update from the 2011 template to 2012?
Thanks, Donald

The templates for Finale 2012 should be available in early January but I can't give a firm date. As far as cost to purchase or upgrade, I don't have any information at this time.

Ted:
Happy New Year!
I have updated Kontact Player to 2.2.4.001 and the VDL libraries to 2.5.1  I've purchased the 2011 Finale template.  I'm now ready to install the XML files, but find that there are 2 versions of each file, e.g., ";VDL Snareline"; and ";._VDL Snareline.";  Which do I copy to the MIDI Device Annotation folder?
Thank you for your patient help.
ps: I build my own PCs.  I have installed, updated, upgraded, patched and used dozens of applications, mostly relating to sound and video editing.  But, I've yet to encounter such an arcane set of programs as Finale and Drumline!

Donald,

I'll need to look into the 'double' XML files. This is the first time I've heard of this issue.

Donald,

After some investigation, I'm also seeing the same issue. I will still need to test but my first suggestion would be to copy all of the files. The ._ files may be backups or a result of the compression program.

Ted:
OK - thanks.  Please let me know what you find out.  My initial thought was that one set was the compressed and the other the uncompressed, but the file sizes don't made sense for that.  In the mean time, I'll copy both sets.
Donald

Ted:
The Finale11 Template READ ME says ";locate the folder called VDL Templates. This folder contains the three VDL/Finale template files.  Copy and paste this folder in the ���common�۪ Templates folder (���common�۝/MakeMusic/Finale 2011/Music Files/Templates).";

I do not see a folder named ";VDL Templates.";  I do find a folder names ";FIN11_Templates"; which has 2 sets of 3 Template files (again, with 1 set preceded with ._).  These are Finale Notation Files names ";Battery ONLY,"; ";Indoor"; and ";Outdoor.";
Is this the folder I paste into the Templates folder? 
This seems far more complex than it needs to be!
Thanks, Donald