I'm looking for suggestions regarding modifying an instrument to sound like untensioned drum heads played with mallets or sticks, in Sibelius, using VDL 2.5.5. Has anyone played around with this before? I'd prefer to learn from your experience rather than have one all to myself. :)

You might try loading an Impact Drum, then using the ";tune"; knob to lower it to a nice thud.

Jim,

That's exactly what I wound up doing. It's not a very realistic playback, but as usual it's close enough for what I need.