Greetings friends in percussion,

I will try to make this as brief but thorough as possible. I am on a new computer due to spilling water on my old one several months ago, and I just installed Finale 2011, authorized through my work. To the best of my knowledge I installed everything I needed to (Garritan, Aria, etc. I didn't deselect any boxes). I also Installed Virtual Drumline 2.5 onto this computer this afternoon and authorized it- I had used this version on my old computer and I am in the process of deauthorizing that (reached out to NI support to see how that is done). I am on a PC running Windows 7. After some help from this forum several years ago I successfully used VDL on my old computer without any issues. I have spent some considerable time this evening researching my problem but I can't seem to find an answer, so here goes:

I cannot locate the ";FinaleVST"; file in which I need to paste the ";kontaktplayer2.dll"; file. I open the Finale 2011 folder through ";program files"; as instructed on page 18 of the manual I have, but I cannot find a folder called ";FinaleVST";. IT seems that this step is crucial to carrying out the rest.

To compound this problem, when I try to load a VDL instrument view the new staves wizard through the staff tool on the existing wind score, I get an error message saying, ";the requested virtual instrument plugin could not be found."; I suspect that this is related to my installation of VDL today? I wrote the first song of the show I'm arranging using just Finale 2011 at work (no Virtual Drumline) and it worked fine.

I'm not sure if any of this is necessary, but my system is an Intel i5 processor with 4gb of RAM and about 200 free gigs of hard drive space. It's a 64 bit operating system. I hope that I have been clear enough and provided enough information to receive some guidance. I'm sure I'm making a very simple mistake but I'm at my wits end for a solution as software is nowhere near a strength of mine. Thanks for any help that can be provided.

Dave

Okay, I have some updates on my progress. After more poking around I decided I should download Kontakt 5 and buy VDL 2.5.5, which I did and I've successfully completed that process. It seems that I'm stuck on the same problem, however, as page 107-108 of the user guide seems to detail my problem. As stated before, I do not have any VST files located on my computer. They're not located where the manual says to look and a search of the computer does not reveal them. It's becoming apparent to me that this must be a Finale issue, but I'm hoping someone hear can help me resolve this. Thanks!

Dave,

This is from the Finale Knowledge Base:


    Close Finale. Copy the Kontaktx.dll file from the following folder:
        Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt x\VSTPlugins
        Windows Vista/7 C:\Programs\Native Instruments\Kontakt x\VSTPlugins
    Paste the Kontaktx.dll file to the following folder:
        Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data*\MakeMusic\Finale 201x\VST Support
        Windows Vista/7: C:\Users\[your account]\AppData*\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 201x\VST Support
    *This is a hidden folder. To show hidden files and folders, go to the Explorer's Tools Menu (XP) or the Organize Menu (Vista/7), Folder and Search Options, the View tab, and Show hidden files and folders.
    The full Kontakt VST/AU should now be available as a playback device under MIDI/Audio Menu > Instrument Setup > VST/AU Instruments.

You will also need to update to Finale 2011b for 64-bit support.


Additionally, VDL 2.5.5 was released after Finale 2012 was released. If you are using a Finale 2011 template from The Write Score it will not contain any of the new instruments or fixes for VDL 2.5.5.

Ted,

EDIT: I've answered my own questions by using the manual that came with the templates. A novel concept, I know. Thanks again.

Dave

Thanks for letting us know the issue has been resolved. And, that someone actually reads the Read Me from the templates. :)