Hi there,

I'm a bit frustrated, because I paid a fair amount for the Garritan Marching Band sounds and still have no drum set working. If I pick the VDL General midi set, it has the correct sounds, but it plays only every other note. I hoped the new Finale would fix this, but the problem remains.
Do you know a solution for this issue?

Thank you,

Ralph

Hi Ralph!

Would you be so kind to list your system specs and the software you are using? Also, could you list the steps you are taking and what you are trying to accomplish?

Do you own VDL? Are you using a Write Score template?

Thanks! 

Ralph,

Keep in mind that if the instrument you're using is from the Garritan Concert/MB Library, it may have something to do with how it's programmed. That's handled by Garritan (a division of MakeMusic) so while you're sorting this out, I would recommend you connect with them about it as well. While the samples were licensed from VDL, the instrument programming falls under the control of Garritan. If there's an issue with round-robin attacks, that'd be something they'd have to address.

Hi there,

many thanks for your replies!

I'm using the newest Finale with Garritan COMBO (the Marching Band package) which includes a ";VDL general midi set";. I also posted my issue in the Finale forum, but I assume it has something to do with VDL, because it happens with no other instrument.

For a while I got it work now by separating bass drum and snare, which I simply put into different layers first, on two different channels. But now the problem has come back again. It seems totally random, sometimes if I change things like the human playback style or dynamics the problem comes and goes, but I have not recognized any principle yet.

If it doesn't work properly, it's just dropping about 50% of the notes and the snare rolls are faltering and too slow, as if there was not enough memory (which seems implausible).

Now, I at least found out: the issue seems to be triggered at certain moments, for example snare rolls, but not all of them. If it plays correctly until then, afterwards it plays only exactly every other note, and the other way around.

@Brown: Thank you, yes, I already did.

I've made a video recording of the score playback to make it clearer:

http://www.bernardynet.de/finaleissue.mov

As you can see, the snare roll in the first ending triggers something so that the repetition works properly. The snare roll in bar 14, however, changes nothing, so it can't be the only reason. But then again, in the next section, there are again the drum rolls which "switch" between working properly and playing only every other note.
It seems to be somewhat random.
I should add that yesterday it worked for a while for the whole piece. I've made no significant changes, suddenly the issue came back again.

Finally, I fixed it!

If someone als has occurring this issue and is interested in the solution:

Take the VDL General MIDI Set.sfz an replace:

<region>  lovel=1  hivel=46  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_11_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=47  hivel=69  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_15_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=70  hivel=111  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_19_0002102C.audio

through:

<region>  lovel=1  hivel=23  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_11_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=24  hivel=46  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_11_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=47  hivel=69  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_15_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=70  hivel=92  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_15_0002102C.audio
<region>  lovel=93  hivel=127  key=38  amplitude=100  tune=0  loop_mode=no_loop  sample=DS_SnHit_19_0002102C.audio