Hello,

Recently I purchased a new machine and transferred my installation of Sibelius (v. 7.1.3 build 77) and VDL 2.5

My playback setup is exactly the same as what I had previously, using Kontakt 5.

After opening scores which I created on an older machine, I'm having some odd playback issues.  Notably, in suspended cymbal voices which have been inserted via an Instrument Change into staves which have other instruments as well.

For the most part, all cymbal rolls are playing back as the longest length of crescendo, regardless of the notehead.  I'm using all three sizes of the SusCym (A) instrument.  So, for instance a cymbal roll in which I've used notehead 41 (short cresc.) is playing back as the length of what would be notehead 43 (long cresc.).

Additionally, many of the struck cymbal crashes, which are on notehead 51 (Loud Hit w/Mallet) are playing back as notehead 42 (Short choke w/Stick).

Anybody have any ideas?

I have also noticed that some of the staves in the mixer will not allow me to change the initial playback device to Auto.  I have a feeling this could be at the root of the issue, but I haven't figured out how to fix it.

Thanks!

Chris Whyte

Hi Chris,

I noticed nobody had chimed in on this yet, and I'm not sure I have any immediate ideas, but I'd start by double checking that your sound sets for any active instances of Kontak 5 correspond to the template you're using. That's often one oversight that can be made. Sometimes just adding another active instance of Kontakt can help too in cases where sounds are being substituted.

If you're still running into problems, you might want to check in with the guys at The Write Score too since they're the real whiz kids behind how the templates operate. http://www.thewritescore.com

The Write Score templates have an interesting habit of being corrupted.

[i]I'd make sure you start with a "fresh" version of the template: [/i]
[b]ie. Re-set up the score then copy/pasta into the "fresh" template. [/b]

In fairness, when template files that have been used for some time become "corrupted" (though I'm not sure that term would be quite accurate), it doesn't have anything to do with how The Write Score has created their files. Rather, there are some odd things that Sibelius does when doing lots of copy/pasting that can somehow duplicate mapped noteheads within unpitched instrument mapping (staff style) definitions. I've experienced this often. It's not ideal, but one of those weird quirks I've come to expect when using Sibelius frequently.

Yeah, copy/paste can do some weird things sometimes. But the main way unpitched drum mapping becomes corrupted is when you try to enter a note via a MIDI keyboard (or the built-in keyboard) and there is no corresponding Input Pitch value. Sibelius will usually insert a notehead 0 or 1 with an Input Pitch of F#-1. The placement is usually lower on the staff; and get enough of these going and of course you can start to see problems.

Sadly, this is actually by design, as Sibelius is "trying to figure it out".