Hi Matt,

I have just finished writing a reply to a post that someone asked me to view, and it is in relation to sibelius 5. I have sib 5 and Vienna Instruments working just great together, and there are also others on the forum who are using it well and succesfully also.

Unfortunately, it is now time for me to hit the sack in Australia at the moment [bedtime here and getting late now!], but I will try and get back to you and be as helpful as I can when I get the chance to post again, which won't be until Thursday night Australian time.

Until then, I would recommend that you try sibelius 5 with the soundsets, and read and re-read the instructions if something is not working. I can say from my experience using Sib 5 and Vienna Instruments that when something is not working, there is always a logical explanation for it, and when using it for the first time, you really must stick close to all instructions in the info provided with the soundsets, and everything should work fine.

Once you get used to following the set pattern of setting up the score etc, it gets easier and easier. I've also found a few ways to make scoring a lot easier when using Vienna Ensemble, and Sibelius 5 together in relation to what instrument in each staff relates to what numbered instrument in each slot of the Ensemble. Anyway, I can get into this later.

best regards,

Steve[:D] 

Hello Matt!

Could it be, that you tried opening the sound set file like you open a score?
To use a sound set you have to go to the playback configuration window, set the Vienna Ensemble as your MIDI output and there chose the Vienna Ensemble Special Edition Sound set.

Best wishes,
Andi
Vienna Symphonic Library

Thanks very much for your time, Steve...I look forward to chatting with you.

Andi, if I select the Vienna Ensemble and then locate a soundset in the drop down menu, I only get VSL Special Edition...not Vienna ENSEMBLE Special Edition [:^)] is this the way it should be?

I am also having problems when playing back or inputting notes in a score...at the moment I hear nothing, even when I've selected the VI as the playback device...hmm..any thoughts?

Before you can use a sound set you have to copy it to the following folder:
Windows XP: C:\Programs\Sibelius Software\Sibelius 5\Sounds
Windows Vista: C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\Sibelius Software\Sibelius 5\Sounds
Mac OS X: /Users/your username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 5/Sounds

From my side it's hard to tell why you hear nothing.
Are you working on PC or Mac?
Have you set the same channel in Sibelius and in Vienna Ensemble?
What did you load in Vienna Ensemble?

I would also recommend that you read the setup guide pdf slowly and several times.

Andi

OK finally I have sound. But that is when i'm using the VSL Special Edition soundset..not the Vienna Ensemble one - I still cannot locate this xml file...Sibelius 5 is starting to behave erratically now and is quitting while unresponsive. The location Mac OS X: /Users/your username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 5/Sounds does not exist on my Mac. I can locate: Mac OS X: /Users/your username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 5/Playback Configurations/...then I can see the VSL Ensemble Special Edition.xml file. I still can't locate this in the playback soundsets drop down menu in Sibelius, however..

Things are running ok now - i still have the VSL SE (and not Vienna ENSEMBLE SE) soundset loaded in Sibelius, and I can use the Vienna Ensemble with it...am I doing the right thing? Another problem in Sibelius is that if I close the application then reopen it, and go to playback settings and load up the vienna special edition settings, it's only set to one channel (not 16). So all the other channels that I previously assigned instruments to in the Vienna Ensemble have disappeared, even though I saved the configuration :S

Am also experiencing performance legato playback problems in Sibelius....pff...running 2 oboe lines on two staves playing legato passages - they cut eachother off

Hi Matt!

Your setting always gets reset to one channel, because you are using the wrong sound set. This problem will disappear, once you install the "VSL Ensemble Special Edition.xml" sound set to the right folder. The path I wrote yesterday is taken from the Sibelius homepage. I can not verify it right now, because at the moment I have no Apple computer close to look it up. I will come back to this tomorrow.

When you use 2 instruments of the same kind, they need two seperate channels in Sibelius and Vienna Ensemble. Also don't forget to give the second instrument the soundID with the "2" added.

Andi

I have created the folder and it's pathway as directed on the Sibelius site....the VSL Ensemble Special Edition soundset still does not show up in the playback configuration settings in Sibelius....

 Hi Matt,

I am not on a Mac but on a pc, but can you update us on how you are going? Is the Vienna Ensemble soundset showing up in the playback configurations in Sibelius yet?

Thanks,

Steve. 

Hi Matt!

I now checked it back on a Mac Computer. The path i wrote in an earlier post is correct. And it was the right step to create it, if it didn't exist. Copy the "VSL Ensemble Special Edition.xml" sound set to /Users/your username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 5/Sounds.

Andi

Well I'm certainly glad you are around to help out with advice Andi! - I felt a little lost once I realized he was on a Mac!

best,

Steve[:D] 

Hey guys - nope. It's still not showing up, I have created that directory and I still can't see the VSL Ensemble soundset in the drop-down menu. Only the VSL Special Edition soundset.. [:S] 

For some reason, it's now working - I can locate the VSL Ensemble soundset. I deleted the file I had and redownloaded it from the Sibelius site..!

Is it possible someone could help me regarding the choice of instruments to be used in the Vienna Ensemble. Is it better, for example, to load up separate instances of a single Horn instrument (and assign them to the same Horn channel set in the Sibelius playback configurations), or to open a Horn ensemble? I'm guessing the first option is the wiser, as if I want more than one horn each playing legato passages, there may be problems having all horns on one stave...? Bearing this in mind, if I wanted a conventional orchestral set-up, could you tell me what instruments I should load up in the Sib configurations? Thanks a lot for your help guys 

@andi said:

When you use 2 instruments of the same kind, they need two seperate channels in Sibelius and Vienna Ensemble. Also don't forget to give the second instrument the soundID with the "2" added.

Andi

I have set up Flute 1 and Flute 2 in the playback settings, and have also set these up in the Vienna Ensemble, each channelled to their respective channel. Each line still cuts one another off when playing back two separate legato passages.....  

Then something must be set up wrong. Check if the channels in the Sibelius mixer correspond with the channels in Vienna Ensemble.
Also check Manual Sound Sets in your Playback Devices. The Second Flute should have ".2" at the end of the SoundID.

To your other question: If you have more instruments of the same kind playing different things, it is better to give each instrument its own staff, its own channel (in Sibelius and in Vienna Ensmeble) and its own SoundID - at least for Playback reasons. If the Layout is more important then maybe you have to compromise a little with the Playback.

If you want to use more than two instruments of one kind, you have to edit the sound set. If you want to do that, take a look at this thread:
http://community.vsl.co.at/forums/p/17434/124653.aspx

I've got it to work with 2 flutes - I discovered that in the Sibelius Mixer, the second flute was set to channel 1 and not 2 as it should have been. Does this mean everytime I load up 2 of the same instruments I will have to adjust the settings in the Sibelius mixer? Or should this all be automatic?

@andi said:

If you have more instruments of the same kind playing different things, it is better to give each instrument its own staff, its own channel (in Sibelius and in Vienna Ensmeble) and its own SoundID - at least for Playback reasons.

Isn't the problem with this, however, that you can only load up a maximum of 16 channels in the Sibelius playback configuration. So, for example, assigning 4 separate horns their own channels already takes up a quarter of your choices, which could be restricting if you want to produce a full orchestral score. Hope I am making sense here?

Thanks,

MT 

But then you can have as many VEs as your computer can handle. Any two core or better machine should be able to handle at least three VEs I think so 48 channels which is good for most orchestral scores.