Small Glitches when starting and stopping playback in Sibelius 6.2

[Erin]

Hi Andi,

I am having an issue which I believe is a Sibelius problem, however I was hoping you might know of it and possibly a workaround.

I am running, Windows 7 Professional x64, Sibelius 6.2 and Vienna Ensemble Pro (latest version) on a SAS-X3530 PC from Aavimt Technology (Intel Xeon Quadcore - 2.8 Ghz Processor, 12GB PC12800-XMS DDR3 RAM, 2TB SATA/7200RPM HD. I am using a M-Audio Profire 610 Digital Audio Interface with the latest drivers installed correctly. The following issue takes place with the buffer set at 1024.

I have 3 VE Pro Ensembles loaded up with 28 brass instruments, that I have connected correctly with soundsets supplied by VSL. Everything is running fine, except when I start playback, Sibelius appears to send two very short midi messages in succession to every channel which results in a lot of small clicks. It seems that the instruments are being triggered on and off so quickly that it is creating all these little glitches before actual playback starts. Then playback commences generally ok, except every now and then I can notice a small glitch as a new instrument comes in. The same thing happens when I stop playback - a multitude of small little clicks as all the instruments stop playing instead of a smooth release of the samples.

As a test I have exported a midi file of the score, and imported it into Cubase 5, connected up the exact same Vienna ensembles (without even reloading them), and it plays back without any glitches whatsoever when I start or stop playback. One interesting thing is that Cubase does not send the same midi message to all channels like Sibelius on playback start so it begins smoothly, and when I stop playback the samples seem to release correctly and cleanly without any glitches.

The cpu is hardly being touched, and there is plenty of RAM to spare, so I believe I have narrowed the problem down to Sibelius playback. I have gone through all the preferences and tried turning anything off that might be causing it, but this hasn't helped.

Do you guys know of this problem and is there a way to solve it?

Kind Regards

Erin Mckimm

[andi]

Hello Erin!

Thanks for your report. We are aware of the problem, but don't have a solution for it at the moment. As you found out by yourself, this is a Sibelius problem. It only occurs when starting and stopping playback. Exported audio files should not be affected.

Best regards,
Andi

[Erin]

Hi Andi,

I have managed to find a solution for this problem!

The three ensembles I originally had loaded were using the original VI. As an experiment I converted these ensembles to VI Pro (that very handy option in the file menu) and now playback and stop seems to work perfectly. There are no noticable glitches anymore.

I will continue working with the project and report how it performs and whether it stays in this current working state.

On another note, when going from a stacatto note to a legato note on a brass instrument, the legato note bends up or down into itself (from the stacatto) which I assume is the legato sample doing what it is programed to do. If I wanted to make the beginning legato note a sustain to get a clean beggining to the legato passage, should I send a CC message on the note to override what the soundset is telling VI Pro to do?

Best Regards

Erin

[DG]

 What i would do is reduce the legato threshold to 5ms

DG

[Erin]

Thanks DG for the tip, I will certainly try that out. It would be great to have a workaround not requiring CC messages.

Kind Regards

Erin

[Pekay]

Thanks Erin for taking up the click problem - and a solution to it! I've been disturbed by it, too. Regards, Pekay

[Erin]

Hi Pekay,

No worries! I'm glad there is a solution. Having easy quick reverb for every instrument is also a bonus to using VI Pro with Sibelius, and I'm looking forward to using the humanising function too. All in all a good result!

Kind Regards

Erin

[andi]

Hi Erin!

Thanks for your report. Another way to avoid legato transitions at unwanted places would be by lowering the playback duration of the precedent note in the Sibelius/Properties/Playback menu.

Best regards,
Andi

[Erin]

Hi Andi,

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a go aswell!

Kind Regards

Erin