VE Pro 5.0 and Sibelius 7 soundsets, video tutorial and manuals full of contradictions!!

[JRM]

Hello, We are trying to integrate Sibelius 7 with VE Pro 5.0. However we have run into some obstacles. 1) the video tutorial contradicts the webpage it tells you to go to, in the video you can clearly see that there are at least 10 or more choices from the sound sets you can download, but the webpage only shows 5, http://vsl.co.at/en/68/141/460/576/655.htm 2) the video tutorial as well as the manual tell you at one point to install the .xfp files into the ' VSL Custom Data" folder, ok thats all cute but these files are also not available at this download page they only contain the " xml" file...so my question is where are these files found????? http://vsl.co.at/en/68/141/460/576/655.htm 3) when I open Sibelius and go to " Play Configuration" disable " Sibelius Player" and add , there is no VI, VST, VE Pro or any midi selection available from the menu, again the video tutorial " assumes and skips" a very important step, how do you get that midi folder there? It obviously must be copied to a Sibelius folder. 4) this blog, has quite a few confusing contradictions, lets go over them a) the VSL video tutorial has you START with Sibelius 7 and THEN open either VI, VE Pro or VI Pro, the Blog suggests the opposite order http://www.sibeliusblog.com/tutorials/setting-up-vienna-ensemble-pro-5-with-sibelius-7/ You'll notice that the sentence is at once confusing here in step 12 Assign each instrument to a different MIDI channel. All instruments are routed to the same Vienna Ensemble Pro instance now. MIDI ports have to be set up in Vienna Ensemble Pro for every instrument (not necessary for Sibelius previously because there simply was only one available port). Sound sets and the settings in Sibelius 7 > Play > Setup > Manual Sound Sets have to be configured in the same way as previously. With only one Vienna Ensemble Pro device activated in Sibelius, use Omni for the MIDI Port; otherwise specify the MIDI ports: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 because defining the MIDI port is only necessary when additionally routing Vienna Ensemble Pro Event Inputs to the same Vienna Ensemble Pro instance. b) the blog closes with " use Omni" when choosing" the midi channels, but contradicts itself when it just finished telling you to set up each instrument in VE Pro and assign a midi channel to it c) we know that it is Sibelius 7 that assigns the specific midi channels for the instruments, not the other way around. d) to further add to the confusion on the Sibelius blog, the discussion comes back to whether to assign separate midi channels in VE Pro for each instrument or to leave it at " Omni".. they conclude that unless its left on Omni you'll create a mess. So which is it? Your help would be much appreciated. Regards, JRM

[andi]

Hello JRM!

1.) You can only see the sound sets for products you have registered. For the Boesendorfer Imperial I recommend using the Special Edition sound set that came with Sibelius.

[JRM]

Andreas, Thank you for your response. There are many misleading things about the video tutorial and " assumption's" made, I had forgotten about that quirk about Sibelius and the need to point it to the vst folders. I can see that Sibelius 7 doesn't support VST3 either. Having said that, its an important step and needs to be in the video tutorial, would have added maybe 10 seconds to the video time. A small but important detail Now when I open Sibelius it automatically creates a VE Pro server instance during start up , I am assuming that is normal? Secondly where do I find these " Special Soundsets" for the Bosendorfer Imperial from Sibelius 7 ? Is this a folder in Sibelius that I have to locate or point to? Now the last time I told Sibelius " which" midi channel to use or assigned them, it created a mess ( this was using Jonathan Lovings Soundsets, he was very clear about allowing Sibelius to assign the midi channels) The reason being that each assigned midi channel corresponded to a location on the " staff notation". Otherwise you had an Oboe playing in the Bass section , etc. I thought what I understood from the video tutorial was that you " discovered" what midi channels had assigned and in VE Pro you simply made sure they matched each instrument you added. Finally, the Epic Orchestra woodwinds is very strangely layed out, the bassoon, clarinet, flute are all molded together , the full range of the clarinet is " chopped off " where the flute begins, same with the bassoon. This means you can get very limited functionality or usability from the woodwinds, it almost seems pointless? Why bother? or am I missing something? Thats all for now, thank you again, I will be working on this again all day and get back to you on how it works out . Regards, JRM

[Bill]

JRM, Please click on "Profile" above, and on the "Community" tab, set the Content Editor to Enhanced.

Your post are difficult to read without paragraphs!

[andi]

Hi JRM!

If instruments get started automatically with Sibelius, depends on your settings in the Sibelius preferences under Playback. I personally prefer the following settings:
When starting Sibelius, load this playback configuration: General MIDI (basic)
If playback configuration...: Let me choose whether to change to the new configuration

The Special Edition sound set has been installed automatically with Sibelius. After activating VE Pro you can choose a sound set for it in the right column. The VSL Ensemble Special Edition sound set should be amongst them.

I can only repeat what I have written about MIDI channels here or in the manual, but of course you can do as you want. ;-)

The Epic Orchestra is an add-on to VE Pro and mainly ment as a teaser for our big instrument collections. The included woodwinds Preset is mainly for making layouts. I agree that ranges of the single instruments within this preset are limited.

Regards,
Andi

[JRM]

Done, thank you!!

JRM

[JRM]

Thank you Andreas, that works fine.

Epic Orchestra  meant as a teaser, it most certainly is[:D]

I have another question.

There seems to be this assumption that I want to use 3 computers and need a "server" for this.

What if I don't want to use 3 computers but just use one, what happens to VE Pro server? Do I need it?

Also what if I use a NAS/ RAID device like a Synology device or WD, LaCie or  Netgear as a server, rather than another computer?

[andi]

Hi JRM!

The VE Pro Server has to be started regardless if you want to use more than one computer or not. The VE Pro plugin needs the VE Pro Server to connect to.