Sibelius 7.1.3 - Chamber Strings I glissando, pizzicato not playing properly

[Free Trial]

I bought the Chamber Strings I standard library samples and I am trying to make them work on Sibelius 7.1.3, but some techniques are not playing back properly.

The glissandos and portamentos do not work between intervals of more than a whole tone.

Moreover, when the first note of the glissando is held, there is a hiccup in playback between the held note and the glissando, and sometimes an extra note is played.

For example, when a D is tied to another D, and then glissandos down to an A, you can hear the E above the D before the glissando.

Also, when the "pizz." technique text is entered, the program does not play it back pizzicato; it remains bowed.

These problems apply to the solo violin, viola and cello as well as the ensemble instruments.

Please reply as soon as possible!

[J.Hall]

Are you using the Vienna House Style?

[andi]

Hello!

Please note that in the Chamber Strings collections no glissando articulations are included. So regardless if you add a portamento or glissando line or command, the portamento articulation should be chosen. If this (and pizzicato) doens't work, there's probably a mistake somewhere in your set up. Please check the Troubleshooting section of the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual to find more help.
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/MyDownloads/Notation_Related

Best regards,
Andi

[Free Trial]

Thanks for the input!

I am using the Vienna House Style. I've tried everything in the troubleshooting section, including trying it with solo instruments and then retrying it with ensemble instruments. I've redefined the programs in the Manual Sound Set multiple times, and muted the Click. I've tried each of these fixes with both glissandos and portamentos.

Again, it's not that the playback doesn't recognize the glissandos/portamentos -- it just plays them wrong.

I read elsewhere on this forum that VSL can't bend pitches by more than a whole tone, and that is exactly what I'm observing. A glissando written from E up to A plays as a glissando from G up to A. Likewise, a glissando written from D down to A plays as a glissando from B down to A.

And again, there is a malfunction in the playback of glissandos and portamentos attached to tied notes. This seems like a problem with the sound library itself, and not how it is connected to Sibelius.

[andi]

Maybe you don't have the correct instruments in your score. If you have applied the Chamber Strings programs on the Manual Sound Sets page, you will also need the "[VSL Chamber Strings]" instruments from the Sibelius "Add and remove instruments" menu.

Also make sure to load the VI presets for Sibelius that came with the VSL Soundset Installer. These presets can be loaded under PRESET/Sibelius.

Best,
Andi

[Free Trial]

Thanks for sticking with me!

My Sibelius instrument names all end with "[VSL Chamber Strings]". There are no "Chamber Strings" programs (named as such) in the Manual Sound Sets drop-down menu, but I've tried both the "Solo Violin/Viola/Cello" and the "Violin/Viola/Cello ensemble" programs, with identical results. I've reassigned the programs and reassembled the Sibelius instruments multiple times.

However, I don't think any of this could possibly make a difference to the problem I'm having.

Sibelius is playing the VSL sounds for each of the instruments, and playing them correctly, except for glissandos/portamentos and pizzicato.

If I choose any sound set in the Sibelius Manual Sound Sets menu other than "VSL Ensemble Special Edition", nothing plays back in Sibelius. The same thing happens if I choose any of the presets in Vienna Ensemble other than the ones in the category "Sibelius > Strings 3.1 > Chamber Strings". So it doesn't seem possible that I've chosen the wrong sounds, or failed to connect them to their channels properly.

[J.Hall]

You shouldn't use the SE sound set with Standard or Full libraries. Is there no VSL Strings (Not at computer now so I don't rember the exact name but it's named something like that) option in the sound set drop down menu? If not maybe you need to update the sound set from your MyVSL page.

[Free Trial]

@J.Hall: Thanks a lot -- it works perfectly!

For anyone else struggling with portamentos and glissandos, it's also necessary to change the "live start position" of the ending note of the portamento/glissando to correspond with the relative position of the starting note (256 ticks = 1 quarter note). So if the portamento is between two quarter notes, the "live start position" should be -256. (To edit live start position, right-click the note, click "Inspector", and make sure "Live Playback" is on.)