Sibelius 5 and VSL Special Edition HELP!

[jhinkel]

Hello,  I am concert band composer and am very new to using VSL Special Edition and Sibelius 5.  Here is what I can do:

First of all, I am on an iMac G5 running Mac OSX 10.5.5

1.  All of my instruments sound correct via the Vienna Ensemble application.  I can hear everything good.  No problem there....BUT

2.  Dynamic marking like f, mf, mp etc. work fine but articulations and crescendos/decrescendos DO NOT work.  Accents, however, work but are really loud.  How can I get the articulations, crescendos etc. to play back?

3.  Some instruments cut out on me.  Say I have Clarinet 1 and Clarinet 2.  The Clarinet 2 cuts out sometimes.....

4.  I am using the Virtual Drumline Percussion sounds that come with Sibelius 5 but have the following problems:

The Bells won't playback unless I put them 2 octaves below where they are supposed to be on the stave.  I can't get a concert snare drum sound and concert bass drum to sound on the correct place on the stave.  Concert snare should be 3rd space C and bass drum bottom space F.  This standard for music notation.  I also need them on the same stave versus having 2 seperate staves for each instrument.  

Anyone out there that can help with these things? THANKS!!!!

[andi]

Hello!

Which sound set did you load? Did you make all program and channel settings on the Manual Sound Sets page?

At the following location you find a tutorial video on how to work with Sibelius and Vienna Ensemble:
http://vsl.co.at/en/211/1343/1348/243.vsl
Some more details can be found in the Sibelius 5.2 and Vienna Ensemble Setup guide to be found in the User Area under DVD Products/Software.
http://vsl.co.at/en/68/375/377/239.htm

Andi

[jhinkel]

Hi Andi!

Ok, I am getting closer.  I watched the video you suggested and that helped.  I am running Sibelius 5.2 and I chose the soundset that comes with Sibelius called "VSL Ensemble Special Edition"  I tried the other one that was there called "VSL Special Edition" but it made things sound really strange.  Articulations now work well.  Still NO crescendos or decrescendos??? Not sure why....

Also, is there a way to control note velocity?  The trumpet part is very lush but when is switches to staccato.  The velocity jumps really high to a harsh staccato sound.  I want to have a mello staccato sound,  make sense?  I have controlled this with my work in Logic but not sure how to do that in Sibelius......

Thanks again.  I am getting closer.  Please advise!!

[andi]

First of all, if you haven't done so yet, I strongly recommend updating to Sibelius 5.2.5. Some playback bugs have been solved in this version.

The sound set "VSL Ensemble Special Edition" should be fine. "VSL Special Edition" is an old version. You can delete it from your Sounds folder.

For dynamic changes Sibelius sends CC11 (MIDI Control Change 11) values. These values by default are triggering the Expression slider in the Vienna Instruments. The volume should change a bit, but the timbre will not. In order to get more realistic crescendi and diminuendi you can do the following: Go to the Perform page in the Vienna Instruments. Activate Velocity X-Fade. Then Click on Map Control. Now as source for Expression set none. Then go to Velocity crossfader and as source select ControlChange/Controller 11. Don't forget to save your Playback Configuration in Sibelius after that.

The velocity of single notes can be adjusted in the Playback Section of the Sibelius/Properties window. In your case I guess you ment the general volume of the Trumpet staccato notes. You can lower this volume in the Control Edit section of the Vienna Instruments. Click on the staccato patch and then on the "1" underneath the matrix. Now the very right slider you see is for the volume of the patch you selected.

Andi

[Cgerhold]

I am having the same articulation problems in Sibelius 5.4 as well. All updates are installed and manual sound sets are initialized correctly. I fixed the issue in VI, but can you relate the directions to VI PRO users as well? It seems to be most problematic working with the Dimension Brass files.

[andi]

Hello Cgerhold and welcome to the forum!

This is a pretty old thread you were digging up here. [;)] Most things that are valid for VI, are also valid for VI Pro.

Did you download the latest version of the "VE Woodwinds + Brass" sound set? It includes VI and VI Pro presets for the Dimension Brass and a readme file. You will find more information on how to use the Dimension Brass with Sibelius there and in the latest version of the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual.
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/68/141/460/576/655.htm

If this shouldn't help you, can you please discribe your problem(s)?

Best regards,
Andi

[Cgerhold]

Yes, the latest version of the "VE WW+Brass" sound set is installed. The latest house style is imported. All the correct channels/instruments are assigned. Everything is updated, I even re-installed things twice. When I play back the file, the instruments either 1) don't change articulations as marked in the score, or, 2) they DO change but it's all the incorrect articulations when using the X controller and setting it to C,11. I think it has to do with assigning the proper key switches on the X, Y, or AB. But as soon as you load an instrument shouldn't it be ready to go without any alteration? If not, what a pain! I figured this problem out on the regular Vienna Ensemble after a few hours of messing around, but with VI PRO I have no idea. please help. I am working with Sibelius 5.4.0 and the Dimension Brass.

[Cgerhold]

I think I might have discovered the problem. In Sibelius I can see the "Dimension Brass" options listed at the bottom of the playback devices>sound set>VE Woodwinds+Brass. However, The Dimension Brass.fxp files are missing under the "Download Instruments VI Presets" folder! I just updated the VE/VI+Pro software. I also read the PDF on optimizing playback in Sib 5 under troubleshooting, "Instruments switch wrong or don’t switch at all". I only have the articulation problems with the Dimension Brass. What file should I send you for help, if any?

[andi]

Hello Cgerhold!

Due to an error in the database you didn't have access to the "VE Woodwinds+Brass" sound set with the DVD presets previously. Sorry for that. Please download the sound set again. You should now have access to the version with the VI and VI Pro presets you need.

Best regards,
Andi

[Cgerhold]

Thank you fixing that. However I still have the problems of the articulations not changing. I copied the sound set file (VE Woodwinds+Brass.xml) to my sound set folder in Sibelius, and since it was identical to the previous i replaced it. I then copied the the "Woodwinds + Brass VI Presets" folder to my VSL Custom Data folder (I don't know why it would go there versus going to the sound set folder as well). Do I need to extract the .fxp files from the folder and place them in the sound set folder? The sounds playback fine but there is still no articulation change, and this is unique to the dimension brass only. :(

[andi]

Hi Cgerhold!

The VI and VI Pro presets belong to the VSL Custom Data folder and need to be loaded with your Vienna Instruments (Pro) inside Vienna Ensemble. There's no use in moving them to the Sibelius Sounds folder. Did you load the presets or did you just move them to the VSL Custom data folder?

Best,
Andi

[Cgerhold]

I followed the directions and put the folder in the VSL Custom data folder. There where not any extra instructions on loading presets or anything like that. So what do you mean by "load the presets", where/how, via directory manager? Then yes, they are loaded in the directory manager. Otherwise I don't know how else you load any presets inside VE. If I go under "Channel" and "load channel preset", everything under the dimension folders are grey'ed out and inaccessible. Is this what you are talking about? I don't have to do any of these extra steps with the SE Instruments. I need some descriptive solutions.

[andi]

Hi Cgerhold!

There are instructions in the readme file, that came with your sound set and also in the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual. VI presets are loaded with Vienna Instruments (Preset select) or with Vienna Instruments Pro (Preset). Just like you load matrices for the Special Edition, you can load these presets for the Dimension Brass.

Best,
Andi

[Cgerhold]

Of course I know how to load the dimension presets, how else would I get the sound? What i'm saying is once they ARE loaded they sound fine, but don't change the articulation like they should. It's been 5 days, I need some real solutions!

[andi]

Hi Cgerhold!

I answered your question. If you already knew it, then why did you ask?
It can have different reasons, when articulations do not change as supposed.

If you have the same instrument as solo instrument and as Dimension Brass instrument in your score, you might have to go to the Sibelius mixer and select the Sound ID in the third line of each slot manually.

If this doesn't help, please answer the following questions.

What instruments do you have in your score?
Which sound sets does your Playback Configuration include?
Did you set up programs and channels for all activated VE instances on the Manual Sound Sets tab?
Do non Dimension Brass instruments in the same score change articulations as supposed?

Regards,
Andi

[Cgerhold]

I called support and the problem is fixed. The problem was that in my directory manager, the custom folder was not set to the "VSL custom data folder" under Users_Shared, so I was unable to see the special sib. files. I must have missed that part in the instructions. Thank you.

[andi]

Hi Cgerhold!

Thanks for the update. I'm glad it's fixed now.

Best,
Andi