triggering snare upbeats/flams, two different articulations simultaneously ( for marimba or har...

[Dave Scherler]

Hello Andi and VSL/Sibelius users

I've got four questions on using VSL and Sibelius.

1) I'm writing a score in sibelius for string orchestra and percussion.

I've figured out how to trigger the flam articulation from the snare patch by creating a sound ID by naming it +flam. This worked. I would like to use the other ruffs/flams ( upbeats) but I can't figure out how to do it. i've been searching for a list with all of the sound IDs but I can't find anything online. 

I also can't find out how to trigger the pitch ( D6 for a double stroke ) with midi messages. there is just one cell for all sounds ( snares on).

2) I've written for harp and now I have similar problems with the marimba and the divisi on strings. 

If  the marimba player should play a roll with his left hand and play the melody "normally" ( or staccato sound ) with the right hand, I have to use two different articulations simultaneously. Is it possible to use two different articulations of the same instrument at the same time? 

I'd like to use the double stave for marimba ( or harp ) because there are many stave crossing notes ( especially for the harp ). If I choose two marimbas in my manual sound settings and set them on two different staves ( sibelius-> create instrument-> two times marimba treble stave) then I can't set in the crossing notes on the opposite stave and have to add the dynamics twice. It gets even more tricky, when the second half of divisi ( strings) play pizz and the others arco, because here you have everything on one stave.

3) Is there a way that VSL can recognize false harmonics ( on strings using a normal headnote and a diamond shaped one a fourth above it-> sounding two octaves higher).

I have to write the notes as a hidden second voice with the normal harmonic sign an octave higher. This takes up a lot of time.

4) how can I make the sound longer on a "Sfz" or a "fp" ? i'd like to tie a note after the sfz and make it louder again. Same with fp.

thank-you for your support.

kind regards

Dave

[andi]

Hello Dave!

I'll do my best to answer your questions.

1) Some percussion sounds (like flams) are not really "notationfriendly". Normally you will write two notes for a flam (or ruff), but only want to trigger one sample.
To trigger these samples you could do the following:
- Exclude the note(s) from playback in the Sibelius/Properties/Playback menu.
- Write a Note On MIDI command for the sample you want to trigger with the following syntax:
~Nxx,yy
xx stands for the pitch (C1=24, C#1=25, C2=36,...)
yy stands for the velocity. You can choose any value between 1 and 127 for velocity.
- A little later write a Note Off MIDI command with the following syntax:
~Oxx,yy

2) It's not possible with Sibelius to trigger two different channels with one staff (even if it's a double staff). You will have to create two staves for your marimba and strings examples.

3) VSL cannot recognize anything in your score. It plays the MIDI data that Sibelius and the sound set sends. For artificial harmonics I don't know any shorter way to make them sound correct, than what you are already doing (with a hidden second voice).

4) You could edit the cells in your Vienna Instruments player, where the sfz and fp patches are located. Put a sustain articulation to the second slot of the cell and crossfade them.

I hope that was helpful.

Best regards,
Andi