Merging percussion tracks with VE playback in Sibelius

[Dave Scherler]

Hello Andi

I'm writing a composition where there will only be one percussion player in the orchestra. What I have to figure out now is how to merge all the different percussion tracks ( timpani, cymbals, triangle,tambourine, marimba etc.) on one or two staves. For the moment i've got a staff for each perc instrument ( except two times double staff for marimba -> because of the articulation problem I mentioned before). I know that you can do that with the plugin "composition tool" in sibelius. The instrument change is not working though. It only works if I use the Sibelius sounds.

Have you got any suggestion how I can merge the percussion parts to one or two staves and being able to trigger the different instruments of VSL? Of course there will be only one instrument playing at a time. I know that it is mainly a sibelius matter. But I'm concerned about the Vienna playback. And I was wondering if I have to insert a MIDI command somewhere to change the MIDI channels to trigger the different instruments in VE.

Thanks for your advice.

best regards,

Dave

[andi]

Hi Dave!

I haven't tried the "composition tool" plugin yet, but if you insert instrument changes manually, Sibelius will also change playback channels automatically. Just make sure to reserve a program/channel for every instrument included in the score.

Best regards,
Andi

[Dave Scherler]

Hello Andi

 Thank-you for your suggestion. I was trying this out on a test score and it didn't work.[:^)] But I'll try it again on a new score.

A little info to divisi staves:

I've been messing around with violin divisi (extra staves) by creating them first with ossia staves then changing them to normal sized staves in the "choose instrument" menu. I had problems with the different articulations ( arco on one staff and pizz on the other) there. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't. So I switched back to just creating extra normal instruments for the divisi and hiding them in the score. Of course I made sure to have enough program/channels selected.

best regards,

Dave

[andi]

Yes, if you want to have different string ensemble sizes for divisi passages, I guess having extra staves for them is the best solution (at least playbackwise).

Best,
Andi