Sibelius 7.5 and VEP5 articulation problem

[misterclare]

I've recently started using VEPro and I'm having one particular issue in all the various VEP setups I create: the solo violin doesn't respond to articulations in the score, or sound changes such as sul tasto/ponticello. *Only the violin.* Viola, cello, and bass, and other various keyboard or percussion instruments work just as they should. I'm using the latest solo strings Sibelius preset, v.2.8 (although I've tried the older ones still on my system, and they also don't work.) I haven't made any changes in the Sibelius mixer. When I revert to an ordinary Vienna Ensemble instance everything works fine, but I'd of course rather be able to use one single Pro setup. Thanks for your help! --Clare

[misterclare]

I should add that the instruments I've chosen in Sibelius score setup are SOLO violin, SOLO viola, etc., and I'm using VSL House Style.

[andi]

Hello misterclare!

You have already ruled out the two most often made mistakes. Nevertheless I would try to reset all outputs in the Sibelius mixer to (Auto) and add the Solo Violin once again to your score. Then cut and paste the content of your old Solo Violin staff to the new one. Does that help?

If most articulation changes work and only sul tasto and sul ponticello don't work, you can try to add an "ord." or "normal" command before the "sul tasto" or "sul ponticello" command. This way you reset the Sound ID of the instrument.

Best regards,
Andi

[misterclare]

I've sort of figured it out. Since you suggested re-adding a solo violin, copy-paste, etc., I tried just rebuilding the whole score, which led to being able to isolate the problem. It's a little complicated to describe. What I'm working on is a set of songs for solo vocalists with string trio, keyboard, and percussion. Since adding the Sibelius Player to the Sibelius Playback Devices window causes famous and ridiculous problems in the Sibelius Mixer, I wanted to just leave it out, and either not hear the robot vocalist or have it send the midi to a proxy instrument. Without the Sibelius Player in the setup it did send it to a proxy, which by default was the VSL violin. Somehow this interferes with the soundset of the actual violin part and is the cause of my articulation problems, because when the vocal is removed from the score the violin performs correctly. Also, when the Sibelius Player is added to the Playback setup, keeping the vocal part in the score, the violin problem disappears; but then you have the Mixer problem, because Sibelius wants to assign the keyboard and percussion to the Sibelius Player. For now I can work without the vocal part in the score, but at some point I'll want to hear the vocal part in the playback. --Best, Clare

[misterclare]

Now I've got everything working nicely by adding an extra violin on midi channel 1 to cover the vocal part, and bumping all the other instruments down one channel in both the VEP window and Sibelius Playback Devices. Thank you for your always prompt responses, Andi. --Best, Clare

[andi]

Hello Clare!

Good to know that you have managed to solve your problem. Here are some additional thoughts.

The Manual Sound Set page needs to be defined for all instruments used in the score. If you leave out the voice staff, some instruments might not switch correctly.

If you want to mix Vienna Instruments with Sibelius instruments, you will have to define on the Sibelius/Playback Devices/Preferred Sounds page which instruments or instrument groups shall be played by Vienna Ensemble (Pro).

I can only recommend not making output and channel settings in the Sibelius mixer. This always causes problems. If you have made settings there, please reset all outputs to (Auto).

Best regards,
Andi

[Fixer]

Hello,

I'm fortunate to find this topic because I have some issues with articulation triggering. It happens only with the violins II staves.

I've set a VST (in the playback configuration) that contains :

-Violins 1 midi channel 1

-Violins 2 midi  channel 2

-Viola midi  channel 3

-Celli midi  channel 4

-Double-Bass midi  channel 5

Both Violins 1 and 2 share the same sample (but on different channel to make 2 really different staves).

But here comes the problem. I found that violins 1 articulations on first channel  works perfectly. But violins 2 don't release correctly the articulations patches.

For instance : i draw a legato expression on 4 notes, then nothing on a 5th. But the 5th note still plays a legato (while it should play a sustain). In the other hand, if i draw or write a different articulation on this note (staccato / tremolo / tr), the articulation triggers correctly. Is that a common issue ? I tried to write the "norm" text, but no differences. Changing instrument stave doesn't work either.

edit : "norm" works but it's a bit glitchy, i keep looking for a good solution.

(All the other instruments work without any trouble)

Fixer.

[andi]

Hello Fixer!

Could it be that you have the Technique Text command "legato" somewhere in your Violin 2 staff? This command lasts as long until you reset it with "ord." or "normal".

Best regards,
Andi

[Fixer]

Hello Andi,

Thank's for the reply. Yes now it works pretty much correctly. It's weird because my previous score suffered from this articulation triggering issue.

Best regards,

Fixer.

[Wizzarts]

Hello everybody,

I am in a big trouble using soundsets for VSL. I am a longtime user and had worked with EastWest-Stuff for many years so I am very familiar with soundsets.

In one of my default-setups I am using 1 Trumpet and 2 Cornets. Both are the download-versions.

My problem is the following:

The trumpet wont fall back to sustain once a staccato was played. It goes to performance repetition staccato instead of a sNv.

While the second cornet plays everything as meant to be played the 1st cornet plays sustains but staccatos are played by the trumpet.

I have tried all sorts of things recommended by Jonathan Loving (soundset project) and also tried all solutions given on this board without any success.

Any ideas?

All the best

Andrew Noah Cap

[Bill]

Well, you should follow the advice in the pdf supplied with the VSL soundset!

[Wizzarts]

Hi Bill,

I already did this without any success... :(

[andi]

Hello Andrew!

It can have different reasons, why articulations don't switch as supposed. Please check the following things:
- Do you use the sound set "VE Woodwinds+Brass" for the Trumpet and the two Cornets?
- Did you assign a program/channel for all instruments in your score on the Manual sound sets page? If you have two Cornets, you will need to channels reserved for them.
- Did you load the VI presets that come with the VSL Soundset Installer? They can be found under PRESET/Sibelius/Woodwinds+Brass 2.0/- Single Instruments

Further help can be found in the Troubleshooting section of the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual.

Best regards,
Andi

[Wizzarts]

Hi Andi,

I already did all the things mentioned above. Also the trouble-shooting given in the "optimizing"-pdf did not help.

I already provided Joe Pearson from Avid with a detailed description on how to avoid soundsets with a much better and comfortable solution how to handle articulations. The solution will provide users with a way better performance and longtime user wouldn't even notice that there are no soundsets at all.
Although soundsets are a overall good idea they lack in every way and give users only a rough idea what your samples can do.

But this is another story and should be told another time...

By now I have disabled the soundsets at all for this project. I have added a separate staff for each instrument to enter all keyswitches (live-startpoint to -15).

All the best

3ndy