Sibelius w/ Vienna Ensemble 5: MIDI activity & levels, but no audio during playback

[Bob Dylan]

I realize that this has come up before on these forums, but either the OP never responsed to the questions of those trying to help, or the solution to the problem was outdated and thus no longer helpful. Anyways, my problem:

I have been trying for the past 12 hours to configure Sibelius 7.5 64-bit to work with Vienna Ensemble 5 (not pro) and VSL Solo Strings. I am using Window 7 64-bit. I installed the necessary soundsets, string libaries, and VE 5/Vienna Intruments first, and then proceeded to get Sibelius to use the "Vienna Ensemble x64.dll" file. After some confusion accidentally using the 32-bit file, I finally got that sorted out.

I thought everything was set up, but then when I tried to play the score, no audio came forth. I am getting levels in Sibelius's mixer, and in Vienna Ensemble the MIDI Activity light is blinking along with the score, but no sound is being produced. Audio simultaneously works normally from other applications on the computer.

I suspect it's mostly likely something with my audio hardware setup in either Sibelius or with windows. If I just switch back to any other configuration (i.e. Sibelius 7 Sounds) everything works as normal, so I'm not sure what could be wrong.

I have tried experimenting with all the different interface options, under "Audio Engine Options" but to no avail. One thing that I find confusing is how many options I have that include my Fast Track Solo interface. Which one should I choose? It defaults to the ASIO option, which seems to work for other audio configurations.

Does anybody have any advice?

[andi]

Hello Ned!

For most cases I would recommend using ASIO drivers. If you can hear Sibelius sounds, but not VSL sounds, the problem doesn't come from the selected interface. You have written that you can see incoming MIDI signals in Vienna Ensemble, but no sound is produced. Please check the following things:

- Did you load the Solo Strings VI presets for Sibelius in the instruments that you have added in Vienna Ensemble? These presets can be found under PRESET/Sibelius/Strings/Solo Strings.
- Is the content actually loaded? If you can see cells in blue, the patches are loaded?
- Is an audio signal produced in the instruments? The audio output of the instruments can be seen in the upper right of the instruments. You can also check by clicking keys on the virtual keyboard.
- Does the audio signal get routed to Out1/Out2 in the Vienna Ensemble mixer?

Best regards,
Andi

[Bob Dylan]

Andi,

Thanks for helping so quickly!

@Another User said:

- Does the audio signal get routed to Out1/Out2 in the Vienna Ensemble mixer?

As far as I can tell, yes. The two instrument tracks I have loaded up are being routed to the mix bus, and then the mix bus is routed to OUT1/OUT2.

Thanks!

[andi]

Hello Ned!

I can see in your first screenshot that no other presets than the presets for Sibelius are available. This means that the library content is either not installed or not assigned correctly in the Directory manager.

The library content can be downloaded here:
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/MyDownloads/Library_Downloads

If you have already downloaded and installed it, open the Directory Manager and add the folder with the content files (.dat files).

Best regards,
Andi

[Bob Dylan]

Andi,

I think everything is working now connection-wise. It sounds very cool! My next two questions are:

First, the playback of the string duet I currently have open sounds a bit strange at certain parts; in that it's switching voices in a weird manner. Is this something I can clean up by changing the dynamic markers and other notation to better comform to the standards to "trigger articulations with the Sound Set" outlined in the Sibelius Optimization manual?

And secondly, assuming I've only done the things I've told you I have, do I have the "Vienna Library House Style" loaded? It this done by default, or are there some additional steps? Also, would it help the playback?

UPDATE: So turns out I forgot to load the "A-Strings PRESET-Files" until now, which is weird because the sounds in Sibelius did very much change at first (And sounded way better...) Anyways, so instead of using the presets under "Sibelius", I'm now using the "VA VSL Preset Level 1" under "A-Strings" and it sounds worse? Plus none of the articulations on the cello or viola are triggering? Cello is stuck on legato and viola is stuck on staccato. Is the "VA VSL Preset Level 1" what I want? It almost seems like something that might be only used for your Appassionata Strings library.

Got any ideas? I'm almost tempted to go back to the presets listed under "Sibelius."

[andi]

Hello Ned!

The VI presets you can find under PRESET/Sibelius are the ones to use with our Sibelius sound sets. The presets under A-Strings PRESET Files won't work with Sibelius.

The "Vienna Symphonic Library" House Style can either be loaded at the beginning when creating a new score, or at any time from the Appearance menu. If you are not sure, you can simply load it again. I recommend loading at least the instrument definitions and the playback library when working with Sibelius and our libraries.

Dynamic marks (except sfz and fp) have nothing to do with articulation changes.

Best,
Andi