Playing back VSL articulations in Sibelius 8.2 through multiple VEs

[Gone To Lunch]

I am trying to use VSL samples in Sibelius 8.2, Mac OS 10.11.3

I have these sounds :

SE Vol 1

SE Vol 1 plus

SE Vol 2 (SE ext)

SE Vol 2 (SE plus ext)

Are all these included in the Sibelius presets that show up in the list on the right side of the VI ?

Does Sibelius detect these presets by itself, or do they need to be loaded ?

Also I want to have four instances of VE, one for strings, winds, horns and percussion.  In the MIDI assignment menus in the VI how do I number these in the left hand column (the one that starts 'omni') ?  As the numbers of MIDI in only go up to 8, does this mean there is a limit of eight VEs ?

[andi]

Hello Gone To Lunch!

The VI presets for Sibelius for the Special Editions can be found under PRESET/Sibelius/Special Edition 5.2
The presets have to be loaded manually. They are not loaded by Sibelius.

Please leave the MIDI ports of Vienna Ensemble at Omni. Sibelius does not support VST3 and therefore can only trigger the first MIDI port. Simply add Vienna Ensemble four times. Check "Use manual Sound Set" and set channels and programs for all VE instances on the Manual Sound Sets page. You can switch between the instances in the Device line on that page.

There's no limit that I know of, how many Vienna Ensemble instances you can activate.

Best regards,
Andi

[Gone To Lunch]

About loading presets -

Do all the libraries I listed have presets ?

Are the presets the ones that show up in the orange/brown colour ?

Should the presets be loaded first ?

Is there anywhere I can go to find out these detailed questions - the video doesn't show the presets being loaded ?

When I tried loading the samples afer the presets, they matrices weren't the same size/shape, suggesting they are not matched in some way ?

[andi]

According to our records, you have registered the Concert Guitar, the Upright Bass, the Soprano Choir and the Special Edition Volumes 1, 1 PLUS, 2 and 2 PLUS. All our instruments except the plucked instruments (Guitars, Upright Bass) and the Jazz Drums are prepared for Sibelius.

If the cells in your matrix appear in red, you have probably loaded a VI preset for an instrument you don't have. The VI presets for Sibelius for the Special Editions can be found under PRESET/Sibelius/Special Edition 5.2. If you have already loaded one of these presets and the cells still appear in red, please check the following things.
- Is you eLicenser key connected?
- Is the library content installed and on a hard drive that is actually connected to the computer?
- Are the folders with the sample content (.dat files) assigned in the Directory Manager?

It doesn't matter when you load the VI presets, as long as you load them. Just don't forget to save your Sibelius Playback Configuration afterwards.

All details on how to set up Sibelius with our libraries can be found in the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual.
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/MyDownloads/Notation_Related

[Gone To Lunch]

Thanks for your reply, I checked all that you mentioned and got one of my two instruments to play back as it should.

In one VE, the horns respond appropriately to the legato marking in Sibelius, all well and good, sounds lovely.

But the ContraBass in another VE does not respond appropriately to the pizz marking in Sibelius.  I watch the VI matrix as it plays, and as it reaches the text it jumps to the second row of the matrix, even if I put on the correct patch piz in the top row, it jumps to PzSr in the row below.  If I put it in the third row, it jumps to the top row and then the middle row. 

I tried changing the AB switch, but it still does the jump via top row and then onto the wrong patch in the second ?

I notice the X-axis is set to Keysw and they Y-axis is set to CC1

[andi]

I can only guess. Maybe you have tried to use the Special Edition sound set with a Special Edition PLUS VI preset. The Special Edition sound set only works correctly with the Special Edition VI presets and the Special Edition PLUS sound set only works correctly with the Special Edition PLUS VI presets. As you have registered the Special Editions PLUS volumes 1 and 2 as well, I recommend using the Special Edition PLUS sound set and the VI presets for the Special Edition PLUS. More help can be found in the "Troubleshooting" chapter of the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual.

[Gone To Lunch]

Does SE Vol 2 include Vol 1 as well ?

Given my list of licenses, are they hierarchical/inclusive of the preceeding layers ?

For example, If I load SE + Vol 2, does that include SE+ Vol 1 ?

So for example if I load 03S Flute 2, from SE+ Vol 2, does that include 02S Flute 1, from SE+Vol 1 ?

[andi]

All Special Edition volumes are unique and don't include content from other volumes. The Special Edition PLUS VI presets include the non-PLUS patches though.

[Gone To Lunch]

Thanks for your reply, but I am completely baffled by the complexity of the VSL product range.  (They do sound great though.)

For example, "The Special Edition PLUS VI presets include the non-PLUS patches though" in the same answer as "All Special Edition volumes are unique and don't include content from other volumes".   What then is the difference between a patch and content - surely they are all just samples ?  And what are "other volumes" in this context ?

Is there anywhere where I can look up a detailed explanation of the VSL range, what they actually are, and how they relate to each other, especially in terms of content ?

[andi]

You can find detailed information about the included content on all product pages under Sample Content. Our Special Editions are split in different volumes.
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/Instruments/Special_Editions

With sample content I mean the complete content of one library. One patch usually contains one articulation of one instrument. A matrix contains patches aranged in a matrix. A preset contains one or more matrices and all settings in the player.

Our libray manuals might be of help to get a better overview.
http://www.vsl.co.at/en/MyDownloads/Library_Manuals