Please help me clarify Sibelius + VSL setup

[patmaddox]

Hi, I've read the Sibelius + VSL guide and gotten it working. There are a couple things that I want to confirm just so I understand fully what's happening. I'll make a few statements that I think are true, please tell me if I'm wrong :)

1. Manual playback setup is required at all times. If I have two scores with two different instrumentations, I need two completely different playback setups. Sibelius doesn't automatically load instruments in VE, it simply uses the selected playback configuration.

2. Manual setup consists of two key options – MIDI channel, and VSL program name. VE will play whatever instrument is configured with that MIDI channel. The VSL program name is used to map notation markings (dynamics, slurs, articulations) to the corresponding articulation in VSL.

3. Three things need to be aligned for Sibelius to play the correct sounds in VE – the Sibelius instrument track, the MIDI channel, and VSL program name.

Do I have that correct?

[andi]

Hello patmaddox!

1. Correct.

2. The first two sentences are correct. The program name on the Manual Sound Sets page is just a name though. The important thing for mapping the corect articulations is the Sound ID.

3. Correct.

Best regards,
Andi

[patmaddox]

Hey thanks for confirming 😊 One last question

@andi said:

2. The first two sentences are correct. The program name on the Manual Sound Sets page is just a name though. The important thing for mapping the corect articulations is the Sound ID.

If that's the case, then why are there separate entries for e.g. "Violins Orchestral," "Violins Appassionata (SE 3)" and "Violin ensemble appassionata (SE+ Bonus)"? They all have the same sound id: "strings.violin.ensemble"

[andi]

Hello patmaddox!

The instruments have the same Sound ID, but they use different SwitchTypes for the articulation Sound IDs.

Best,
Andi