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  • Special Edition - VI - pizz always plays using solo strings instead of appassionata

    Slightly odd problem which I've had for years and never bothered to query, because there's an easy workaround. But it's annoying so maybe someone can tell me what's going wrong!

    Setup is Sibelius Ultimate, Vienna Ensemble Pro, VSL Special Edition libraries (classic VI, not Synchron-ized yet). I have a playback config that includes several VE instances, one for Appassionata strings, one for woodwind, one for brass, and so on. There's also one for solo strings, for the odd occasion when I need them.

    I create a score in Sibelius, and in the Instruments dialog I add string parts using "[VSL Appassionata strings]" (from the Vienna house style).

    If I notate string parts with technique text "pizz.", the samples from the Solo Strings VE instance are played, instead of the App. Strings.

    All other articulations play correctly using the Appassionata patches.

    The workaround is simply to go into the Mixer and force Sibelius to use my Appassionata strings instance for the string parts, by clicking on the green-on-black boxes and selecting the correct VE instance. After doing this, the pizz patches from the Appassionata are correctly selected.

    Before - solo strings pizz patches are selected:

    After - all works correctly. The only difference is that the instance names are no longer in parentheses, indicating that they have been manually selected rather than assigned automatically.

    Bizarre, no?

    Mike


  • Hello Mike!

    It can have different reasons why articulation changes don't work as expected or instruments play on the wrong channel. Did you go through the Troubleshooting section of the "Sibelius Integration" tutorial yet? Most possible reasons that come to my mind are listed there.
    https://www.vsl.info/tutorials/guides/sibelius-integration/troubleshooting

    You seem to to have a complex playback configuration with several sound sets. Please note that if you are mixing sound sets that are able to trigger the same kinds of instruments, this may sometimes lead to erratic behaviour. In such a case I recommend making further output mappings on the Playback Devices/Preferred Sounds page.

    Best regards,
    Andi


    Vienna Symphonic Library
  • Hi Andi

    Thanks for your reply. Yes, I've gone through the Troubleshooting page and as far as I can see none of the suggestions there apply to this.

    My configuration is large but not really complex - and it only uses one sound set (VE Special Edition) - albeit for multiple instances of VE.

    I did wonder about using the Preferred Sounds page, but I think that would probably just cause the opposite problem. Surely if I map Sound ID strings.violin.pizzicato.* to my VE instance for ensemble strings, I well then get the ensemble pizzicato samples even when I specify solo strings in the score.

    Also it seems strange that everything works fine as long as I use the Sibelius mixer to specifically select the correct VE instance (ensemble strings for ensemble, solo strings for solo). It's only when Sibelius is left to choose the best VE instance itself that I get the problem.

    It's probably just (another) bug in Sibelius. I could report it there I suppose, but I suspect they'll say it's a VSL issue!


  • Hello Mike!

    If you cannot solve the problem with help of the Preferred Sounds page, please send the following screenshots to support@vsl.co.at.
    - Sibelius "Add or Remove Instruments" menu
    - Sibelius mixer
    - Sibelius Playback Devices menu
    - Sibelius Manual Sound Sets page of all loaded devices
    - Sibelius Preferred Sounds page
    - Vienna Ensemble showing one of the instruments that doesn't work correctly

    Best regards,
    Andi


    Vienna Symphonic Library