@kevjazz said:
I've been reading the VI and Notation Finale thread. Other than Poppa Joel's quick post, there were no Sibelius users participating. So, I thought I'd start this thread to find out anything I can about the new VI and Sibelius. I'd love to know how to make articulations, phrases, dynamics, bowings etc responsive to any Vienna products. I'd particularly like to know how many patches one has to load to realize an accuraterendering of a piece in Sibelius.
Kevin:
I too have been followiing that thread with interest. Regarding your computer set-up; it sounds like you have everything you need assuming you have good sound cards and a way to connect MIDI to both computers. I'm using MIDIoverLAN which is working great so far (I also have a MIDIsport 8x8 which I already had. I'm using it for the keyboard.).
I have recently worked on several test scores using my similar set-up with the Pro Edition and GS3 and here's what I've found.
It is easy to get Sibelius to play the basic sounds loaded into GS3. You need to open GS (and/or Sonar if you're using it at the time)
before you open Sibelius. This way when you open Sib. it will look to see what MIDI devivces are available. The output of the GS3 should be assigned to your sound card (or possibly Sonar in certain cases) or you won't hear it even if it's getting there properly.
If you know what the set-up of your score will be you could load an instrument to each channel of GS3 at this point. For example:
GS3 Port 1
Channel 1 Piccolo
Channel 2 Flute
Channel 3 Oboe
Channel 4 Clarinet
etc., right down the line
This doesn't include articulations and patch changes yet, just a simple instrument sound to make sure you've got everything working correctly.
To make sure the instruments are loaded, you can highlight any channel by clicking on it then click on one of the lighted notes on the keyboard at the bottom of the screen if it is visible to you. You should hear the sound of the instrument you've loaded.
Now, open Sibelius and check the MIDI inputs and outputs. The inputs can be whatever you are using to input the notes. You have to make sure that the MIDI outputs are set to the GS Ports and turn off the outputs to other MIDI devices. Next, when you start your score you have to open the MIDI Mixer and assign each instrument to one of the channels in GS3. Each staff line in your Sib. score will automatically be a seperate MIDI track. In the Mixer you have to click on each instrument/staff line and make sure it is assigned to the correct GS3 Port
and the correct MIDI channel. After you save the score, these settings will remain but they won't be correct the first time you start the score even though you already assigned the overall MIDI output of Sibelius. At this point, the easy way to know if you're set up correctly is to start inputing notes. If your set up is right, you will hear the note you input sounding with the corresponding instrument sample. Once you have a certain part of the score done you can click play (hit the spacebar) and you should hear your score played back with the instruments you loaded. (You may have to go to the Playback dialogue and turn off the "Send Program Changes" box if your instruments change when you start playing but are correct when you input notes. I don't know why yet but there seems to be a problem with this in Sib. around MIDI channel 10 - 12. Other people on the Sib. forum have run into this and I haven't found another solution yet.)
Next will come the long, fun hours of tweaking. Choosing from all the samples and getting them to sound the way you want. That's, obviously not for this post. Once you've got something you like you can try recording it into your sequencer. In Sonar you simply open a new file, create as many tracks as you need, make sure your inputs and outputs are assigned correctly, arm the tracks and hit Record. You can tell Sonar whether you want it to save the actual audio files of your piece or just the MIDI. Obviously saving only the MIDI uses much less disk space. Of course, you'll have to mix, decide on effects etc., but from your recordings it's clear you know about all that.
As far as articulations and patch changes; I am about to spend the weekend on just that. According to the Sibelius manual, you can send program changes to your MIDI devices at any point in the score. I believe this means if I have several articulations loaded for the same instrument I can tell Sibelius where I want the patches to change. According to people on the Sibelius forum, this can even be done from one note to the next though I haven't tried it yet. My understanding is this is where the Performance Tool comes in. I'll let you know how my weekend goes with all of it.
It seems possible that the VI will eliminate a lot of this process. It will supposedly make all of it easier, faster and smoother. However, you won't have any direct access to the samples themselves so you can't work on that level. Also, the question still remains whether it will work well for notation program users. Clearly it was designed more for pepople who play their music into their sequencers. Right now, I'm looking at using what I have and possibly supplementing it with, the VI strings or some such. I'm not sure yet.
Anyway, I know this is very basic but that is my level at the moment. I certainly can't say this is the best way to work because I'm figuring it out as I go along. Any input from other Sibelius/VSL users would be greatly appreciated. Kevin, I hope this helps.
Be Well,
Poppa