What should I buy?

[sklermbot]

I write mostly percussion scores for drumlines and large concert ensembles.  I have VDL, Sibelius 6, the Full KONTAKT and Komplete libraries. 
I am really sick of having to spend a ton of time to get my sounds 'close' to right.  I can already make the scores look decent enough so I can get the idea across to the performers, but I would love to be able to have it work more seamlessly.  I do work with full band scores as well. 

How can I maximize my experience to help get my ideas across best to my performers?  Is this the 'magic bullet' I've been searching for? 
If I buy this, will I be totally stoked and have an end in sight with the learning curve?

Thanks for your help!
Ben

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Ben, welcome to the forum.

The main aspect of the templates deals with the workflow and the fact that everything is already setup for you. Is it the "magic bullet"? Some would say yes, some wouldn't say anything at all because they're too busy writing. Will you be stoked and have an end in sight with the learning curve? From the sound of things, absolutely!

I'm not sure what you have been "missing" in the past that relates to your time, but having all the VDL instruments pre and properly defined ahead of time will definitely save you many a common headache when it comes to working with the under-the-hood aspects of integrating sample libraries with Sibelius.

Since you mention full band scores too, I have to recommend you consider one of the bundles (either SE6-VDL Bundle, S7S-VDL Bundle, or S7S-SE6-VDL Bundle, depending on how soon you think you may upgrade to Sib 7, if at all). Again, having it all done for you in advance goes a long ways in getting some actual writing done.

And lastly, from now until the end of the this month, use the coupon code YEARTWOSALE to get 15% off your order. So now may be the time to save some time.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hugh

[sklermbot]

Thanks for the quick reply.  Honestly, the fact that you frequent the boards is a big reason why I will buy this product soon.  I hope that you can be as helpful to me as you have been to other people with questions about your template. 

Upgrade to 7. . . to be determined.  I'm not planning on it at this point. 

I definitely understand why the template helps the percussion writer, but I don't understand how it would help writing for other instruments.  It seems like it already works decently well with other instruments, or maybe I'm not truly hearing the right articulations etc. . .

[Hugh Smith]

Thanks for the kudos, Ben. And feel free to pass your sentiment on to others.

If you only use one "band" type library at a time, then you can get by without using the SE6 template. However, if you were to use pitched instruments from say, Essentials and Garritan Personal Orchestra, you would likely have to go into the Mixer to tell Sibelius exactly which library to load a particular patch from. While a lot of people are already used to doing this, with predefined instruments you wouldn't have to make those extra mouse clicks. Having pitched instruments within Sibelius defined to work with a specific library increases workflow efficiency, though maybe some would argue only slightly. Of course, unpitched percussion on the other hand ...

Bottom line, if you know you're only going to use the Essentials pitched patches and not any unpitched percussion patches, then I suppose you would be able to get by without the template I've made for it.

Hope that helps

Hugh

[sklermbot]

I'm definitely getting the VDL template.  I would buy a bigger template if it worked with the Kontakt Library, but I don't have Garrison and the Sibeilus sounds are close enough. 

Did you do the work on the template yourself Hugh? 

[Hugh Smith]

Cool! Sounds like you got it figured out.

Yes, all the Sibelius templates provided by TWS are authored by me.

[sklermbot]

Any chance you'll ever put out a kontakt compatible library?

[Hugh Smith]

Any chance you'll ever put out a kontakt compatible library?

If you're referring to the full Kontakt 4 library, no. You can, however, get a sound set for it that's made by Jonathan Loving: Kontakt 4 Factory Library Sibelius Sound Set. I'm not sure exactly how many of the patches have fully defined instrument definitions within Sibelius, but as far as know, you shouldn't have any problems integrating things with what I've produced. (I'm assuming you don't have Kontakt 5 since KP5 is not compatible with Sibelius 6.)

[BACdrums]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I just purchased and installed both Sibelius and VDL 2.5. I have no idea what I need. I will be writing for percussion only so I don't need the band side of things. What template do I need? and once I get that are there steps in using this or does it use it automatically.

[Hugh Smith]

If all you're going to do is use VDL in Sibelius, then the VDL Template is probably the only thing you need.

Be sure to thoroughly read the instructions that comes with it. Then if you have any questions, come back here and start a new topic.