Audio Engine Error

[Houston Youngman]

Hi,

I haven't started Sibelius up in a couple of days, and while I was gone, I guess.. something, somewhere, malfunctioned or changed. Now, whenever I open up Sibelius, it will scan my VST plug-ins like normal, however, when it gets to the Kontakt 5.dll, it will give me a message saying "Audio Engine Error: Bad settings."

I haven't messed with my audio engine, and I'm wondering if it was the actual .dll file, since it would scan that file then give me the error. However, I removed the file, and it did the same thing. After I exit the error message, I can open up any score I want, however my VDL templates/soundsets are gone from my Playback Configuration. I tried going into the Sounds folder and dragging the template soundset back in there, and I have gotten the same result. Once I open up a score that uses VDL, I obviously get no audio because I don't have any sound sets. I believe I also tried putting in notes with the "General (MIDI)" configuration and got nothing as well. Sibelius doesn't even play its little orchestral "jingle" when it opens up anymore. I guess this isn't a Kontakt issue, but an audio issue. However, I haven't changed anything. I've attached a few screenshots that will hopefully help with the problem. If you could help, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Screenshots:

HY-1: This is what the error message looks like when it pops up.
HY-2: This is what is being scanned when the message appears, but once I removed it, I still got the message.
HY-3: Everything except the Microsoft Wave Synth is gone from my Playback Configuration
HY-4: Here is my Audio Engines window, the same as it was before.

Thanks again in advance!

-Houston

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Houston

I've not seen that message before. The first thing that comes to mind is to trash the old/current dll files and copy fresh ones over. The other thing you might need to do is trash your Playback Configurations - these are known to become corrupted on occasion. The configs are in the Sibelius User's folder (Windows): C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\Avid\Sibelius 7, then just delete the entire "Playback Configurations" folder. Sibelius will re-create the folder again upon restart. You'll have to then create whatever configs you want again.

Let me know how you get on.

Hugh

[Houston Youngman]

Hi Hugh,

I removed the folder, and then when I restarted Sibelius, the problem was still there, telling me about the audio engine. I copied brand new .dll files into the VST folder, and the problem was also there. You have anything else, perhaps? Thanks.

Houston

[Houston Youngman]

I restarted my computer, and I found a program running in the background. I don't know what it was, but I guess it was messing with the audio engine. After I closed it and restarted, everything turned out normal. Sorry for making a big deal over nothing, Hugh. Thanks for the help nonetheless!

[Hugh Smith]

Ah, the proverbial restart saves the day! Excellent!