Some strange template / playback issues

[Joe]

I am working on an Indoor score that is having a number of issues. I am working in Sibelius 6.2 and the file is based off of VDL Template 7.0a.

Here are the issues:

1. Tenor solo instrument does not play back diddles. My empty version of the template exhibits the same behavior, so I think this is a template bug. My empty version of the template, which I use as a starting point for all of my projects, is modified, however, so I can't be sure.

2. Another user I am collaborating with, also using Sibelius 6, is having issues with keyboard shortcuts for notehead mapping in the battery instruments. For a few weeks we have been passing files back and forth with no issue. These files contained the usual battery instruments and a slew of pit instruments. As I started to change the pit parts from a list of music and instruments I want to hear to a specific part for each pit player, everything with keyboard shortcuts for notehead mapping are working fine on my end, but for the other user the shortcuts stop working properly. He says that it seems like Sibelius is only recognizing the last number he presses (so for example, if he were entering a R-hand snare shot, and he typed "ALT+SHF+2+9", he gets notehead 9 instead of 29. We save iterative versions of our work, and he can open an earlier version and everything works fine. I did some investigation yesterday and it turns out I need to delete approximately 6 of the pit staves to get him a file where he notehead-change keyboard shortcuts work. Obviously that's not a solution that is ultimately feasible.

3. I typically work with a playback configuration comprising 4 instances of Kontakt 4. One instance uses the Essentials soundset and the other 3 use the VDL Soundset 7.0a. This playback configuration has served me well for full marching band and Indoor scores. However, in this case as I've been working on the arrangement I've noticed a lot of instruments have started to play back incorrectly (wrong instrument, wrong suspended cymbal roll duration, etc.). I took a careful look at what is loaded into the Kontakt instances running the VDL Soundset 7.0a and was surprised to find all three instances full. I went about adding additional instances and checking to see how many it took so that the last instance wasn't full, and I turned out to need six instances of Kontakt to handle all of the VDL instruments. I admittedly have a large score (5 battery staves and 18 pit staves) and almost every stave has lots of instrument changes. However, this is how I always write my marching music, and 3 instances of Kontakt has always worked in the past. I'm seeing multiple instances of many instruments loaded in Kontakt player, almost as if every time there is an instrument from that instrument and then back to the same intrument, it is being loaded twice into Kontakt. Is this the expected behavior? There are 90 VDL instruments loaded into Kontakt, which seems insane. I use a 64-bit system with 8GB of memory, but even so occasionally one of my staves will not play back and I will need to restart Sibelius to get things going again.

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Joe

If it worked before, then it appears something has gone awry in Sibelius - I have a few ideas, but it'll be a couple days before I can get back to you. In the meantime, can you send me the file(s)?

Hugh

[Hugh Smith]

1. Worked fine for me just now. (Can't recall anyone else having a problem like this.) Have you tried it with a blank copy of the original template?

2. Are they pressing the numbers quickly enough one after the other? If yes, then it's a Sibelius issue. Are other shortcuts working/not working?

3. Your Playback Configuration may have become corrupted - known issue, not sure what may cause it though. Create a new one and see what happens. If continues, delete the "Playback Configurations" directory in the Sib User's folder, restart Sibelius, then rebuild the config(s). Open a copy of the original template, or load a TriggerTest file, then test away.

I don't believe the issues you've described here are due to any errors in the Template, otherwise many others would have similar experiences. Like I said before, it appears something has gone awry in Sibelius itself.

Have you sent me file(s) to look at yet?

[Joe]

Hi Hugh,

My apologies for never following up on this. I learned how to manage working with this file and its quirks, and it really wasn't worth more energy expenditure to me to have you take a look.

Although this was a custom file of mine, I don't trust it, so I started over. I grabbed a fresh copy of the template file from here and am going to begin all new work from this.

Just to make sure I'm not crazy, the first thing I did was test tenor diddles on the Tenor Solo instrument. Apparently I am crazy, because they still don't work. You said you checked this out and they did work for you, so what gives? I am using the Sib 6 version of a clean VDL 7.0a template.

I'm setting up for a marching band season's worth of arrangements and want to make sure I start in a good place...

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Joe

I don't have a time frame, but I am looking into the Tenor Solo diddles thingy. Just to be sure, does your TriggerTest file for that exhibit the same behavior?

[Joe]

Yes, it does. I added diddle articulation to bars 20-22 in the 02_VDLTriggerTest7.0a_TenorLines_V6.sib file. These measures are two drum 4 shots followed by 10 regular hits on multiple drums. The shots play back the diddle articulation as notated, but the regular hits do not.

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Joe

Well at this point, for me, using a copy of the default TenorLine TriggerTest file produces expected/what-they-should-be results - both in Sibelius 6 and 7.

Please email me a copy of the .sib file that exhibits the issue, as well as a copy of the exact sound set you're using in your config.

[Joe]

You've got mail.

[Bryan Harmsen]

Joe, did you ever figure out what was causing that problem? I've been having this issue since around May, but have just ignored it or used the regular Tenorline instrument instead.

[Joe]

Bryan,

Nope. When I get the issue on a completely clean copy of the template, it's out of my hands. I use the same workarounds you do. I don't write for solo tenors much, so this is not a huge issue, but I do believe it is a template issue. I have no idea why Hugh doesn't see the issue but I do. Do you use Sibelius 6 or 7? That might be the explanation for the differing behavior.

[Hugh Smith]

I just figured out why you two, specifically, are having problems with the TenorLine Solo bits. You're both using a slightly older version of the 7.0a Template sound set - of which the main hits have the IsMultipleNoteSample="true" applied to the StartSwitch. Of course the sound set I'm using (and everyone else) doesn't have that, thus my inability to duplicate the issue.

You both will have emails coming soon.

[Joe]

Hugh,

Is this something I can change in my customized version of the template rather than starting from a clean template and having to redo all of my customizations?

[Hugh Smith]

Just swap out the sound set.