Playback Devices Setup

[Waters]

Perhaps I'm missing something... but here is my issue..

When I go to my Playback Devices Window, There is nothing other than "Microsoft G5 etc.Midi" in the left AVAILABLE side, and "Sibelius Player "in the ACTIVE side.

When I try to select the device soundset, I found the SE6 soundset, but no kontact 2.

I have checked the following

1.  I have put the .XML files in the correct "SOUNDS" Folder...
2.  I have double checked the Advanced Audio Engine Options and the folder direction is the correct place.  (I've done the search and re start several time)  

So I am unable to properly activate my sound sets.  I can get wind sounds to playback, but not my VDL sounds.  I enter note heads without a midi keyboard (which I prefer), and sounds are not correct.  I am thinking iot is a sound set issue.  I have pictures of the screen, but they will not upload to this forum (300kb limit).  I tried converting to pdf and the images are still 400+...  I could email images if needed.

I am running:

Sib 6.1.0
VDL 2.5.5
current template 6.0a

I REALLY appreciate any help.  I was really excited to see this site and a new template to work with.  Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, Nick

[Waters]

To add to this...

Once I add an Instance of "Sibelius Player".. It is moved to the left side "Active Devices".

It disappears from the left side.

So I am only able to load one instance of Sibelius sounds..

The ultimate problem is that the VDL sounds are not correct..  Only stick clicks for snare and bass drums for tenors, etc...  I have tried to align the sounds in the mixer.

Again, any help appreciated!

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Nick, welcome to the forum! Let me see if I can cover everything.

"KontaktPlayer2" does not show up on the left side of the Playback Devices window, correct? What you need to do here is copy the Kontakt Player VST file (.dll file) from the Native Instruments directory - I believe the default location for this on XP is C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt Player 2\VSTPlugins. You can copy/paste all three files into the Sibelius VST folder, which is more than likely at C:\Program Files\Sibelius Software\VSTPlugins. If you have Sibelius open at this point, you'll need to restart it so it can load those plugins.

You should now be able to see KP2 as an available device (left hand side). Before you activate an instance of KP2, you'll want to create a new configuration (name it however you wish). Once created, activate one instance of KP2 - you should now be able to select "VDL SoundSet 6.0b" from the drop down menu. If not, then, for some reason, Sibelius is not recognizing that VDL is installed. If that's the case, we'll go from there.

So I am only able to load one instance of Sibelius sounds..

Correct. Sibelius Player can hold up to 128 instruments. Depending on how much RAM you have, the default setting for this may be less. If you need to adjust this, you can do so by going to File > Preferences > Playback. In the Sibelius Player Options section, you can choose the Maximum number of channels from the drop down list. And, only Sibelius Player oriented sound sets will show up for this device.

Let us know if that gets you going.


Oh, and hopefully you mean VDL 2.5.2, not 2.5.5.

[Waters]

Hugh, Thanks for the response.  I copied the kontact files and restarted as you said. (The kontact files were already there, but I did it again anyway)

Also, When I look at your example of the playback devices screen, you have many options to select.  I do not have any.  Just Sibelius Sounds and Microsoft.  Once I put them on the right side, they are gone from the left.


I did update my servce center VDL to the most current and same with Sibelius.  So I should be all current.  When I go in my "Sounds" folder, all .xml files appear to be there.

On another topic.......

Also, I think I can help you diagnose better if I could get a picture of my screen and save ity at a low enough file size (under 300k).  Any help on that?

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help.

and yes...

"Oh, and hopefully you mean VDL 2.5.2, not 2.5.5."  my bad

[Hugh Smith]

Also, I think I can help you diagnose better if I could get a picture of my screen and save ity at a low enough file size (under 300k).  Any help on that?

Yes. I had the webmaster raise the attachment limit to 512Kb. Is that big enough? Something else you may try is to crop the images to just show the pertinent dialogs, if you haven't already.

Before we worry too much about the sound sets showing up, we need to get Kontakt Player 2 to show up in the left hand list. In the meantime, I recommend you use Kontakt Player 4. This is available as a free download from the Native Instruments site. Installing this may not solve the immediate problem, but it will be a step in the right direction.

[Waters]

I updated to kontact 4..  Here is a pic.

[Waters]

Here's another pic.

[Hugh Smith]

Hi Nick. The Playback Devices dialog looks correct, except for the obvious lack of Kontakt devices. (The templates I'm developing are designed to not use any Manual Sound Sets. This is a good thing. )

Just to double check, make sure you have copied all of the .dll files from:
   C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt Player 2\VSTPlugins
            and
   C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 4\VSTPlugins 32 bit

and pasted them into:
   C:\Program Files\Sibelius Software\VSTPlugins

Can you now show me a picture of what's inside your C:\Program Files\Sibelius Software\VSTPlugins folder? I attached a pic of what mine looks like (from my XP machine). Again, make certain that both the KontaktPlayer2 and Kontakt 4 .dll files have been placed there. Then...

Open your "Playback Devices" window in Sibelius, click the "Audio Engine Options" button, and verify that this is the same path to your "Virtual Instruments and Effects Folder." If that doesn't match the path to your Sibelius Software>VSTPlugins folder, click the "Browse" button to redirect it to that location. After doing this, quit Sibelius, then relaunch, go into Playback Devices, and check to see if KP2 and KP4 appear as available devices.

Your version of XP is 32 bit, correct?

[Waters]

I think this is the key here.  In other instructions... I read to direct it to the "Sounds" folder where the .XML files are.  I could be wrong here, but I think I remember having to do that before.  In any case.  Things seem to be on the "Write" track hahaha..

I think the below info is VERY important to anyone setting up.  Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I really thank you for your time.  I'm not completely done yet, so we'll see if everything works.

Below is key:


"Open your "Playback Devices" window in Sibelius, click the "Audio Engine Options" button, and verify that this is the same path to your "Virtual Instruments and Effects Folder." If that doesn't match the path to your Sibelius Software>VSTPlugins folder, click the "Browse" button to redirect it to that location. After doing this, quit Sibelius, then relaunch, go into Playback Devices, and check to see if KP2 and KP4 appear as available devices."

Thanks!

[Hugh Smith]

Glad you're up and running with the devices now, Nick! Let us know how you get on.

[Joe]

Just a little off-topic tip: Irfanview is a great and simple Windows-based editing tool that is really handy in these situations. It can easily be used to crop images for this sort of situation when you need to post only a partial screenshot.
http://www.irfanview.com/

Just start Irfanview, paste the copied image, drag a box around the portion you would like to crop to, press CTRL+y, and save.

[Hugh Smith]

Thanks for the info, Joe. I personally use Snagit, but I know not everyone has that.