Integration Issues

[jhsd]

Hi everyone! After holding out for so long, I finally caved and realized if I wanted to take my writing to the next level, I needed to purchase VDL!

Obviously, I'm having issues with the integration.

Here is what I am running:

Sibelius 8.4.2 (online subscription)
Kontakt Player 5 (purchased and downloaded January 26th)
VDL 2.5.5 (purchased and downloaded January 26th)
Windows 10

I believe I have gone through the correct steps but I am not seeing the VDL template of instruments in the drop down menu.

I have installed and activated VDL with Kontakt. I created a configuration within Sibelius (I'm not sure if I need to delete Sibelius Player as an active device for the configuration). I copied to XML file into a sounds folder (I had to create one, I also noticed the default sound maps for Sibelius are in a different folder titled Playback Configurations which looks like it features the VDL configuration I made in setting up the playback device).

I've read around different manuals (why are there so many?) and can't seem to find a solution.

Any help is appreciated! I started this process around 11am yesterday!

ps...I tried to upload some screenshots but it kept timing out and not allowing me to post.

[Hugh Smith]

Hi jhsd, welcome to the forum!

Your screenshot/attachment is probably too large. Cropping or resizing the image should take care of that.

Since you're new to VDL, make sure you've installed VDL and Kontakt Player properly. You may need to contact Tapspace if VDL does not work correctly in stand-alone mode.

Then in Sibelius, with at least one instance of Kontakt Player in your Playback Configuration (attach a screenshot of this if you're not sure), you should see the "Virtual Drumline 2.5" sound set in the drop down menu - and if the Template sound set is in the right place, you should also see "VDL Template 7.0a". If you see neither, Sibelius does not see that Virtual Drumline is installed; this would need to be corrected first.

Once you think you have VDL/Kontakt Player setup correctly, take another thorough pass through the Template setup steps in the Readme. And don't forget to test things using the TriggerTest files (see Appendix B).

Let me know how it goes.

[jhsd]

Thank you for replying! I "think" I figured it out right before you replied actually. Looks like I did everything right. A buddy of mine told me that he had similar issues and found out he needed to add the "VDL_Template_7.0a_(Sib7)" file into the folder labeled "manuscript paper". When I open Sibelius and select that option I can now see all the VDL instruments and add them to my score.

Is this the actual fix? Or should I be able to just select "blank score" and select VDL instruments? When I select any option other than that file I don't have access to the instrument list.

[Hugh Smith]

Oh, I see now. You were trying to get to the Template defined instruments. There are 2 options for that:

1) Make a copy of "VDL_Template_7.0a_(Sib7).sib", then rename it (i.e. "MyNewWritingProject.sib"). Open the new file and begin.

2) Open the Template, save it as a Manuscript Paper (see Appendix C of the Readme). Or, like you've done, copy the Template .sib file to the Manuscript Paper folder. Select this paper when creating a score from the New menu.

Is this the actual fix? Or should I be able to just select "blank score" and select VDL instruments? When I select any option other than that file I don't have access to the instrument list.

It's not a "fix" per se. This is just how Sibelius works. And I think you otherwise answered your own question.