Sibelius doesn't load instruments into Kontakt

[josht]

Hello,

I'm running Sibelius 2019.7, VDL 2.5.5, Kontakt 6.1.1, and I'm on a MacBook Pro with Mojave.

I initially bought TWS while running Sibelius 7.1 and had no luck getting it to work. I did the correct installation pathways but couldn't get the sound set to show up in the drop down menu in playback configuration while activating Kontakt. In fact, after I did all that Sibelius stopped playing back altogether, and wouldn't even do the Sibelius sounds when I tried to work in one of the default playback configurations. Some posts in the forum made it seem like I needed a newer version of Sibelius, so I upgraded to Ultimate thinking the default playback issue would resolve itself when starting fresh in Ultimate. However, before I ever tried again with copying the provided .xml file into the sounds folder, Sibelius still wouldn't play back on its own.
I created a Sounds folder, copied the .xml file into it, and was able to make my own playback configuration with Kontakt properly activated with the VDL sound set. However, when I load any trigger test or go through the template and select instruments, nothing gets loaded into Kontakt and no sounds play back. And still, Sibelius sounds don't play no matter what playback configuration I'm in. I didn't alter any Sibelius sounds that I know of, the only thing I did inside the Library folders was create a Sounds folder and copy the .xml file into it.
Also, I'm not sure if this is important, but I moved the Kontakt folder and application inside my Virtual Drumline folder when I first downloaded Kontakt, but the full library is loaded into Kontakt. I'm not sure if the location is giving Sibelius any trouble.

[Hugh Smith]

Hi josht, welcome to the forum!

I initially bought TWS while running Sibelius 7.1 and had no luck getting it to work. I did the correct installation pathways but couldn't get the sound set to show up in the drop down menu in playback configuration while activating Kontakt. In fact, after I did all that Sibelius stopped playing back altogether, and wouldn't even do the Sibelius sounds when I tried to work in one of the default playback configurations. Some posts in the forum made it seem like I needed a newer version of Sibelius, so I upgraded to Ultimate thinking the default playback issue would resolve itself when starting fresh in Ultimate. However, before I ever tried again with copying the provided .xml file into the sounds folder, Sibelius still wouldn't play back on its own.

So did you get default Sibelius working at all?

I created a Sounds folder, copied the .xml file into it, and was able to make my own playback configuration with Kontakt properly activated with the VDL sound set. However, when I load any trigger test or go through the template and select instruments, nothing gets loaded into Kontakt and no sounds play back. And still, Sibelius sounds don't play no matter what playback configuration I'm in. I didn't alter any Sibelius sounds that I know of, the only thing I did inside the Library folders was create a Sounds folder and copy the .xml file into it.

Please attach a screen shot of your Playback Configuration. And go ahead and provide one showing the complete Finder path to where you put the SoundSet XML file.

Also, I'm not sure if this is important, but I moved the Kontakt folder and application inside my Virtual Drumline folder when I first downloaded Kontakt, but the full library is loaded into Kontakt. I'm not sure if the location is giving Sibelius any trouble.

This shouldn't be giving any troubles.

[josht]

Hey Hugh, thanks for getting back to me.
I have not been able to get default Sibelius working at all. The first image is my playback configuration when trying to run VDL, the second is when I'm trying to work in a file made before I attempted to integrate VDL and was just running default playback configuration.
The third image is the Kontakt window that pops up when I click "Show..." while Kontakt is highlighted in the VDL playback configuration, and nothing is loaded into it.
Images 4-8 (split between multiple posts, sorry) are the pathway to my .xml file. Library (from option+Go)-Application Support-Avid-Sibelius-Sounds (this is the folder I made. The folder titled "Sibelius Sounds" next to the .xml file is copied and pasted from some leftover file folders from Sibelius 7 after running the uninstaller that automatically came with Sibelius Ultimate. It was an attempt to get default Sibelius working, and I've tried running it with and without that folder copied in there with no change in results).
The last image is my mixer while the Snare trigger test is running. Responses are coming from everywhere but Kontakt.

[josht]

Images 5-8, continued from previous reply.

[josht]

Image of the mixer.

[Hugh Smith]

I have not been able to get default Sibelius working at all.

Hmm... What exactly is not working? Playback? Did you install the entire Sibelius 7 Sounds sample library (around 38GB)?

The first image is my playback configuration when trying to run VDL

You're using the AU version of Kontakt, good. Since Sibelius sees the VDL SoundSet, that tells us Sib can see VDL via Kontakt, good. It also tells us the sound set XML is in the correct place, good.

Images 4-8 (split between multiple posts, sorry) are the pathway to my .xml file. Library (from option+Go)-Application Support-Avid-Sibelius-Sounds (this is the folder I made. The folder titled "Sibelius Sounds" next to the .xml file is copied and pasted from some leftover file folders from Sibelius 7 after running the uninstaller that automatically came with Sibelius Ultimate. It was an attempt to get default Sibelius working, and I've tried running it with and without that folder copied in there with no change in results).

That's the correct place. (Are you new to macOS? You can change the view in Finder to show everything at once. )

You said you were running Sib 7.1 before, there was no need to run the "Ultimate" uninstaller, both versions can be installed at the same time (I have 6.2, 7.5, and 19.1 on my Mac right now). That "Sibelius Sounds" folder definitely looks out of place. What is in it?

The last image is my mixer while the Snare trigger test is running. Responses are coming from everywhere but Kontakt.

Far left side of the Mixer, click the button with the vertical bars to show everything that can be shown. Take/attach another screen shot.



When you manually load patches into VDL stand alone, do you get proper playback when clicking the blue keys? Otherwise, you're not seeing any error messages there, correct? Do you see any other error messages anywhere?

[josht]

I have the sounds installed, I ran Sibelius on its own for years before trying to work VDL in. As far as I can tell it stopped working when I started to go through th VDL/Kontakt/TWS process, although it's possible I did something right before that I can't remember. I did try to run the Sibelius Sounds update package somewhat recently and got an error message (first screen cap), but that was before I started the VDL process and Sibelius kept working afterward. I do still have my Sibelius 7 discs I originally started with, should I try to reinstall the sounds from that?

Yeah I never use that Finder view so I didn't even think of it. That would have been way easier, haha. The second screen cap is what's in the Sibelius Sounds folder. It's what makes me think I still should have the sounds installed because that was left over from Sibelius 7. All the items in the Brass, Guitar, etc. folders are ".patch" files.

Next screen cap is the full mixer view.
When I just open Kontakt and load any VDL instrument, I can get playback by clicking a blue key. And when I run the template, add my own instruments, and then manually load that instrument into Kontakt opened from the playback configuration menu, it won't attempt to play but I do get the error message from the last screen cap when I click on a note I've entered.

[Hugh Smith]

... I do still have my Sibelius 7 discs I originally started with, should I try to reinstall the sounds from that?

Login to your my.avid.com account and download the Sibelius Ultimate Sounds library (most likely just the most recent version of Sib 7 Sounds, I'm downloading now myself).

Yeah I never use that Finder view so I didn't even think of it. That would have been way easier, haha. The second screen cap is what's in the Sibelius Sounds folder. It's what makes me think I still should have the sounds installed because that was left over from Sibelius 7. All the items in the Brass, Guitar, etc. folders are ".patch" files.

What all have you installed outside their normal default locations?

Since it seems you can't recall exactly how you did things initially, it may be a good idea to uninstall everything Sib 19 related and start over. It may not hurt to see about removing all Sib 7.x bits too.

Next screen cap is the full mixer view.

Mixer looks good. (I was looking to see what Sib was wanting to load.)

When I just open Kontakt and load any VDL instrument, I can get playback by clicking a blue key. And when I run the template, add my own instruments, and then manually load that instrument into Kontakt opened from the playback configuration menu, it won't attempt to play but I do get the error message from the last screen cap when I click on a note I've entered.

You should not be loading any patches manually into Kontakt, Sibelius via the Template handles all that for you (once it's all setup correctly of course).

Since you're getting error messages from Kontakt, you may also want to consider uninstalling everything VDL/Kontakt related and starting over with that too. Think "clean slate".



If you go the "do over" route, be sure to do the appropriate backups, and the license key handling (since you're not moving to a different machine, you may not need to deactivate keys). Or, continue to try and fix what's there now.

Let me know.

[josht]

It seems Avid was having technical issues with my edition of Ultimate, and I had to call them for a special download while they "worked out a bug" on their end. I just called back and apparently the guy hadn't included download links for Sibelius Sounds when he sent me Ultimate. Hopefully that gets Sibelius running correctly on its own when I get everything installed.
That Sibelius Sounds folder is the only thing (I can remember) that I've done out of the norm. Should I delete it as I'm downloading the more current sound package? I'm obviously not going to put the newest Sibelius Sounds anywhere but their default path.
I'll try going clean slate if it's still not working once Sibelius Ultimate is up and running with the sounds downloaded. Thanks for the help, I'll let you know once the Sibelius Sounds are installed.

[Hugh Smith]

That Sibelius Sounds folder is the only thing (I can remember) that I've done out of the norm. Should I delete it as I'm downloading the more current sound package? I'm obviously not going to put the newest Sibelius Sounds anywhere but their default path.

What's the size of the folder? I believe you said it only had the patch files in it? Or did it have all the samples too? Otherwise, yes, I'd remove it and go with the defaults on the new installer.


Sounds like you have a plan.

[josht]

I just looked more closely and it does have all the samples in it as well, the size is about 39 GBs. Are there supposed to be two Library locations? I went to my Library folder through selecting my hard drive and saw this following path to what looks like a lot of redundancies. The highlighted Sibelius Sounds folder is what I installed last night, but the "Sibelius" and "Sibelius 7" folders both have a folder inside called "Sibelius Sounds," which both have same contents as what you can see on the screen (a Library Folder and a Sibelius 7 Sounds folder). I've had two different hard drive crashes and one new machine over the years that have been restored from data recovery, so I think that's where some of these redundancies have happened. However, that's not what I see when I go through the option+go pathway like I've screen capped before.
Sorry this has spun out of control, thanks for the patience. I got Sibelius Ultimate working on its own just fine last night, but no luck with TWS/Kontakt/VDL.

[Hugh Smith]

I just looked more closely and it does have all the samples in it as well, the size is about 39 GBs. Are there supposed to be two Library locations?

Depends on the library, as some don't put the samples along with/next to the patch files (i.e. Garritan separates them). I couldn't remember how Sib did it.

I went to my Library folder through selecting my hard drive and saw this following path to what looks like a lot of redundancies. The highlighted Sibelius Sounds folder is what I installed last night, but the "Sibelius" and "Sibelius 7" folders both have a folder inside called "Sibelius Sounds," which both have same contents as what you can see on the screen (a Library Folder and a Sibelius 7 Sounds folder). I've had two different hard drive crashes and one new machine over the years that have been restored from data recovery, so I think that's where some of these redundancies have happened. However, that's not what I see when I go through the option+go pathway like I've screen capped before.
Sorry this has spun out of control, thanks for the patience. I got Sibelius Ultimate working on its own just fine last night, but no luck with TWS/Kontakt/VDL.

You're getting closer.