Vienna Instruments via Sibelius string glissandi - a simple guide as to how

[Northfield]

I have searched this forum quite extensively and elsewhere but to my surprise I can find no simple explanation of how to do a simple string glissandi using Sibelius and VI Strings I+II full. There's lots of stuff that assumes you already know how to do it and so offers help with tweaks but not a straightforward guide. I cannot find any reference in the Optimizing for Sibelius manual despite the fact several posts say it does (on pages 12 and 19). It doesn't mention it. I use Sibelius 8, the full VSL Cube and Vienna Ensemble 6 (not pro), on a Mac.

At present if I add in a gliss line on Violin I from say a minim note head down to another note all I get is a short portmanto before the second note. I want a continual gliss. Changing things in the Sibelius Inspector does nothing.

It seems to be something to do with tweaking a matrix but I don't know where to start: I thought the whole point of using a Sibelius soundset was that you should rarely have to do this and indeed this is true so I lack that experience.

Help would be appreciated!

[andi]

Hello Northfiled!

Glissando patches are only included for some instruments. These patches can be triggered with custom cells. How to do trigger the custom cells with the "VE Strings sound" set is explained in the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual, page 22.
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Notation_Related

Best regards,
Andi

[Northfield]

Hi Andi.

I got this to work though not completely. I was successful in the Violins I (from Orchestral Strings) by using a custom cell (A6). But when I repeat the process for my Violin II instrument it doesn't work - I placed the same patch into the custom cell for Violin II but the score does not respond. I am aware that the sample for each instrument is the same in this case and I also used the same patch (gliss on the E string) so I'm wondering if this is an issue. The two Violin instruments are on different midi channels and have their corresponding manual sound instruments in Sibelius.

One other issue, and I have a similar problem with another instruction - sfz - is that the notes do not sustain fully. The gliss I successfully got to work in Violins I falls from an F down to a G# for the duration of a minim. The G# then should sustain for two 5/4 bars (10 beats in all) but the G# cuts off after about 3 beats of the first bar. I tried fiddling with live duration in the Inspector but this does nothing (see score image). I found fudges to get round it by removing the tie and writing in another note but none very satisfactory. The same is true with any instrument note marked sfz - this articulation seems to have a fixed length come what may. Is this just the way it is?

One final question: though I have all the right manual soundset instruments in Sibelius and all the correct corresponding Vienna instruments set up in Vienna Ensemble no matter what I do, Sibelius always loads the 2 clarinets on the same midi channel. The instance does use all 16 but no more and there is enough for the clarinets to be on two channels, 5 and 6 in this case, and these are the channels set up in Sibelius manual sound sets and VE. The Sibelius mixer always loads both on midi channel 5 (see images). I can change this manually in the mixer but this then tends to throw off midi channels on other instruments which have to be re-adjusted, and then also causes weird problems with playback of dynamics and ariculations .

Note: the images have uploaded very oddly here. There should be on of the manual soundset too.

Thanks.

[andi]

Hello Northfield!

It can have different reasons why instrument changes do not work correctly and why instruments are playing on the wrong channel. Maybe you have one or more wrong instruments from the Sibelius "Add or Remove Instruments" menu in your score. For example you will need the instrument "Clarinet in Bb" twice in your score. The "Clarinet in Bb 2 (VSL Single Instrument)" will only work with our Clarinet in Bb 2.

I can see that you have tried to assign outouts or MIDI channels in the Sibelius mixer. Generally it is recommended to leave the output device and channel settings in the Sibelius mixer alone. Making settings there can mess up the playback. Please reset all outputs in the Sibelius mixer to (Auto). 

Further possible reasons for your problem can be found in the Troubleshooting chapter of the "Optimizing Sibelius Playback" manual.

Some patches for some instruments are not looped. Therefore they have a maximal length. If you need these notes to sound longer, please either retrigger the notes or use a different articulation.

Best,
Andi

[Northfield]

Thanks you for you patience Andi. In the end I created a new VE template and Sibelius session and pasted in the musical material from the older one and it is now all working pretty well. I think I did have one or two incorrect Sibelius instruments in the score but it is not always easy to tell as once you have created them, Sibelius doesn't always give the full name anywhere I can find so it can be confusing.

I have been very impressed with the level of detail in the samples, and I'm discovering more and more as I get to know them. This is what really brings the score to life.

One somewhat obscure question - is the VSL Sibelius house style font sensitive? I ask because usually I like to work with my own house style that I created with my own font of my handwriting but I cannot use that house style but was thinking of substitutuing the font in the VSL style.

Thanks again - this software is quite a steep learning curve but with your help I think I have now mostly cracked it for what I need anyway!

[andi]

Hello Northfield!

You can import the playback dictionary and instrument definitions from the "Vienna Symphonic Library" house style for Sibelius and use all the other import options from any other house style.

Best regards,
Andi