Tips for Using VSTs in Sibelius 6
Sibelius has a nice, streamlined approach to using the standard sounds ... just use the Sibelius Player. However, if you use VSTs that don't have Sibelius-ready sound sets, or you've created your own sounds for your VSTs, then life is a little more complicated.
Here's some tips for using VSTs in Sibelius. I don't know if this is the best/official way, but it works for me ... usually ... your mileage may vary.
Before I begin, I have two caveats:
(1) I won't go into detail about Sibelius or about VSTs. I'm just going to talk about how I use VSTs in Sibelius.
(2) VSTs can be idiosyncratic (a.k.a weird and flaky), and some VSTs, for whatever reason, won't work well in Sibelius.
Organizing your VSTs: Create a new folder somewhere on your system, titled something like "My Sibelius VSTs". Decide which VSTs you'll use with Sibelius, and copy them to this folder. Don't include any VSTs you don't intend to use with Sibelius (it's just simpler, trust me). In Play:Playback Devices:Audio Engine Options, set Sibelius to that folder, and then instruct Sibelius to Rescan. After you rescan (by restarting Sibelius), you'll see your various sound-producing VSTs in the Play:Playback Devices:Active Devices area. You'll also see your Effects VSTs, in the Play:Playback Devices:Effects area; just click on the Master Insert or an Effects Bus.
Creating a playback configuration: When you start a new score, and you want unique sounds for that score, then create a new playback configuration, in the Play:Playback Devices:Active Devices area. When creating a configuration, I usually give it the same name as my score, i.e, if my score is "MyComposition", I'll name the playback configuration "MyComposition-Playback". Add 1 or more VSTs to your configuration by selecting a VST and activating it. Once you've activated your VSTs, save your configuration.
Using a VST: Suppose you wanted an instrument that sounded like a cross between a flute and an organ. Create an instrument in your score, for example, Flute. Change the instrument name to "Flute-Organ" by editing the instrument name text (on the left side of your score). Go to the Mixer, and open the "Flute-Organ" stave. In the "Initial Playback Device", select which VST you want to play this sound. Press the button which opens the VST's user interface; this button looks like a cogwheel. In the VST user interface, find and select the appropriate flute-organ sound (each VST has it's own way to find and select sounds, so I won't go into detail about that here). In the Mixer, press the stave's "Test Sound" button; this tells Sibelius to use the particular VST sound for your Flute-Organ. You can now play back Sibelius with your flute-organ sound. Just so you know ... although you're using your own "Flute-Organ" sound, Sibelius still internally thinks you're using a Flute sound, which is in the Woodwind family.
Very Important: Whenever you open a VST and change its sound, and you want to save that change, then Save your configuration in Play:Playback Devices. Make sure you save the configuration before you quit Sibelius!
Advanced tips:
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Some VSTs will reset their sound to their default sound whenever you hit
Play. To avoid this, go to File:Preferences:Playback, and in the
* You can use the same VST twice (or more) in the same configuration, you just activate the same VST twice, and select different sounds for each activation. For example, if you have the "Absynth 4" VST, you can have two Absynth VSTs active in your configuration: "Absynth 4" and "Absynth 4 (2)". Be careful when selecting the VST activactions in the Mixer ... if you've already set instrument X to "Absynth 4", and then you set instrument Y to "Absynth 4" ... but you meant "Absynth 4 (2)" ... then both instruments will have the "Absynth 4" sound.
* When you're trying to find a good sound in your VST, I suggest you use the LoopSelection plug-in. Select a music passage that contains the notes the VST will play, run the plug-in to create the loop markers, and start the looping. While the loop is running, you can open your VST and navigate through the sounds until you find one that you like. FYI, the LoopSelection plug-in isn't included in the Sibelius factory plugins, but you can download it for free from the Sibelius website.
* You'll need a unique playback configuration whenever your composition has a unique set of sounds. But you can use the same Playback Configuration for more than one composition, say if you're writing several compositions that use the same VSTs with the same presets.
* Sibelius' default location for playback configurations is " (your computer information here) ... \Sibelius Software\Sibelius 6\Playback Configurations". A configuration consists of (1) an XML file, which lists which VSTs are being used, and (2) a subdirectory which contains the presets used by the VSTs. This subdirectory has the same name as the XML file, but with the extra word "data". Most computer users have a strategy to create backup copies of their important files. If you backup your score files, then you'll probably also want to backup your playback configuration files. Let's say your score is "MyComposition". I suggest you create a backup folder named "MyComposition". To create a backup, you'll copy these three things to your backup folder: (1) the Sibelius score file ("MyComposition.sib") , (2) the playback configuration file ("MyComposition-Playback.xml") and (3) the subdirectory "MyComposition-Playback data" that holds the VST presets for the playback configuration.
* Warning: Sibelius occasionally snags when you're switching between scores with different playback configurations. Often, the score plays back with the wrong configuration; occasionally, Sibelius will crash. One possible workaround for this is to manually switch to the correct configuration when you switch to the other score. Another possible workaround is to close and restart Sibelius before you open the other score.
* I previously suggested that you create a special folder for the VSTs that you'll use with Sibelius. I suggest this because you'll want an organized way to determine which VSTs will work with Sibelius. When you want to try a new VST, copy it to your special VST folder, and restart Sibelius. Usually, Sibelius will (1) start correctly, and then (2) you'll see the new VST in "Available Devices" on the Play:Playback Devices:Active Devices screen. If both steps didn't occur, then ... to get Sibelius back to a good condition ... delete that VST from your folder, restart Sibelius, and then Rescan. On a related topic, please remember that if you install an updated version of a VST, then you should copy that updated VST to your special VST folder, and Rescan ... else, Sibelius won't know about it.
Feature Request:
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I wish Sibelius had the option of automatically saving the playback
configuration when you exit the score; i.e., informing you that your
configuration had changed, and giving you the option of saving it. At
least, it would be nice to have a keyboard shortcut to save your configuration.
Author: John Glossenger, June 2009
John is a software developer/tester, but he does not work for Sibelius.