Installing the custom configuration files in Sibelius 7:In the Sibelius 6 tutorial I wrote a whole lot of words, and included two pictures, to help explain how to add the configuration files, and--most importantly--where to put them. In Sibelius 7 this is much, much easier.
From the Start button (Windows) or Finder (Mac, and the labels may vary) open the menu options for "All Programs" and then "Avid". You will see that one of the menu options that displays on the Avid flyout menu is a folder shortcut to "Sibelius 7 User Data." Click that option, to launch a view of your custom user data folder.
In the tutorial toolkit (the ZIP file, from the link included in a message above) there is a folder named "Sibelius 6". Under that you will find four more folders:
- House Styles
- Manuscript Paper
- Playback Configurations
- Sounds
Your user data folder (the folder that displayed when you clicked on the "Sibelius 7 User Data" link) contains all of the custom configurations for Sibelius--style sheets, manuscript paper, etc. You'll copy the contents of the folders in the toolkit into the folders in your user data directory.
The default installation of Sibelius does not automatically create all of those folders. If you do not see them in your user data folder, you can create the folders you need. Or, you can drag the folder in the ZIP file into your user data folder--which will create the new folder, and copy the contents of the folder into place. The tutorial covers this in more detail on page 11--pay careful attention, but it's not hard to do.
The ZIP file also includes the test: the Corelli score that you can play, once you have got everything set up, and compare to the recording I have posted on Contrebombarde Concert Hall. Copy that to your desktop, or a folder of your scores, or wherever best suits your needs.
If you are a Windows user: add the Hauptwerk VST plug-in to Sibelius- If you are a Windows user, from the Play menu, on the Configuration panel, click on the little Setup icon, just below the Mixer button
- That will display the Playback Devices dialog.
- From there, click on the "Audio Engine Options" button to display the Audio Engine Options dialog.
- There, click on the Folders button to specify the location of your VST Plug-ins folder.
- Once you have done that, click the Rescan button, and close Sibelius
- Re-open Sibelius, and continue below.
Opening Sibelius, and Selecting Your Hauptwerk Configuration- Launch Sibelius.
- Launch Hauptwerk, and open the St. Annes Moseley organ.
- Using Sibelius, open the Corelli score.
- From the (Sibelius) Play menu, choose Configuration--select the (new!) Hauptwerk 4 configuration option.
- Click the Rewind icon on the ribbon to go back to the beginning of your score, and...
- Click on that big green Play button.
- And you'll hear nothing but the dull thuds of the organ keys. Because (I do this All. The. Time) you have not selected any organ ranks. Use the registration options on page 12 of the tutorial, and give it another go.
Do you hear music?You should.
If you do not hear music, the first thing to check is whether you were able to select the Hauptwerk 4 configuration directly from the Play menu. If you could not find it, then your configuration files are not installed in the correct directory.
If you can select the Hauptwerk 4 configuration, the next thing to check is whether your keystrokes (the MIDI note-on/note-off commands sent from Sibelius) are getting to Hauptwerk. On the Mixer, look at the MIDI channel number assigned to each rank. The Swell channels should be on Channel 3; Great should be on Channel 2; and Pedal should be on Channel 1.
When your channels are set properly, clicking on a note, or playing a series of notes, will cause the keyboard on the corresponding manual in Hauptwerk to play. Click on the little "speaker" icon on the "Grt. (a)" channel on the Mixer--you'll see a brief scale played on the Great manual--and you should hear it as well.
If you see the keys move, but do not hear anything, make sure you have at least one stop in Hauptwerk, for the manual you're testing, pulled. If you have stops selected, see keys move, but still do not hear anything, double-check that you can get audio out of Sibelius using a different virtual instrument (such as Sibelius 7 Player). Also, be sure that you do not have a (or all) music channels on the Mixer muted. (If the little red "M" icon is lit, that channel is muted--you won't get sound.)
The Hauptwerk VST Link is like a two-way street--MIDI keystrokes come to Hauptwerk, and audio output goes back to Sibelius. I've never had a circumstance where keystrokes got to Hauptwerk, but audio didn't go back. If you see keystrokes on your Hauptwerk manual, audio is being returned to Sibelius--check your output levels on the Mixer, and your audio output levels on your audio interface. And (let's not leave any possibility out of this) check that your audio system, and speakers, are turned on.
There's more to this: there are six more pages in the tutorial on how to extend the custom sound set and stuff like that. The overwhelming majority of users get to the point where they hear music and just forget the rest--some users have gone for days without food or sleep, just exulting in what they can do. (One exasperated wife emailed to say she was going to name me as a co-respondent in the divorce.)
When you have everything configured properly, choose the registration options on page 12, and play the Corelli piece. Then listen to my recording, on Contrebombarde:
http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/5094You should hear exactly the same thing.
Questions? Bring 'em.