New install of Sibelius first - cannot get playback

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poihths
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:11 pm
Sibelius Version: First 2022.12 1722
Operating System: Mac

Post by poihths » Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:45 pm

I'm on a Mac Pro, AMD Radeon chipset, 32 GB, Mac OS Ventura 13.2.1. Sibelius First version 2022.12 build 1722.

I load Sibelius. The opening theme music plays properly.

I load the Project 1.sib file installed with the program. I go to the Play tab and hit Play. I have signal in the mixer, but no sound.

I open the Setup box from the little trigger click beside Setup, under the Configuration and Mixer buttons on the Play tab. I have three active devices: FCA1616 MIDI, which is my audio interface hardware; FP-60 Bluetooth, which is my keyboard, and IAC Driver Bus 1, the OS X MIDI device. All three of those are on the Active Devices side; the Available Devices side is blank. This configuration is saved as "Roland Keyboard"--I got that far at one point in my struggles. The other available configuration is "General MIDI (basic) which came with the software on installation. When I switch to that, the same devices are present, but they're all on the "Available devices" side and they're all grayed out.

In both of those configurations, when I click Audio Engine Options, in the Audio Engine Options box everything is blank and grayed out, nothing responds to the mouse. I suppose that if I could get an audio engine to show up, that might help. There have been times in my struggles when I've seen Kontakt and other audio engines that are on this computer show up, but I can't remember where any more.

In Sibelius Preferences, under Input Devices, the MDI test light flashes green when I hit notes on my keyboard.

The computer's audio works properly under Spotify, QuickTime Player, Youtube, etc.

In general, everything mentioned above comes and goes and changes in a seemingly random fashion.

I've attached a screenshot of the Playback Devices and Audio Engine boxes (both on one screenshot).
Attachments
Sibelius-1.jpg
Sibelius-1.jpg (148.78 KiB) Viewed 3139 times


andyg
Posts: 1727
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:55 pm
Sibelius Version: 7.1.3 and 6.2
Operating System: Windows

Post by andyg » Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:09 pm

First is so cut down that it doesn't do much. I think playback using General MIDI sounds is probably all you'll get, unless you have an external sound module to produce sounds. It doesn't work with any type of virtual instrument. I never use Macs so I can't comment on your audio routing of those GM sounds.

The opening music is simply a wave file, nothing to do with Sibelius' audio. Your Mac's audio system handles that the same way that it handles any other audio like Youtube etc.

If you want to work with virtual instruments in Sibelius, you'll have to go for the paid versions. 'Artist' is still badly cut down from the top tier of Sibelius, which is 'Ultimate'.

If you want something that's very good, with lots of high quality sounds and is FREE, try Musescore 4. It wipes the floor with First and Artist. Still a little buggy, as it's new, but the team are quick to fix the bugs with regular updates!

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