playback issues

Discuss general Sibelius issues here. Get help with Sibelius and Sibelius Support.
June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:35 pm

I realized that I never downloaded Sibelius sounds with my Sibelius 7 upgrade last January. I've been using basic midi. When I went online to try to download the sounds, of course it was impossible. I decided to upgrade to 7.5 and just start over. That cost me over $100 of course to get the CDs in the mail. So, now I have it all downloaded and opened up my latest orchestra score. It seems that Sibelius 7 sounds doesn't consistently play pizzicatos and sometimes just decides to play passages staccato for no reason. Also, every other instrument will be playing a staccato except for the strings, which is clearly marked staccato but holds onto the notes. When I switch back to basic midi, it plays fine. I tried copying passages and pasting them into a new file and they play back perfectly. Do I need to copy and paste my whole orchestra score into a new score to make 7.5 work properly?


bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Sun Oct 26, 2014 7:29 pm

Too late now, but I think you could have contacted Avid about you account and downloaded sounds before upgrading.
in any case, make sure that:
You have installed the sounds from the first DVD, also.
You upgraded to 7.5.1.
You have upgraded to 7.5.1.sounds.
You have installed the bass clarinet patch.
If you need help finding any of these, let us know.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:09 pm

Thanks for your help. I did install all the sounds. And when I switch back to "Basic Mid" it plays back just fine. Is there a way to have some instruments use the "basic midi" sounds and the rest use the Sibelius sounds? It seems to be just the strings that don't playback right with Sibelius sounds. It is going to be a real time waster for me because I use playback to make sure I have put the right bowings and articulations in for all voices. It is frustrating to hear the strings holding onto notes when everyone else is staccato and then when double checking, thinking I forgot something, I find that I have already done it and Sibelius sounds is just not playing it back as written. I think I have wasted my money on this upgrade.

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:15 pm

June
Please answer all of my questions. Plus what OS you are using.

I run 7.5.1 without problems. You can too.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:54 pm

My operating system is: OS X 10.9.5

I thought since I bought the CDs that I would get the latest update but I guess I was wrong. I just installed 7.1. I will see if this helps. I didn't think to look for updates right after buying the CDs. Thanks! Hopefully this will solve my problems! Maybe it will also solve my inability to register it using the update code that came in the box, but I have 30 days to figure that one out...

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:00 pm

It works, it works! Maybe they could let people know that the CDs are not the latest version when they send them. This could have saved me a lot of frustration!

I'm really glad I found this forum or I might have killed my computer!

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:13 pm

Never mind, I spoke too soon. I had it set on Midi Basic Sounds. Now it is more screwed up than before. I clicked on "About Sibelius" during the playback to make sure I really did have 7.5.1 and that window is stuck open and I can't even quit Sibelius to get rid of it. I couldn't get the playback to stop until the end of the score. I'll see if shutting down helps.

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:24 pm

I had to force quit Sibelius and shut everything down. Now I have fired everything back up and playback still does not play right when set on Sibelius sounds. How do I know if I have the Sibelius sounds 7.5.1 upgrade? I downloaded the 7.5.1 Sibelius upgrade. Does this not include the 7.5.1 sounds upgrade?

Am I having a common problem or am I just lucky?

So there is a bass clarinet patch to install? How do I do that and will this solve my playback problem?

Please continue to offer suggestions.

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:53 pm

Sorry, I misspoke about a 7.5.1 sounds update. I was thinking of 7.1.3.

Your problems are not that unique. 4 or 5 months ago I went through the process of installing a new OS, then Installing 7.1.3, then upgrading to 7.5, then 7.5.1. As I recall, the process was not straight forward. There were a few glitches along the way.

The only reason I know about the bass clarinet patch is because I hang out on the Avid/Sibelius forum.

We can't post urls here so I'll tell you how to find it. Go to the Avid home page. Mouse over the word SUPPORT over on the right. Select Knowledge Base. Type "bass clarinet" (no quotes) in the Search Knowledge Bass search box. Select "Unable to playback some scores in Sibelius 7.5"
All the instructions are there to follow.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:32 pm

It used to be we could call tech support after upgrading. Thanks for your help. I wish this wasn't so hard!

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:42 pm

I just did what you said and it still doesn't work right. I just noticed that the String bass in my orchestra score doesn't even play at all and the other string instruments interpret slurs as pizzicatos in sections of my score. I just wrote to Avid to see about getting a refund for my latest upgrade. I don't mind using the basic midi but I don't want to pay for an upgrade that I didn't need and can't use the sounds for. If I go back to Sibelius 7, will I be able to open the score I've been working on in 7.5 for the past week? I started it in Sibelius 7.

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:20 am

So I really went out of my way today to make this work. I opened up a new orchestra score template and copied and pasted my string section into it. It took hours because there many many meter changes. I then started playing it back using Sibelius sounds. The bass plays now, which is great. I was so happy thinking it was going to work. But then when it got to the section where I was having trouble in the old score, it started going wonky again. After a measure of pizzicato it plays the first couple of notes in the next measure pizzicato before it switches to arco, even though the arco is attached very carefully to the note where I want the arco to start. Sometimes the cello doesn't recognize pizzicato at all. The worst is when I have two notes slurred with a staccato on the second note. It plays them both staccato even if the first note is a half note.

I've been using Sibelius since "Sibelius 2". I have never had such a problem with playback before. I'm not super tech savvy but I have used music programs for years, starting with Finale. I really think someone like me should be able to put this program on my computer and make it work.

:cry:

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:22 pm

June,
I've only been using Sibelius since 4. But even then there has been something weird trying to get each new version going.
You will not be able to open your work from 7.5 in 7.1.3 unless you export it as a 7 file.
There is a disc utility on your Mac that will repair permissions. I suggest running that. Next search for and delete two things.
PlogueEngine (a folder) and PlaybackConfig.xml.

String bass did not play back for me and deleting these brought it back. Sibelius will replace the two items with fresh copies.

Try exporting your score as a Sib 6 file then open that. See what happens. Sometimes, the problem with a copy into a new score is that you might also copy what is causing the problem to begin with.

Did you get the bass clarinet patch installed OK?
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:34 pm

I don't have Sibelius 6 on this computer. I ran the disc utility. I can't find "plague Engine" or playbackconfig.xml anywhere on my computer.

If the bass clarinet is playing, does that mean I installed it correctly or is it an old patch working?

Sometimes the bass plays and sometimes not. How strange is that?

I think I will contact Avid and tell them that my discs have bugs and to send new ones. This is too much. There must be something wrong with the discs they sent.

June
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 9:25 pm

Post by June » Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:35 pm

So here's my latest update: Sibelius 7.5 keeps crashing and no matter how many times I hit "save" it will not save the work I do just before crashing. I lost several hours of work this morning. I think the problem was trying to upgrade from 7 to 7.5. I've wrote to Avid and asked them to send me a new 7.5, not as an upgrade to 7 but as if I was a new customer. I will remove 7 and 7.5 from my computer and download the new CDs. I have a feeling that this will work. I can't imagine people buying 7.5 are having these kinds of problems. I stopped using the playback and was just working entering and editing when the crashing began.

I will keep you posted. Hopefully Avid will help me to make this right. To me the easiest thing would be to start over with a new box of 7.5 CDs.

Any thoughts on this?

Post Reply