Klarinet Archive - Posting 000248.txt from 2005/04

From: ormo2ndtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: [kl] The Sibelius playback solution (was: Music notation software)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 00:48:03 -0400

Especially to Rien and Erik, who are considering purchases:

Installing a sound card that includes an "ASIO" driver ($69 US) solved
all of Sibelius 3.1's playback problems on my 700 mHz machine ---
including when the maximum of eight "Kontakt Silver" voices were playing
fast trills simultaneously.

Sibelius indicated that I was using 187K of memory and 80% of my CPU
when all eight instruments were playing simultaneously.

Sibelius set its latency to 50 microseconds after I had installed the
new sound card. The Sibelius manual says this is part of the ASIO
protocol and is automatic.

My old sound card (SoundBlaster's economy model, I believe) was unable
to produce a trill with Sibelus 3.1. Also, I had previously posted
that Sibelius wouldn't recognize a certain hairpin. Both of these
problems have disappeared with the ASIO driver.

As for the quality of Kontakt Silver's voices (compared to generic
MIDI), there is absolutely no comparison once you have the correct
setup. The voices aren't quite the same as an ensemble playing in my
living room, but they are very close thereto. Those of you who have
state-of-the-art sound systems and modern computers will probably
chuckle at my naivete, but now I am 'thrilled' --- as the saying goes.

I cannot make a direct comparison with the newest Finale 2005, but I no
longer am complaining about Sibelius's playback on a slower machine.
Now I *can* imagine that Roger Hewitt can play 20 or 30 staffs with 800
mHz and 375 MB.

Thank you again for the help, Roger. Installing an ASIO sound card was
the answer. Once again, the value of being able to talk with other
folk on the Internet is proven!

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