Installing/finding the VSL Keyswitch Dump.lib file

[David Gaines]

This is a private message I received this morning from a new member. I'm reposting an edited version of it publically because (1) I need to attach JPG images to my response in order to make the steps involved clear, and (2) it's a very typical sort of question for people new to VSL and Finale to ask and there are likely to be others out there with the same issue.

DG

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I have trolled the websites, forums etc but to no avail until I saw your post. It is a great pity that VSL do not provide a Rosetta stone along with their Vienna Key so that a technological child such as myself can decipher what the hell they are talking about.

I am having trouble installing their keyswitch dump. I attach a copy of my email to them explaining the problem. I do not know if it is my computer, finale or VSL that is causing the problem.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to load the keyswitch dump for finale2014 and the vsl special edition.

I was eventually able to put it into the library of finale 2014 by 'Harddisk/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2012/Libraries’. Although I really am not sure why I was unable to do it to start with.

I have verified it is there many times.

Instructions: "In Finale go to the menu File/Load Library and select the file "VSL Keyswitch Dump.lib". On Mac computers it may be necessary to change the file type option to 'All Files'."


When I do that, nothing appears there to load. I really am frustrated with this

I don't know if it is my computer. I don't know if it is finale. I don't know if it is vsl. I have watched every video I can get many times. Nothing seems to help. Can you offer a suggestion.

Forgive me, I neglected to mention what my computer specifications are. I am using a Mac Pro (mid 2010) quad core Intel Xeon 8GB 1066Mhz DDR3 ECC. I am using Mavericks 10.9.2.I am using Finale 2014 but have (2007 thru 2012c)

I am trying to use VSL Special editions 1-4. I have had these editions for over a year and have yet to produce a note!

I bought the editions on the portable hard drive. Can I use this with another computer? e.g. with my computer at work? It would be really good I can utilize spare time between rehearsals trying to get on top of this technology.

Welcome to the board. :-) You're in good company - every person here has had maddening issues trying to shoehorn the round VSL instruments into the square Finale hole, as it were. This is definitely advanced level stuff.

In any event, I think your issue is fairly easily resolved. I don't use a Mac but I don't think that has anything to do with what's going on. It could only be two things: (1) you put the .LIB file in what you thought was the correct default Libraries folder in which Finale looks for .LIB files, but the default folder is actually something else, or (2) the Harddisk/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2012/Libraries path you mentioned is, in fact, the default Libraries folder but, despite your checking and rechecking, it's really not there. My money is on door #1.

I've attached three screen captures from Finale 2012 (which is what I use; I haven't upgraded yet). The first is the Edit > Preferences dialogue box which is where you set the default Libraries folder. This is the first place you should look. The second is the Windows Explorer window that shows the contents of the default Libraries folder on my particular system (I'm sure the Mac OS has something similar). You'll see that the VSL Keyswitch Dump.lib file is there and, yes, it loads properly inside Finale. The third is the Expression Tool > Expression Selection dialogue box, which is where you'll see all of the MIDI Control Change expressions and Keyswitch Dump expressions from the .LIB file when you click on Show All. The CC messages and KS dumps are entered into your score as expressions, same as "ritard" or "cresc." or "con sord." or whatever. I right click on them and deselect Show so that they don't appear when I print out the score.

So......I hope this helps. If you still can't find the file, then maybe you DO have an issue specific to the Mac OS and if someone else here on the board who is a Mac user can't solve this, then I recommend you post this issue to the Mac section of the MakeMusic Finale support forum (if you haven't done that already).

Attachments:

[David Gaines]

P.S. - Forgot about your last question. You need an additional eLicenser USB stick in order to use your VSL software on another computer. Andi @ the VSL support forum (vsl.co.at) can provide more details about that. If you don't have an account at the VSL website, you need to get one pronto (it's free). You need one in order to access the users area which has tons of essential stuff in it, especially for new users (once you get used to their interesting English!).

[bill]

VSL provides HP Preferences for the SE libraries, so you should have very little need for the keyswitch dump file. You should get those installed and working first.

if you placed the dump file in 'Harddisk/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2012/Libraries, then Finale 2014 won't see it there. It has it's own directory tree.

Also, you don't necessarily need a second key; you can just move you current key to another computer.

[David Gaines]

Hi Bill, thanks for responding to this. Quick reply here as a guest as I'm having trouble logging in with my account. Don't ask. :-)

<<VSL provides HP Preferences for the SE libraries, so you should have very little need for the keyswitch dump file.>>

If only that were true, comrade. As you well know, HP works erratically with VSL (at least through Finale 2012c - dunno about 2014 yet). I've used the keyswitch dumps as score expressions when having those frustrating issues I've mentioned previously whereby, with Human Playback active, VSL goes hopping all around the VI matrix as if a poltergeist were playing a practical joke on me. Unless something has improved radically in Finale 2014 regarding how well HP and VSL play with each other, HP Preferences don't represent a set-and-forget tool. Having keyswitch dumps at hand, the ability to turn HP on and off, and the MIDI tool can be very helpful troubleshooting/problem solving tools.

<<You should get those installed and working first.>>

I agree. The OP didn't explain why he was focused on using keyswitch dumps or whether or not he had been using Human Playback. I was focused on answering his specific question, i.e. being able to load that .LIB file into Finale. Resolving that might also resolve a more general problem he (and others) might be having regarding loading any library file, not just the VSL keyswitch dump library.

<<if you placed the dump file in 'Harddisk/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2012/Libraries, then Finale 2014 won't see it there. It has its own directory tree.>>

That might be it right there. As I circled in red in one of my JPG's, whatever path is indicated next to "Libraries:" in the list of default file folders is where Finale needs .LIB files to be. I'm sure the Mac OS works identically to Windows in this regard.

<<Also, you don't necessarily need a second key; you can just move your current key to another computer.>>

Does the eLicense system allow you to simply move the USB dongle around from one computer to another one where you've installed VSL software? I've never tried that (I don't use VSL instruments on my netbook - too resource intensive). Rather clever, actually - it allows you the license holder to use VSL wherever you go and at the same time guarantees that only one of your VSL installations can be used at a time, thus maintaining the integrity of the licensing system. Of course, you have to remember to remove the USB stick and take it with you, and if you lose it, I would assume you're up the proverbial creek. At any rate, thanks for pointing this out.

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To everyone reading this: please become a member of the group if you're logged in as a guest, and please post your experiences using VSL with Finale 2014. Perhaps the biggest ongoing problem had been the inability to use the Export Audio function with VSL instruments in Finale. This made VSL virtually useless for Finale scores unless you were content simply to listen to Finale playback or were able and willing to record the output in real time using Audacity or some other audio recording program. Has this been completely resolved in 2014? Is Human Playback more consistent now? Any other steps forward? Is anything now worse than it was in previous Finale versions, or is anything now dysfunctional that had been working fine before?

Thanks for any and all contributions and input. This place is all about users helping other users.
DG

[bill]

Hi David,

I don't have SE, but never had any trouble with the HP Preferences I've created for VSL single instruments. Remember that HP does a lot more the switch articulations. It add many humanizing nuances to the playback, so best not to turn it off.

Yes, you can just swap the eLicenser key around. To protect yourself, do the following:
-Register a new key in the User Area of the VSL website.
-Replace the key every two years.

Doing those two simple things will insure you against any cost if the key is lost or damaged.

[neilmcneill]

Dear David and Bill,

Many thanks for your inputs.
I have taken a long time to get back to you as I have a limited time I can spend at the computer uninterrupted.
My apologies.
It was in fact a directory issue.
I eventually found out how to load not only the HP preferences but also the keyswitch dump. It tool me forever to work out where to go and sort this.
I really am a technological child.
The only thing that keeps me going is the extraordinary quality of these samples and what they can be used for.
I am currently trying to create a template that I can use immediately for an orchestral composition.
However I find that having loaded my strings (all working well with the HP settings) then try and load the Bosendorfer the sounds are hijacked by the basses and violins.
I've tried creating different channels etc (with a little success) but I seem to run into the same problem eventually. The timpani are hijacked by the piano or play simultaneously even though the piano doesn't have a note to play.!!!
I so need a Vienna ensemble for dummies. I'm a little sailing close to the wind with this composition as I have to play it in 4 weeks and will be away from all instruments and computer for nearly 8 days throughout that time.
Can you Help? Regards Neil.

[David Gaines]

We would need to see how things are laid out in Finale and in Vienna Ensemble for you. When you say "the sounds are hijacked" that could mean any number of things. Most likely your MIDI channel assignments are screwed up somehow and/or your instrument layout in Score Manager doesn't synchronize with the way your instruments are laid out in Vienna Ensemble, i.e. you're having Finale send instruments to certain MIDI channels but you've told Vienna Ensemble to assign those instruments to other MIDI channels. This is just a guess, obviously.

Can you take screen shots of (1) your Finale Score Manager with all of the MIDI channel assignments for all layers that you're using displayed clearly, and (2) your fully loaded Vienna Ensemble in the mixing board view (the one with the faders), and post those here along with the .MUS file of your score?

[David Gaines]

P.S. - Bill: yes, I understand the inner nuts and bolts of Human Playback (not sure how it's possible to spend significant amounts of time trying to get Finale and VSL to play nice with each other without being painfully aware of said nuts and bolts), but a whole universe of Finale users has had significant problems - even with the HP Preferences file provided by Andi @ VSL - getting VSL Special Edition instruments to playback accurately and predictably, with all the various tempo/expression/dynamics/etc. markings in the score being reproduced the way they should be. I can't comment on how reliable HP is with other VSL products except that I also have some download instruments (contrabass clarinet, Eb clarinet, flugelhorn, and euphonium) and have had fewer problems with them, but I haven't put them through enough of a grind to have a firm opinion one way or the other.

But for sure, the Special Edition (both Standard and Plus) instruments in both Finale 2010 and Finale 2012 (the versions I use) behave as erratically for me under Human Playback as they do for the many other people who have reported these types of issues over at the MakeMusic support forum. In fact, it's the #1 reason why I created this user group in the first place. I didn't want anyone else to have to reinvent the wheel and go through the sheer hell I went through first learning how to use these instruments with any kind of facility, and then, once I knew what I was doing, spending hours and hours all over the internet trying to do advanced troubleshooting re: getting Finale to play back my scores properly with VSL SE instruments using Human Playback.

The best single source I've found for addressing these HP problems is the series of posts that user A.S. (who, by the way, is a member of this user group) posted over at the MakeMusic support forum about three years ago. He discovered all kinds of anomalies created by using HP with the VSL Special Edition and wrote at some length about how he addressed the issues he had run into.

[David Gaines]

P.P.S. - Neil, I found the thread I referenced above from the MakeMusic Finale support forum (where user A.S. provided a whole slew of helpful tips about using VSL Special Edition with Human Playback). Copy and paste this into your browser, read it through a few times, and see if it helps you: forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?f=6&m=283077

[neilmcneill]

Dear David, I'm sorry for the very delayed response to your last post. I did manage to get a template of sorts together that worked with VSL and finale. I began work on my composition and was getting really excited with the sounds I was hearing.
On the 16th of April I was meant to celebrate my 60th birthday. 2 hours before this unmentionable event (15th) I suffered a serious injury to my right hand. I spent my 60th birthday on the surgeons table. I managed to sever 4 tendons, 3 nerves and two arteries to my fingers.(right hand dominant) It may be quite sometime before i can play the the piano.(3-6
months) let alone deal with left hand mousing on the computer. Please forgive me. I so seriously appreciate forums like yours that help us all. Much love, Neil.x























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