Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 11 Nov 05:20PM (edited 11 Nov 05:21PM) Hide picture I'm having problems with the attached score. It's set to play back in NotePerformer. Playback is uneven - jerky at times. However, it's inconsistent; on some occasions it's more obvious than others. If I switch to Sibelius Sounds the problem remains. I have run out of ideas about what the problem is, or how to remedy it. P.S. I have run the NP Humanisation plugin and set it to "No Humanisation", which provides slight improvement. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Attachment I&B(5).sib (314K) Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 11 Nov 07:20PM Hide picture It's a fast, rhythmically dense score. Maybe a bit too much for the DacMagic 100, which is aimed at 'audiophile' rather than 'pro audio'? Just as an experiment, try installing ASIO5ALL and playing through your computer's onboard audio? Your score plays fine on this tatty i5 laptop with 8GB RAM and onboard sound. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 11 Nov 09:24PM (edited 12 Nov 12:24AM) Hide picture Thank you very much for this suggestion. Further investigation shows that when I export the Sibelius file as audio, both wav and mp3 files play correctly. Does this in fact confirm your idea that the DacMagic can't cope with all the information in the score? And if you're right, why do even the bars which are lightly scored play back unevenly? (Sorry, I haven't experimented with ASIO4ALL.) -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 12 Nov 12:10AM (edited 12 Nov 12:15AM) Hide picture Yes, a faultless Audio Export confirms that the problem is with your audio interface and its driver not being up to real-time playback. Exported audio is pure 'number-crunching' and doesn't use the playback system. Maybe this doesn't matter. Use real-time as a reference while composing, tolerate the glitches. You know exported audio will be OK. You seem to be discounting ASIO4ALL with your computer's onboard audio. Why? It's the obvious, free, next thing to try. You can retain the DacMagic for media playback if you feel it makes a difference. Didn't we have exactly this conversation a few years ago? :-) Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Adrian Drover - 12 Nov 07:57AM Hide picture Yes, I'm thankful too that mp3 export repairs NP's horrible "humanization". Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Mark Isaacs - 12 Nov 08:20PM (edited 12 Nov 11:53PM) Hide picture Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 12 Nov 08:10AM Hide picture "You seem to be discounting ASIO4ALL with your computer's onboard audio. Why?" Probably because I have no idea what it is, how it works and what I'm supposed to do with it. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 12 Nov 11:14AM (edited 12 Nov 11:23AM) Hide picture It's a free generic ASIO soundcard driver. You Google for it and follow the instructions. It can squeeze extra performance out of an onboard audio system. Maybe even out of your DacMagic. It's the standard first try before spending out on a 'pro' audio interface with a dedicated ASIO driver. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by John Melby - 12 Nov 01:38PM Hide picture I had this uneven playback problem with previous Sibelius files on macOS (quite a while ago), but I found that this happened only when the file had been open for a long time. It was always fixed by my quitting Sibelius and reopening the file. In any event, it doesn’t happen anymore. -- Sibelius Ultimate 2025.10, NotePerformer 5.0.1, macOS 26.2 Tahoe, iMac M1, 16 GB RAM Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 12 Nov 05:53PM (edited 12 Nov 07:12PM) Hide picture Sorry - this is proving a pain in the proverbial. I have managed to download and install ASIO4ALL and it appears to show up in Sibelius: Play > Setup > Playback devices > Audio Engine Devices I've tried various settings in the ASIO4ALL control panel, Sibelius Playback devices, Audio Engine Devices, I keep restarting Sibelius and I get... absolutely nothing. I can't find anything on Google that relates to what I'm seeing. No doubt I've missed something that should be obvious, but it's becoming a massive time-waster. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Mark Isaacs - 12 Nov 08:21PM (edited 13 Nov 06:49AM) Hide picture > Yes, I'm thankful too that mp3 export repairs NP's horrible "humanization". Adrian, we have had this conversation before. What you call "horrible humanisation" must surely be your own system's lack of ASIO and consequent inability to render consistent rhythm in live playback. Lack of ASIO doesn't matter in audio export. Think about it for a moment. Why would NP introduce a "humanisation" element that they think is a good thing, but not allow users to have it on audio export? It would make no sense that audio export "repairs" a program feature. The humanisation in NP is quite subtle and I am sure is not the dramatic distortion you are hearing. What you hear, which is seemingly "repaired" by audio export, must be your own system's lack (probably lack of ASIO or other real-time audio stabilising protocol). I think Laurence confirmed this back in the day too. If what you're hearing as adverse in live Sibelius playback with NotePerformer is duly "repaired" upon audio export of the score, then it can't be NotePerformer doing it in the first place; it's not the culprit, simply by definition! -- A composer www.markisaacs.com www.facebook.com/markisaacsmusic Sibelius 6.2.0 build 88, Bob Zawalich plugins, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5 7400 Quad Core Processor (3GHz-3.5GHz 6MB), 8GB RAM, 27'' monitor, NotePerformer 3.3.2, Sibelius Sounds, Sibelius Sounds Essentials, Sibelius Gold (Kontakt), Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, Garritan Authorised Steinway, Bose Computer Music Monitor speakers, Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Adrian Drover - 13 Nov 07:55AM Hide picture Your memory serves you well, Mark, but yes, I did try ASSIO4ALL on your advice, but for some reason, in my case, it turned out to be an Ass'ole For All in that it prevented me from using any other audio app such as Transcribe simultaneously with Sib. Whenever I tried, Sib would stop running. I'm just thankful that I'm able to send my customers uncorrupted PDF's of my work for approval. The live humans who play my charts are not expected to mess about with strict tempo which is most often a feature of swing style. I'm also thankful that NP has a plugin for Tenuto Always MIDI message. But I'm irritated that it's plugin for 0% humanization still messes with tempo. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Mark Isaacs - 13 Nov 08:43AM (edited 13 Nov 11:48PM) Hide picture Yes, Adrian, ASIO4ALL will take over your computer sound chip so you can't use certain other sound apps while you are using ASIO4ALL with a program like Sibelius. I bought a separate standalone ASIO sound device (Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3) so that my onboard sound chip remains free for situations like this. You don't say whether your Sibelius NP playback was better with ASIO4ALL installed before you had to ditch it because of other audio apps such as Transcribe not working. You don't address my central argument: it's not NP messing with your tempos IF the damage is "repaired" on audio export: who would build a sound program where a central feature of what it does will not make it to audio export? You end by reiterating that NP is messing with your tempos. I shall not try to convince you again when you reiterate this idea on the forum as you probably will, as it certainly seems your mind is made up on this. Best wishes, Mark -- A composer www.markisaacs.com www.facebook.com/markisaacsmusic Sibelius 6.2.0 build 88, Bob Zawalich plugins, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5 7400 Quad Core Processor (3GHz-3.5GHz 6MB), 8GB RAM, 27'' monitor, NotePerformer 3.3.2, Sibelius Sounds, Sibelius Sounds Essentials, Sibelius Gold (Kontakt), Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, Garritan Authorised Steinway, Bose Computer Music Monitor speakers, Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 13 Nov 10:47PM Hide picture After much patient help from Alexander at NotePerformer, I have managed to get ASIO4ALL to work and the score plays perfectly. Does this mean my DacMagic is the culprit? If so, what technical spec is lacking, so that if I replace it I can check to see what I need to get? -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 13 Nov 11:58PM Hide picture You now have 'perfect' playback through your computer's onboard audio with the help of ASIO4ALL. What problem would be solved by adding more equipment? Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Mark Isaacs - 13 Nov 11:58PM (edited 14 Nov 01:04AM) Hide picture >>Does this mean my DacMagic is the culprit? If so, what technical spec is lacking, so that if I replace it I can check to see what I need to get? DacMagic is a DAC. By definition it lacks ASIO: ASIO is a driver protocol for a computer's audio interface, not a feature of a DAC. So you can't expect DacMagic to provide ASIO, so it is not the "culprit". ASIO provides rhythmic stability on playback, which was your issue. Your computer's audio interface lacked ASIO, but ASIO4ALL gave it to you. So you have solved your problem. If you don't want to use ASIO4ALL then to have playback rhythmic stability you need to add an audio interface like a Focusrite that has ASIO natively. I'm not sure if that would make your DacMagic redundant: someone else may be able to clarify. But if DacMagic plus ASIO4ALL does the job, what's the ongoing issue? -- A composer www.markisaacs.com www.facebook.com/markisaacsmusic Sibelius 6.2.0 build 88, Bob Zawalich plugins, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5 7400 Quad Core Processor (3GHz-3.5GHz 6MB), 8GB RAM, 27'' monitor, NotePerformer 3.3.2, Sibelius Sounds, Sibelius Sounds Essentials, Sibelius Gold (Kontakt), Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, Garritan Authorised Steinway, Bose Computer Music Monitor speakers, Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 14 Nov 12:34AM (edited 14 Nov 12:35AM) Hide picture "But if DacMagic plus ASIO4ALL does the job, what's the ongoing issue?" I thought ASIO interfered with other programs trying to play sounds. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Mark Isaacs - 14 Nov 01:25AM (edited 14 Nov 04:57AM) Hide picture "I thought ASIO interfered with other programs trying to play sounds." Not in general. In some situations there may be an issue in that it takes over the computer's audio interface, but it only does that while you have Sibelius open with ASIO4ALL as its audio device and then a problem can come if you simultaneously try to run certain other audio applications e.g. Adrian couldn't run Transcribe. When I had ASIO4ALL I seem to recall I had no problem playing YouTube videos and other sound files when Sibelius was open and using ASIO4ALL. I could be wrong about this, but why don't you try that? If they won't play, you can tick the box that says: "Release device when Sibelius is in the background" on the Audio Engine page and then restart Sibelius. Where there was an issue for me was when I imported a video into Sibelius and tried to play it and my score at the same time. I couldn't run the two audios simultaneously. So I bought an external Focusrite audio interface with ASIO (ditching ASIO4ALL), which left my onboard audio device free from being controlled by ASIO4ALL so it could deal with the other audio. You should just see if you run into a block with running another audio program and Sibelius/ASIO4ALL at the same time if that's something you do. I'd be interested to know if you can hear YouTube videos and other audio files on your system while Sibelius is open using ASIO4ALL, even if you have to tick that box as above. If that's all you want to do re other audio while Sibelius is open using ASIO4ALL, then you're set, and that setting may even fix it for other audio applications. If you can't do the simultaneous audio things you want while Sibelius is open using ASIO4ALL (which takes over your computer's onboard sound device) even when invoking that setting, you'd have to consider a standalone ASIO-compliant sound device like a Focusrite leaving your computer's internal sound device free for the other application. As I said, I have no idea if that could be used concurrently with DacMagic. Upshot: you don't have a problem until you have a problem! It depends on your workflow. ASIO4ALL activated with Sibelius may not throw you any curve balls. It depends on what else you want to do audio-wise while Sibelius is open, and whether that setting solves any issue. -- A composer www.markisaacs.com www.facebook.com/markisaacsmusic Sibelius 6.2.0 build 88, Bob Zawalich plugins, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5 7400 Quad Core Processor (3GHz-3.5GHz 6MB), 8GB RAM, 27'' monitor, NotePerformer 3.3.2, Sibelius Sounds, Sibelius Sounds Essentials, Sibelius Gold (Kontakt), Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, Garritan Authorised Steinway, Bose Computer Music Monitor speakers, Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 14 Nov 10:42AM (edited 14 Nov 10:43AM) Hide picture Time to put this to bed. Thank you to Mark, Laurence and Adrian for shedding some light on my problem. I now have a better insight into something that will probably remain ultimately mysterious and, more importantly, I'm getting better playback of Sibelius scores. It may just be me, but other scores now seem to have more clarity. I cannot praise Alexander at NotePerformer enough; he has been endlessly patient and helpful, and finally worked out why I couldn't get ASIO4ALL to function on my set-up. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 03 Dec 10:45AM (edited 03 Dec 10:46AM) Hide picture I apologise if this topic is stale, but I thought I would add that, having (probably) extracted all I could from my set-up with the DacMagic 100 plus ASIO4ALL and been pleased with the results, I decided to take a chance and replaced the DacMagic with the Focusrite Solo 4th Generation. The result: even better clarity and definition. Very simple to get it to work, too. Laurence's hunch that the DacMagic wasn't up to the job with dense Sibelius scores turned out to be correct. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 04 Dec 02:02AM Hide picture Well, you got 10 years out of the DacMagic! Remember this conversation from 2015? :-) http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpcenter/chat/chat.pl?com=thread&start=676934&groupid=3 Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 05 Dec 11:48AM Hide picture Indeed I did, Laurence. It's now on sale on Ebay and I suppose I may get £50 for it. And the Focusrite was reduced. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Laurence Payne - 05 Dec 04:01PM (edited 05 Dec 08:59PM) Hide picture Put it at £500. Audiophiles go for 'vintage'.:-) Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 7.1.3: Uneven playback Posted by Chris Crawley - 06 Dec 10:57PM Hide picture "Put it at £500. Audiophiles go for 'vintage'.:-)" Hm... maybe. If so, you've missed a chance of a real bargain. I've accepted an offer of £52, which is roughly half what I paid for it new ten years ago. Seems fair to me and I need to get rid of clutter. -- Chris Crawley (composer and horn-player) using Dorico Pro 3.5.12, Sibelius 7.1.3, NotePerformer 4.2.0, Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 3.30GHz, 64GB RAM, DacMagic 100 [email protected] Back to top | All threads