To all Virtual Drumline 2.5 users using one of our previous Sibelius or Finale templates:

Much has happened since we first released Virtual Drumline. It went from a modest collection of drumline sounds to a full percussion ensemble of over 200 instruments shipping with their own powerful player. And with the advent of VST/AU plugin hosting, the new Soundworld functionality of Sibelius, and powerful percussion mapping of Finale, the integration achievable between VDL and its notation counterparts is at a level we never could have anticipated.

This integration has not come without a price. Users have had to learn a new workflow in order to get VDL sounds to work in conjunction with their notation programs. We've tried to make this transition as smooth as possible by providing detailed templates, libraries, and/or sound sets that utilize the back-end technology that makes this system so powerful.

We have reached a point where the development of the templates can no longer be provided for free as we move forward. Simply put, if we were to add up the hours of research, development, documenting, testing, and supporting just the VDL templates for Sibelius and Finale alone, the figures would be staggering. And while we remain dedicated to this endeavor, we are still a very small company with limited resources of time and human capital. We feel this decision is fair in order to offset the ongoing investment required by this sort of development.

You will now find some new template products for Sibelius or Finale in the Tapspace webstore in the Music Technology>Software section. These templates conform to the standards of their respective notation programs, while offering users the flexibility to edit the maps, staff types, sound sets, and accompanying files to their needs.

We owe great thanks to Hugh Smith and Ted Boliske, who have volunteered literally hundreds of hours of their time to developing these templates. Their attention to detail is the reason these templates have developed into the powerhouse tools they are. Charging a small fee for future templates will ensure that we can continue to provide our users with that level of detail and quality, and at $10.00 per template we hope most of you who've benefited from the templates thus far will realize its value. For those of you who are disappointed with our decision to charge for this, we hope you can understand the rationale behind charging a small fee for a large expenditure of time resources on our part. Also bear in mind that all the functionality for creating percussion maps is built right into Sibelius and Finale.So if all else fails, you can certainly create your own templates, libraries, and/or sound sets with their built-in tools.

We value every one of our Virtual Drumline customers. We thank you for understanding where we're coming from so we can continue developing ways in which VDL can benefit your creative process.

Jim Casella
Tapspace Co-Founder
Developer of Virtual Drumline