Admin wrote:...It will always resort to your main sound keyswitch when auditioning...
I could be wrong, but I don't think this is technically correct (although this may not be what is affecting Bill, since the last note in his example is not staccato).
As far as I can tell, Notion ignores the rules files completely during auditioning. It sends no keyswitch at all with auditioned notes, not even the "main" keyswitch, and I don't believe it sends any additional "main" keyswitch at the end of playback, either. So the last keyswitch the plugin "sees" during playback will be the one in effect when it auditions notes after that playback; since all the plugin is receiving is "note-on" messages during auditioning, there's no reason it would switch back to the main articulation.
If a particular plugin requires keyswitches to be held down to trigger an articulation, in a hot-key type mode, then it will go back to whatever articulation is played with no keyswitch for auditioning, because Notion does seem to send an "all notes off" message at the end of playback. But my limited understanding of VSL is that a brief press of a keyswitch will change articulation, and if you don't specifically press the required keyswitch to return to the "main" patch, it won't return to the "main" patch.
Although not with VSL specifically, similar situations are why I have been thinking about including within each rule for non-default articulations a "note-off-prefix" keyswitch or CC change to switch back to the main articulation. It causes no harm because if the next note needs a different articulation, the "note-on-prefix" happens after the "note-off-prefix" of the previous note. This still may not work if you stop playback in the middle of a note, though.
It would be a nice additional feature if auditioned notes were filtered through the custom rules, even if techniques and articulations could not be considered (which would result in use of default settings since no articulations or technique checks would be triggered). This is especially true for plugins that require extensive remapping of pitches, such as most drum kits. It can be disorienting when entering notes on the line for a snare, for example, and hearing some other drum, or no drum at all. I can't think of a way around this unless the instrument itself allows remapping.