You are here: What does this do... > Palettes, Tools, Menus, and Dialog Boxes > Tools > Tempo Tool

Tempo tool

The Tempo tool lets you create or edit a stream of data describing tiny, moment-by-moment tempo fluctuations within the playback of your piece. You can also use this tool to create a swing effect, although the Playback Controls provides a much more efficient and effective method of creating swing (see Swing Playback).

Finale’s Human Playback feature, which interprets the score for playback and simulates a human performance, overrides tempo settings created with the Tempo tool. To hear any playback effects assigned deliberately with the Tempo tool, you first need to disable Finale’s Human Playback feature. To do this, from the Windows menu, choose Playback Controls and then click on the Playback Settings button on the Playback Controls. Click the drop-down menu for Human Playback Style and choose None. For more information, see Playback Settings dialog box.

Tip: In order to hear effects applied with the Tempo tool during playback, you must set Human Playback to None in the Playback Controls.

For further information, see the Tempo Adjustment dialog box.