Technically speaking, Finale isn’t a sequencing program; rather, it has been designed primarily to produce notation. Still, it duplicates many functions of a sequencer. Many sequencing parameters can be controlled to affect playback of your score. These are discussed in separate topics, including Continuous data; Tempo (for playback); MIDI channels; MIDI files; Dynamics; Rallentando; Key velocity; Pitch wheel.
If you plan to use Finale as a quasi-sequencer, it’s important to recognize that Finale can play back any score in one of three very different ways:
Note: If you want to capture this MIDI data when you record, choose MIDI/Audio > Quantization Settings and then click More Settings before you start recording in HyperScribe. Make sure Retain Key Velocities and Retain Note Durations are checked.
This third option relies on settings in the Playback/Record Options dialog box. All of the items beginning with Play recorded must be checked for Finale to play back the score using captured MIDI data, which is the actual, unquantized MIDI “recording” of a performance you created using HyperScribe tool such as key velocity information, ritardandi, and pedaling. What’s even more useful is that once you’ve transcribed such a performance, you can edit the notes, the dynamics, and other elements of the notated score; when you play the performance-data version, you’ll hear your changes incorporated into the original performance. Remember, the only way to hear playback as it was recorded (or without any additional continuous data) is to set Human Playback to None in the
Your MIDI setup is the physical configuration of all your MIDI devices and your computer. A typical setup consists of a MIDI interface, a computer, and the actual MIDI equipment such as keyboards, sound modules, wind controller, and so on.
A MIDI system is any part of your computer's operating system that handles communication between Finale (or any other software application) and a MIDI setup.
A MIDI interface is an external device that translates signals between your computer and MIDI instrument(s). MIDI interfaces can connect to your computer via USB, FireWire, or older serial ports.
A MIDI channel is a dedicated pathway through which MIDI information is sent and received in your MIDI setup. Finale supports up to 16 channels per MIDI device for a total of 128 MIDI channels. If you are using a USB interface that has at least four MIDI Out ports, you can use the maximum number of channels that Finale supports through your four (or more) external MIDI devices.
For optimal playback, it is recommended that each instrument in your score be assigned to a unique channel. Whenever you add new instruments with the Setup Wizard or ScoreManager, Finale assigns it a unique channel. See Configuring Instrument Playback for details regarding assigning
MIDI devices assign specific numbers, called program numbers, to different instrument sounds. Depending on the device, these program numbers could be anything; in the General MIDI specification, program 1 is a grand piano sound, program 41 is violin, program 74 is flute, and so on. Some of the more sophisticated sound modules contain many hundreds of sounds; however, General MIDI only defines the first 128 numbers (numbered 0 through 127).
Tip: To use the additional sounds “above” 127, renumber them as lower numbers, or set them manually on the instrument before playing back.
Note: "Banks" in this sense refers to those programmed into your MIDI device. This is not the same as Finale banks, which are discussed in the next section.
To accommodate more than 128 sounds, many MIDI devices use banks of sounds. A bank is an isolated group of 128 patches, which are accessed by changing your “active” bank of patches to a new bank using a special controller message.
A patch combines this bank information with a program number to refer to a particular instrument sound. To have different patches play back at the same time, you need to use different channels with a specific patch assigned to each channel. For example, if you wanted to play back a piece for a trio consisting of flute, violin and piano, you would assign the piano staves to play back on channel 1, program 1; the flute staff to play back on channel 2, program 74; and the violin staff to play back on channel 3, program 41. These settings reflect the General MIDI program numbers discussed above. External MIDI devices do not necessarily use the General MIDI specification. Refer to your device’s documentation for a reference to its patches.
There are 128 Finale channels available for output. Since each instrument in Finale’s ScoreManager allows you to specify a unique channel and patch combination, you can define up to 128 different instrument sounds. Finale's channels apply not only to MIDI, but also to
Finale supports 16 channels per MIDI device or
Finale banks are handled differently depending on whether you are playing back using MIDI or
MIDI Output and SmartMusic SoftSynth devices defined in the MIDI dialog box are available under the Device column in the ScoreManager when playing back through MIDI.
Notice, in the above example, both instruments are assigned to Channel 1, but because the instruments are assigned to different MIDI Output devices, they actually use different channels. In this case, the Oboe is assigned to SmartMusic SoftSynth 2 (meaning channel 1 for the Oboe is actually equivalent to bank 2, channel 1, which is Finale's 17th consecutive channel).
When playing back through
The Bank column is available when playing back through
When you change devices, Finale loads banks in the
The Input Device and Output Device options in the MIDI Setup dialog box let you choose where you want MIDI information sent or received. The available devices vary, depending on the MIDI driver and device you are using.
Note that you can’t assign the same input or output device to more than one set of Finale channels—after all, each device only uses 16 channels. You can, however, select multiple devices for a set of Finale channels. This allows you to double the number of devices playing music in the affected staves. (To do this, hold down the SHIFT key when selecting your MIDI devices.)
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