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Percussion Input Maps dialog box

How to get there

Choose MIDI/Audio > Device Setup and select Percussion Input Maps.

What it does

Different MIDI devices (like Finale's SmartMusic SoftSynth, Tapspace Drumline sounds, and external MIDI devices like MIDI keyboards) include various percussion instrument patches (sound banks), each with its own instrument mapping. On each patch, every non-pitched percussion instrument is assigned to a specific MIDI note, and the same instrument may be assigned to different MIDI notes depending on the patch chosen. For example, while the bass drum sound on one patch may be assigned to MIDI note C2, the bass drum on a different patch (or different external MIDI device) may be assigned to F2. When entering non-pitched percussion, choose the MIDI Input Map for your device and the patch you are using in this dialog box. (To hear Finale's interpretation of MIDI pitches entered from an external MIDI device, check MIDI Thru under the MIDI/Audio > Device Setup submenu).

Finale Channel. This equates to the bank of channels represented for MIDI Input in the MIDI Setup dialog box.
Percussion Input Map. From this drop-down menu, choose the device and the specific patch you are using for entry to properly configure percussion MIDI input. Match Input Map to Output Map is selected by default. With this option selected, Finale will automatically use the Percussion MIDI Map chosen for playback for the staff as assigned in the ScoreManager.
OK • Cancel. Click OK to confirm the MIDI Input Map settings and return to the MIDI Setup dialog box. Click Cancel to discard any changes and return to the MIDI Setup dialog box.

If you would like to configure an external MIDI device so that its Percussion MIDI Mapping is used for input and/or playback, you can define the MIDI notes yourself in the Percussion MIDI Map Editor dialog box.

If you converted your document from an older version of Finale, and you find that the note types assigned to a converted percussion layout do not represent your desired sounds, use the Change Note Types dialog box to reconvert note types based on a different mapping.