making the Aria player the default

[Vaughan]

How do I get Finale to use the Aria player and load its samples by default, instead of using the SoftSynth, meaning that I have to change everything by hand? I can't seem to find a configuration file or a preference setting which takes care of this.

[motet]

I admit to being somewhat confused by this, but isn't it per document? It depends what you mean by "default," but it seems like changing the default document/template ought to do it. If you open someone else's file, I think you'll get whatever they set it to.

[Vaughan]

I know, but when I make a new document, Finale chooses sounds using SoftSynth. If I change this to the Aria player, I have to configure the player instrument by instrument, which can get really tedious. If I select 'Reassign Playback Sounds', it changes everything to SoftSynth.

[motet]

If you figure it out, let me know. If I do File->New->Default Document I get MIDI (I may have changed it), but if I do "New document with set-up wizard" I get VST. (I would like it always to be MIDI.)

[zuill]

If the default file has Aria as the sound assignment, and saved that way, it should open that way. As far as the Wizard, it uses the top item in the Sound Map Priority. If Aria is at the top, then it will use Aria.

Zuill

[Vaughan]

That's the point. How do I change the Sound Map priority?

[zuill]

There's an item in the dropdown list in the MIDI/Audio menu (maybe called something different on Mac).

Zuill

[Vaughan]

That's interesting. I hadn't noticed that menu item. When I choose it, however, the only thing available is SmartMusic SoftSynth. Nothing else is listed.

[motet]

I have SoftSynth and GiFF, but changing the order didn't work for me. SoftSynth is now first, but a wizard-created document still comes out VST.

It seems like it should be a choice in the wizard. Of course, it's easy to change after the document is created, but on my slow machine there's a delay while it loads the Garritan stuff. (Admittedly this is quite low on my list of complaints about Finale, though.)

[Vaughan]

I looked at the knowledge base article but it assumes that one already knows what the Aria player is supposed to load. GPO4? GPO5? Instant orchestra? Something else? Grrr...

[Vaughan]

Apparently the sound map file(s) related to the Garritan Instruments which Finale was supposed to install automatically never got installed, and this is on both computers. The knowledge base article doesn't deal with this. More grrr...

[Vaughan]

I can understand this being low on someone's priority list and, lets' face it, all of these problems are First World Problems™, but it's still annoying and very time-consuming to have to reassign an entire orchestra's sounds manually.

[zuill]

When I have GIfF at the top of the list, the Wizard chooses GIfF. When I have SoftSynth, the Wizard chooses SoftSynth. Granted, it chooses VST and loads the Softsynth into the VST. It doesn't chooses MIDI. But it does what is expected.

Also, if you press Reassign Playback Sounds, the result is based on that list.

Zuill

[motet]

Is there a way to get it to choose MIDI by default?

[Vaughan]

I know. But what do you do if you only have one entry in the list (SoftSynth) and it's not what you want?

[BuonTempi]

You should have GIFF in the Sound Map list. If not, something is wrong.

Check you've got GIFF.soundmap in /Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale/Data.

If not, then either check your backups to see if it's been deleted, or reinstall, or use Pacifist from Charlesoft, which allows you to browse installer packages and optionally select individual files.

[Vaughan]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for! For some reason, the file had disappeared from the Data folder but I was able to restore it from a Time Machine backup.