keyboard stuff

Discuss playback problems, including VST, Garritan, MIDI, etc.

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rbsalyer
Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:46 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5
Operating System: Mac

Post by rbsalyer » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:32 pm

I've been using Finale for notation for several years, but seldom used a keyboard. Recently purchased a M-audio key station 61es. Works great as long as I have opened a working score with just piano.

I'm currently working on a big band score that I started using Finale's template for Big band. Everything is working okay as far as the notation portion.

What I want to use the keyboard for is listening to the chords I'm building in the band score without listening to the horn sounds. So if there is B7b9b13, I want to play the chord on the piano simply to hear it. But the only way I can ge that to happen is to open a separate score, for piano, play the chord, and return to the big band score, make whatever changes, because the piano makes the reed sounds only. There's a piano in the score, but I can't make the keyboard select that.

I'm really new to the midi business, so I went online and watched several videos and they didn't help much.

Any help would be appreciated.

rb


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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6601
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Sun Dec 20, 2015 3:49 pm

rbsalyer wrote:…I'm currently working on a big band score that I started using Finale's template for Big band. Everything is working okay as far as the notation portion…
In the folder with Band Templates I do not see a Finale template called “Big Band”.
I suppose that you mean the template “Jazz Band (Handwritten)”?


rbsalyer wrote:…What I want to use the keyboard for, is listening to the chords I'm building in the band score without listening to the horn sounds. So if there is B7b9b13, I want to play the chord on the piano simply to hear it. But the only way I can get that to happen is to open a separate score, for piano, play the chord, and return to the big band score, make whatever changes, because the piano makes the reed sounds only. There's a piano in the score, but I can't make the keyboard select that…
I am not sure I understand.

A. Do you want to play the piano chords yourself (with your fingers) on the MIDI keyboard?

B. Or do you want Finale to play the piano chords for you?

Re. A. If you switch to the Speedy Entry Tool, you can use the MIDI keyboard to play yourself on the keyboard (with your fingers), and experiment - without making any entries.

Re. B. If I understand you correctly, you want to hear the piano part alone, without hearing the horn parts, right?
In the ScoreManager, in the chiclet Instrument List, you can Solo a part, so that only that part plays during playback.

If I misunderstand you, then I apologize.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

rbsalyer
Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:46 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5
Operating System: Mac

Post by rbsalyer » Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:48 pm

sorry for the delay…the holidays….

anyway…I'm not very good at stating the problem…

it is the jazz band template…

let's say there is a melody note in the first alto sax and the concert pitch is an E. The arranger has called for a C7b5b9. When I had a stand alone keyboard, I would play the notes and it would sound like a piano. Now that I am using the midi keyboard and it's hooked up to finale thru the computer, when I play the notes, the notes sound like saxophone notes. How does finale know which sound to assign to the keyboard input. There are five saxes, five trumpets, five trombones, a french horn, upright bass, piano and guitar. Why doesn't finale select the piano or the trombone or trumpet?

thanks for any help…

rb

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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6601
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Finale Version: Finale v27.4
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Mon Dec 28, 2015 4:44 pm

rbsalyer wrote:…it is the jazz band template…

let's say there is a melody note in the first alto sax and the concert pitch is an E. The arranger has called for a C7b5b9. When I had a stand alone keyboard, I would play the notes and it would sound like a piano. Now that I am using the midi keyboard and it's hooked up to finale thru the computer, when I play the notes, the notes sound like saxophone notes. How does finale know which sound to assign to the keyboard input. There are five saxes, five trumpets, five trombones, a french horn, upright bass, piano and guitar. Why doesn't finale select the piano or the trombone or trumpet?…
I am afraid I still do not understand.
Perhaps there is some sort of file corruption in your copy of the Jazz Band template.

In my own copy of the Jazz Band template I hear the correct sounds in all the instruments:
* The saxes play back with sax sound.
* The trumpets play back with trumpet sound.
* The trombones play back with trombone sound.
* The guitar plays with guitar sound.
* The piano plays with piano sound.
… &c.

Do you need everything to play back with piano sound?
You can go to Window menu > ScoreManager > Instrument List
and choose piano sound for all the instruments.
rbsalyer wrote:…There are five saxes, five trumpets, five trombones, a french horn, upright bass, piano and guitar…
It sounds like your Jazz Band template is different from mine.
In my own copy of the Jazz Band template there are
- 5 saxes
- 4 trumpets
- 4 trombones
- guitar
- piano
- bass
- drum set

In Other Words:
My own copy has
- only 4 trumpets
- only 4 trombones
- no french horn
- drum set (your Jazz band template does not have a drum set - or some other sort of percussion?)
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

unfamiliarplace
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 5:19 am
Finale Version: 25
Operating System: Windows

Post by unfamiliarplace » Wed Jan 04, 2017 12:28 am

rbsalyer wrote:sorry for the delay…the holidays….

anyway…I'm not very good at stating the problem…

it is the jazz band template…

let's say there is a melody note in the first alto sax and the concert pitch is an E. The arranger has called for a C7b5b9. When I had a stand alone keyboard, I would play the notes and it would sound like a piano. Now that I am using the midi keyboard and it's hooked up to finale thru the computer, when I play the notes, the notes sound like saxophone notes. How does finale know which sound to assign to the keyboard input. There are five saxes, five trumpets, five trombones, a french horn, upright bass, piano and guitar. Why doesn't finale select the piano or the trombone or trumpet?

thanks for any help…

rb
One year later: I understand what you're saying and have run into this myself. It's a question of which channel Finale interprets the keyboard as playing on (i.e., is it providing notes for the piano, for the horn, for the saxophone, etc).

I've found that my keyboard takes the channel of the last staff edited. That is, if you edited a horn part last, the keyboard will sound like a horn. If you edited a piano part last, the keyboard will sound like a piano. See this video: https://youtu.be/rJLo4WVRNfA

Note that to simply hear the keyboard and not have it enter data when doing the above, you can just switch the tool (e.g. to eraser) and the staff will still be "selected" without capturing the input as new notes.

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zuill
Posts: 4418
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Finale Version: Finale 2011-v26.3.1
Operating System: Windows

Post by zuill » Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:04 am

In MIDI Thru, you can choose which channel the keyboard ports to. Choose the channel that the piano is assigned to.

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

BuonTempi
Posts: 1297
Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
Finale Version: Finale 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by BuonTempi » Thu Jan 12, 2017 9:37 am

rbsalyer wrote:How does finale know which sound to assign to the keyboard input.
Your keyboard is probably playing channel 1 by default, so Finale plays the instrument assigned to that channel. As Zuill suggests, you may be able to switch which channel Finale plays out on in MIDI Thru, but if you want to hear something, then Finale has to use one of the instruments in the current document.

Alternatively, you can get MIDI Synth apps, which play OS X's built-in synthy sounds from incoming MIDI data. DLS-MIDI-Synth is a good one, on the Mac App Store, with a number of configurable options.

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