Playback not working

[bj nick]

So....took off a few months, now when I try to play anything back, the Playback function is grayed out; I can still play something back w/the space bar if I wish. I attached a short section, but it's exactly the same issue on everything I have. I'm sure there's a setting somewhere I clicked on/off or whatever, or a driver missing.....who knows.... looking forward to having this pointed out so I can get back to listening to things properly again. Thanks!

Note: friend suggested it might have something to do w/Audio Devices setting, or perhaps ASIO (which is grayed out in that window; see attached.)

[bj nick]

Nobody has any idea??? Geez........I contacted Finale, they never responded....maybe someone could give me an idea what to do with this?

[motet]

Is there any choice besides Direct Sound?

[ttw]

I don't remember the solution but I got this quite a bit a few years ago. It's probably on one of my earlier posts. I think the problem was in either one of the choices for the computer's sound generator (most have 2 or more) or in the settings in MIDI/AUDIO in FInale. It may have been both.

I do remember updating all the audio drivers but I don't know if that helped, I think it did. It's the usual problem with three (at least) interacting programs: Finale, Windows, and the audio driver.

[bj nick]

Audio Setup the only choices are Direct sound or Wasapi. I did try Wasapi, but it changed nothing. I'm thinking maybe just try reinstalling Finale...? Any big downside to trying that? No idea why Make Music won't respond....it's been three days.

[motet]

Depends how much customization you've done, I guess. To reset the audio settings to Finale's defaults, find the file finmidi.ini and delete it (with Finale closed). It should be somewhere like

C:\Users\Bjnick\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 26

[bj nick]

ttw I checked out that previous thread; interesting. Motet, thank you; that would undoubtedly have been a simpler solution, but I decided to just try a system restore (this is W10), and that returned playback to me. fwiw: audio settings exactly the same, I have no idea what caused the issue....seeing as how I didn't use Finale for a couple months and don't recall installing anything memorable during that time, I see this as the proverbial "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" scenario, and I'll let well enough alone. Thanks as always!

[bj nick]

Well, playback is again not working. I tried deleting finmidi; nothing changed. I even uninstalled/reinstalled Finale: nothing changed. Tech support has not responded to my filing a ticket. Dead in the water. No idea what to do at this point.

[heinzfan]

Some last gasp basic suggestions:
If you're using NotePerformer have you tried reassigning the sounds to Garritan to eliminate NP as the problem?
Did you check the Midi/audio ...VST/Banks & effects to ensure that the volume slider is set?
Have you checked Windows volume mixer to ensure that the volume is set for Finale? (right-click the speaker icon in the system tray).
There's also been a problem posted on this forum somehow related to microphone settings, you can do a search and see if that has any bearing.

[motet]

You said on Oct 2 you did a system restore and playback was working. Now it's not. What changed between then and now?

[bj nick]

heinzfan: Thank you for these suggestions. I tried them but no go w/any of them.

Motet: I honestly have no idea; I studiously avoided messing with ANYTHING so as not to curse my luck. I hate to use the old "It just happened" trope, but that's all I got...oh, and btw the volume slider I don't think could have been the issue anyway, because as I mentioned, audio is not a problem: I can playback my pieces using the space bar method. Hope I was clear: I have no problem with SOUND anywhere; not on music, YouTube, nothing. The issue is that Playback on Finale is grayed out.

Note: I have an alternate (new) Windows 10 full installation done recently (separate identity/sign-in), and the playback works on that.

[heinzfan]

Asio would be grayed out if you're using Windows Direct sound or any non-asio driver. However (shot in the dark) I noticed that in your picture there's no "mic source" selected. Is that setting also blank on your other PC that works? On my PC it is populated, although it may have nothing to do with your issue.

[motet]

"Playback is grayed out"

Playback is something you do. You mean the Finale playback controls? I guess you did say that, but I missed it. Have you explored all the playback options? Is this the case with every file? How about when you create a brand new file?

[motet]

Post a screen shot of your playback controls.

[bj nick]

Okay, this is SOLVED! But in a really curious way: I was on the phone w/MS tech support, and I mentioned the issue I was having w/Finale, "which obviously isn't a MS issue," is how I put it, but he had me show him the exact issue on Finale (he's sharing screen), and he says hmm....he looks it up and says he knows what the issue is: until recently I had a 22" monitor and just switched to a new 32", so I increased the DPI to 250% to see everything better. He right away found an incident where someone had an issue similar to mine, and it was because Windows sets a maximum DPI of 200%. He switched it to 200 and Playback, which had been grayed out, immediately returned to normal! (btw I asked if he had any music background, and he said "I like to do karaoke.")

Yeah, that's the last thing I would have considered, but I'm thrilled to be back to normal, and thanks for all the efforts from you guys.

[motet]

Wow, would never have guessed that. I'm heartened that MM was able to figure it out.

[bj nick]

Yeah, me too! Weird one.....but good to know. In dealing w/my elderly mom's difficult year before she passed, doctor(s) would say things like "We can improve kidney function by doing xyz, but it may negatively impact the heart." All sorts of stuff like that, which taught me how all systems are related. In some way I guess it's somewhat similar w/computers/tech/etc....certainly was in this case.

[blanche]

I'm having the same problem but this time, on a Mac. Not only that, but 2 different Macs!
Student here, we're using Finale for a number of assignments - for all 12 previous assignments, Playback thru the Mac speakers was just fine. On this last assignment (the one with the most points, of course) no playback at all - dead silence. Yet when I open an earlier .musx file, works just fine on both systems.

Configuration:
Mac OS Monterey 12.6.7
MacAir Laptop M1
MacMini 2000 (intel, same version of Finale, slightly older version of MacOS)
System Prefs: Mic & speakers work correctly
Finale 27.3.0.160

Finale settings:
MIDI/Audio -> Play Finale thru Audio Units
-> Human Playback: Standard
Playback Controls -> looks good to me! Click on the arrow (play) and the timer and measures move correctly,
the cursor on both Page View and Sheet View move correctly
Score Manager -> Instrument List is Garritan for all

Anyone have any ideas? What's really baffling is this is happening on both the M1 and the MacMini!

[Peter Thomsen]

Welcome to the forum!

What about
MIDI/Audio menu > Reassign Playback Sounds
?

Have you tried that?

[blanche]

Of course, ..that was the solution! As a newbie, never considered it, never knew what it did.

thanks!

[apnewz]

Nobody has any idea??? Geez........I contacted Finale, they never responded....maybe someone could give me an idea what to do with this?

I had this problem from the day my computer expert husband installed Finale Version 27.4.1.110.He had to delete the program and reinstall it