Finale Forum

The full version of GPO has considerably more choice in instruments, as well as actually differentiating between 1st and 2nd violin.

There is a bartok pizz in the Garritan Personal Orchestra library. The library is quite inexpensive and easy to use compared to the alternatives. In the GPO library, you would have to look in GPO 5 instruments, then in Garritan Orchestral Strings, then Section Strings, then Basses, and then Basses A...

you would have to buy a sound library that contains the specific sound you require.

I'm not sure, but in the Garritan that comes with Finale there might be a bartok pizz in one of the additional string directories. you'd have to search through them from the Aria player.

you will only get a bartok pizz if there is one in the sound library.

as far as I know there isn't one in Garritan Instruments for Finale. They MAY have added one since.

A lot of the staccato articulations are set to 'Auto note/Stem side' - which isn't what I would have expected for a staccato articulation. Dave. this is the default setting, and the one that generally gives correct placement of articulations. it places articulations on the note side when only 1 lay...

Score volume indications (ie: p, mp, mf, f, etc...) are not "useless". They function perfectly if you have HumanPlayback definitions for whatever VSTi you are using. In the Score Manager, you set the "overall volume" for the instruments (for example, if the clarinets sound too loudly at the same dyn...

Finale doesn't respond to anything other than sending a MIDI message that activates some feature or other in whatever sound library (VST) you are using. If you have a library that recognizes both unison and solo playing in the same patch, then having Finale send the right MIDI message will activate ...

version 25 completely stopped the random crashes I was having.
My machine works MUCH better with it in 64 bit mode.

So what doesn't work for one works for another.

Make sure that the instrument volumes are set at realistic relative volumes (ie: you don't want your clarinets sounding louder than your trombones) Try various solo instruments, sometimes the default instrument loaded by Finale isn't necessarily the best choice. Make use of the reverb options availa...

you can also simply choose reverbs that aren't as strong. there are quite a few options.

I ONLY use Speedy Entry with a MIDI keyboard.
So how's Dorico with that?
From the videos I watched it looked really menu-intensive.

Thank-you for all the thoughtful replies. I am suspecting that the "Elgar" approach would probably be best.. I hadn't thought when I posted my question, but there will be extensive divisi in the orchestra parts. keeping the solo quartet separate on the page will probably make things easier. again, t...

I'm wondering how to approach the layout for a work I've been commissioned to write. It's a concerto for string quartet and string orchestra. My first reaction would be to have the quartet as one unit, above the string section. But then I'm thinking that the members of the string quartet are also th...

Thank-you Zuill, I hadn't thought of that (I never work with music that has verses/choruses).

In notating a choral / vocal piece from pencil and paper, the arranger has asked for a split measure. Thanks and Cheers to all. It's a perfectly valid (and interesting question) as this does pop up. However, I have a question: the original arrangement is pencil and paper. The split measure would be...

so this would be a correct way of notating this?

But perhaps I misunderstand you: What, exactly, do you mean by your words “this sort of instance”? - slurred grace notes? - 3 beams on beamed grace notes? - slash on grace notes? Please explain. I mean a couple of grace notes, followed by a long stretch of notes also slurred, as per my example. her...

thank-you Motet.
I suspected that I had to slur the grace notes TO the 1st "real" note.

And yes, 3 beams is a bit too much "black" on the page at that spot.
Gould doesn't seem to cover this sort of instance of grace notes (unless it's in a chapter I haven't looked at yet).

thank-you David. N.B. I specifically left out the slur on the grace notes in my image, since i wasn't sure whether they should share the 32nd notes' slur, or have their own slur, or if the grace note slur should cover the two grace notes only, or encompass the grace notes AND the first 32nd note (ie...

what would be the best way to handle this tiny little grace note? should I change the beams to the smallest value possible? slash the grace notes? should the slur be one tiny slur for the grace notes, and then the one long slur for the subsequent notes? or should the grace notes be included in the l...

this is because you have the wrong paper size assigned to the file.

if you have too many staves on a page, they will not print, since they are outside the printing area of whatever size paper you've assigned.

is it really worth it?
some of the demos sound OK, some weren't too convincing.
I didn't hear any of the solo strings in the demos (I don't know if there were any).

One important question (technically, two questions, sue me): is this a purchased and paid for copy of Finale?
or is it the "demo" version?

Thanks Zuill, but why should we have to go to all of that trouble just to save our music? I save at least every three minutes when I'm writing, and I sure as heck don't need to go hunting, switching, creating folders.....whatever, just to save my work. My point here is that there is no telephone su...

are you using a violin that has keyswitches for pizzicato?