Finale Forum

I believe I posted this question before and got a good answer, but I lost the link. Sigh! Is there a plugin that serves as an alternate sound to Finale's Fusion Drum kit?

I tried Jun's LM-1 plug-in but could only play beats when clicking on the buttons in the GUI. I need the written notes to play the track.

Here is the link again:
http://www.finaleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15801

Jun's LM1 works fine in Finale -> see example file in the link above.

I guess that you're looking for free... I don't know this one as I have a few drum VIs but a friend suggested it.

https://www.meldaproduction.com/MDrummer%20Small

I have other Melda libraries and they're pretty good.

Are you folks sure that Jun's LM-1 (Linn VST Drum kit) works in Finale? Below are the steps I used, which come up short.

1. Close Finale -> install or copy & paste the VST plug-in file (e.g. "JM-1.dll") to the following folder...

C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 2012)\VST Support

2. Create a document for drums.
3. MIDI/Audio (upper text menu) -> VST Banks & Effects -> from "Bank 1" drop-down menu, select "JM-1 - SynthEdit" -> Close.

At this point, by clicking on the adjacent pencil icon, I am able to play the different Linn drums in Finale's VST Viewer by clicking on the buttons in Jun's GUI.

4. Write a drum part -> click on playback to audit your work.

The result is that even though the Linn GUI lets you play its great sounding drums in VST Viewer, Finale refuses to use those sounds for playback of any written notation. Instead, it uses the soundfonts from its Fusion drum kit, which is the only drum sound offered in Finale 2012c.

If I am overlooking something, so too is MakeMusic; for I followed their instruction that miss a step (you must write a create drum line before step 4, otherwise step 5 is not possible).

1. Close Finale.
2. Copy your VST Plug-in's .dll* file to the following folder...
Windows Vista/7/8/10: C:\Users\[your user account name]\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 2014.5 (or 2014 or 2012)\VST Support
3. Open Finale.
4. Click MIDI/Audio > VST Banks & Effects.
5. Select your VST Plug-in from the first Bank (Channels 1-16) in the VST Instrument column.

I have attached a drum line sample. I'm not able to upload the free "JM-1.dll" file, but it is available at the following site. You can run the installer and direct it to paste the DLL into Finale's "VST Support" folder (see path above). The plug-in is accompanied by an uninstall file, named "epuninst.exe" (65 KB).

https://web.archive.org/web/20050330052 ... jects/VST/

In your example file you also need to switch to "VST Playback": it is currently set to MIDI playback. Check "MIDI/Audio->Play Finale through VST".
When I changed that it, your file worked. Attention: when you change it, make sure the score manager settings are still correct (Finale sometimes updates them). So make sure that the staff is still set to "JM-1" and uses bank 1/channel1.

Should it still not work, please have a look at my example file ( https://elbsound.studio/download.php?f=junnsample.mus ).

Jan

ElbSound,

Thank you. That kind of worked. I could not find "JM-1 - SynthEdit" as a selection in the "Device" column of Score Manager. But it it appears as "Electronic Drum Kit" in the "Sound" column, though the playback in my installation is a little too reverberated and not nearly as crisp or beefy as yours.

How did you manage to get "JM-1 - SynthEdit" to appear as a "Device" selection in Score Manager?

You have "Blank Staff" as the instrument in Score Manager, and your playback sound perfect. When I copy your settings--identically--I cannot enter drum style notation and get no sound at all in playback for regular notation. If I select Drum Set as the instrument, playback is the Fusion kit, regardless if JM-1 is selected. So what else did you do to make the plugin work...pleeeeeease share? Below are my updated steps, including the file (attached):

1. Close Finale -> install the VST Plug-in *.dll to the following folder...

C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 2012)\VST Support

2. File -> New-> Document with Setup Wizard -> Next -> select "Blank Staff" -> Add -> Next.
3. Enter title, etc. -> Next -> select time signature, etc. -> Finish.
4. MIDI/Audio (upper text menu) -> make sure "Play Finale Through VST" is selected.
5. MIDI/Audio -> VST Banks & Effects -> from "Bank 1 (1-16)" drop-down menu, select "JM-1 - SynthEdit.
6. Close -> Window (upper text menu) -> Score Manager -> Instrument List tab. You should now have the following...

INSTRUMENT... NAME.......DEVICE...............SOUND
Blank Staff...... [Staff 1]... JM-1 - SynthEdit... Edit Player

7. Close "Score Manager" -> MIDI/Audio -> VST Banks & Effects -> make sure Finale did not alter your settings above -> Close.
8. Window -> Score Manager -> Instrument Tab -> make sure Finale did not alter your settings above, which include Bank 1, Ch 1 -> exit Score Manager.
9. MIDI/Audio -> make sure "Play Finale through VST" is still checked.
10. MIDI/Audio -> VST Banks & Effects -> make sure "JM-1 - SynthEdit" is still selected in Bank 1 -> Close.
11. Now write drum part that will use the emulated Linn Drum sound.

The settings in my document appear identical to yours; but playback in mine fails.

I can simply select it in the Score Manager. Does it have to do with Fin2012? I don't know. I am using Fin2014/Windows.
It doesn't have to do with the instrument name ("Blank Staff").
This is how it looks here (in any Finale document): (Make sure the bank/channel setting matches your VST setup in MIDI/Audio->VST Banks&Effects.
You also need to set the staff to percussion notation and select a percussion MIDI map. This is missing in the image above, but correct in the example file).

That did it! Yay! I had everything correct except "Percussion" as the Notation Style, which was set to Standard.

Thank you for your patience and valuable help.

Finale's Mixer does not control the playback of any of the plug-ins I use, and I can live with that as I can mix down volume and pan in my DAW. But I would like Finale to recognize crescendos and diminuendos. Is there a way to get playback of dynamic hairpins when using a plug-in, like Jun's Linn Drum kit?

I haven't checked it on Finale but I'd prefer MT Drummer Power Kit for a heavy drum sound. If you want to expand your pool of options and cover various drum styles this list of some 20 free Drum VSTs may come in handy: https://techraver.com/free-drum-vst-plugins/

To be honest, some of those plugins are pretty decent while others are just meh. Each to their own, I guess. Hope it helps.

Thank you kindly. I look forward to trying them out. Hopefully one of them will let me incorporate dynamics in Finale.