Aria player

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ebiggs1
Posts: 1424
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:57 am
Finale Version: Finale 27.3
Operating System: Windows

Post by ebiggs1 » Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:39 pm

I have been fooling around with the sound playback in Finale. I was not so interested in it and was OK with just midi. But, some of my buds are getting some pretty darn good sounds from our competitors. So now I have become interested in how Finale sounds. It is way behind in realistis sounds seems to me.

I must say I really don't know much about making real sounds but some have to me one big problem is Finales is now 64-bit and Aria player is still 32-bit?

I just tried Note Performer and its OK but I guess but not sure its worth buying. I have the Garritan Concert and the Marching band sounds. I also have the personal orchestra. Plus the free Garritan that comes with Finale so I have good sounds now just to make this most of it. I really didn't think Note Performaer is that much better sound wise.

Any tips form you experts on getting high quality sound output? You know if you listen to the sample from either Garritan or Note Performer, they sound nice, very good1
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.


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gogreen
Posts: 305
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 12:50 am
Finale Version: Finale 26.3
Operating System: Mac

Post by gogreen » Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:10 pm

Here's a tip. I use COMB2, GPO5, and NotePerformer. In the last few months, I've been using NotePerformer exclusively except for some percussion sounds from GPO5--snare drum, clashed cymbals, suspended cymbal, glockenspiel, and xylophone. I've used COMB2 and GPO5 for years and only recently tried out and bought NotePerformer. I think NotePerformer sounds much better than my Garritan libraries--especially saxophones. I don't use a DAW.

With COMB2 and GPO5, when I created an ensemble, depending on the instrumentation, I often grouped certain instruments in their own Aria instances (banks). For instance, in a concert band score, I'd group instruments this way:

Instance 1: piccolo, flutes, oboe, and bassoon.
Instance 2: Clarinets and bass clarinet.
Instance 3: Saxophones.
Instance 4: Trumpets, F horns.
Instance 5: Trombones, euphonium, tuba.
Instance 6: Mallet percussion.
Instance 7: Other percussion.

Do you build ensembles this way? You're better able to balance instruments this way because you can control the volume of each bank separately. Some GPO5 and COMB2 instruments are either inherently too loud or too soft. I group too-loud and too-soft instruments this way, also to adjust balance.

One caveat--You can't do this in NotePerformer alone because when NotePerformer reassigns Garritan library sounds, it fills each bank completely before moving to the next bank. You can still group Garritan instruments in their own banks and adjust the volume.

Here's another tip. Choose reverb carefully for Aria banks. You don't want both Ambience and Convolution reverbs at the same time, and it's easy to miss which reverb setting buttons are on and which are off. Reverb on top of reverb = mud. I most often used Convolution reverb with the modern symphonic concert hall preset. I always left the bank effects windows blank and used bypass for master effect and bank effects.

Hope this is useful.

Art
Art
Finale 27
NotePerformer, GPO5, COMB2
MacOS Ventura 13.6.4
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BRHBTHT/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=%22Arthur+J.+Michaels%22&qid=1593016536&sr=8-2

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ebiggs1
Posts: 1424
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:57 am
Finale Version: Finale 27.3
Operating System: Windows

Post by ebiggs1 » Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:32 pm

Thanks Art. I have the same Garritan sounds and the Note Performer demo.
I never thought of grouping the similar instruments. I will try that.
Finale 27.4.1 - Perfect Layout Silver - Note Performer 4.4 - SmartScore Pro 64 - Windows 11
President, The Shawnee Concert Band, Composer/Arranger, retired Music Teacher.

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