Finale Forum

Okay, so I've been reading up on Garritan sounds....solo vs. player, etc. I've just been using the generic flute sound, but I switched it to "solo." The tone is really nice but I get all these weird "pops" constantly......hard to describe, but hopefully you veterans recognize what I'm referring to......is there an adjustment I have to do to make the solo flute work properly?

Not familiar with that. Do you have a sample which demonstrates the pop?

Zuill

I just tested your Pavane file from the other topic. I changed Flute to Flute Solo and it does pop a lot. My suggestion is to avoid using it.

Zuill

LOL I would agree: "avoid using it." But I can tell that without the pops or whatever, it would be a nice sound. Oh well.

Are they occurring between notes changes, or on long notes (i.e. when the sample repeats)? I can't repeat it here using the GIFF Flute Solo instrument -- either in your Pavanne or just noodling in ARIA Player.

However, there are flaws in many of the Garritan instrument definitions. They can be edited, as they are text files, but you need to know what you're looking for.

They are constant, happening on every note. It's a weird sound. You don't get them when you use solo flute? Must be something in my settings, as the other sounds sound fine.

The pops could be a characteristic of the sample rate in Finale not being synced with the sample rate of your hardware. I don't know how to advise you about your particular hardware, but you should be able to find the sample rate in your computer's sound settings.

In Finale, go to MIDI/Audio>Device Setup>Audio Setup... and check the sample rate, near the bottom, is the same as your hardware setting, normally 44,100 or 48,000.

On Finale it says "48000, controlled by Windows." On Windows it says "24 bit 48000 hz." So, a match, right?

I confess my PC is a little old. Built for me with Windows 7 a few years ago, recently updated to Windows 10, but I know the chip is older:

(Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz, 3059 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s))

.....so it's not going to have the same power/capability, I would imagine, and this may be one of the things I'm going to have to accept for now until I upgrade to a new system. At some point I'll want to get state-of-the-art sampled sounds, but I know this PC won't cut it for that. Note: I have 12G of RAM.

For me, Finale needs 44,100 for all it's features to work properly. I need to use imported audio files for doing takedowns. Finale needs 44,100 for that (I import mp3s and most of them are saved at 44,100). So, you might want to try setting Windows to 44,100 and see if you get any change.

Having said that, I have Windows set to 44,100 and I get a bit of the popping myself, so I'm not sure that is the solution. However, I think you might try it and see if there is at least a reduction.

Zuill

There's no option for 41,000......many other choices, but not that.

Oops. 44,100. I fixed my previous post. Sorry.

Zuill

Okay, I changed it....I'll try it at some point. But.....the "solo" issue has led to another issue (wondering if this should be a separate post, but I think it fits here.) I work on different pieces, all the same format/instrumentation (individual short pieces as part of a "variations" work), and often when I open a file, the playback is silent.....I realize once again that I have to go into score manager and RE-SET the Garritan sounds. This is/was a known issue I've seen talked about, where you have to go in and change each instrument setting to something else for a second, then switch it back to "Garritan instruments for Finale." It was a minor annoyance when it was just piano and flute, but now with six instruments, it's a chore. Plus....after I tried the "solo" sounds for a few instruments, now it keeps defaulting right back to those every time....so I have to switch several instruments back to, say, "violin player 1," in addition to re-setting up GIFF......ugh......is there no way I can establish the default set up I need so I don't have to keep doing this?

I'm not sure what the cause is in your case, but the Aria Player does allow saving setups for future use, so you can just reload the file and all the sounds you saved will be right back where they were. This doesn't fix the original issue, but simplifies the reloading process.

Zuill

Sorry to be dense, but can you tell me exactly how to do this?

I believe each bank needs to be done individually. At the top of the bank, find the word Ensemble. There is a minus sign ( - ) in the lower left corner of that slot. The menu pops up. Choose Save to save the sounds in the bank. Later, you would choose load to bring that set back.

Zuill

Thank you for this, but when I go to bank in score manager, I see no option for ensemble.

In the Aria Player.

Zuill

Okay I went to Aria, and I entered in each instrument and saved the configuration. How do I import that into my documents for the future? Also, maybe you know this as well. I read up on all this and my understanding is that to get a pizzicato you have to have a KS string part which means a soloist. But I was also warned in another section not to choose solo instruments as they will not phase properly. However in this ensemble there's only one violin in one cello and one double bass, so I re-entered them as solo instruments. Am I thinking right on this?

To load the set back in, press the same minus ( - ) and choose Load.

My suggestion about not using the Flute Solo was that you didn't like the popping sound. If another solo instrument sounds fine, then use it.

Zuill