Laptop speakers vs. headphones

[bopeuph]

In just about every other program on my laptop, including DAWs, once I plug headphones into the laptop, it automatically switches over. I'm pretty sure that's been a thing with Finale 2014, as well.

With 27, if it's open when I plug in my headphones, Finale doesn't switch over automatically, forcing me to do a manual change in the audio setup menu. If I don't, the program still plays through the speakers. Also, if I were to unplug the headphones with Finale opened, the audio engine crashes. It's very much like if I were to plug/unplug an audio interface, but I've never seen this behavior before when simply plugging/unplugging headphones into my laptop.

Has anyone else seen this issue before?

[David Ward]

Something near enough the same happens to me with F 26.3 and Bluetooth headphones. Finale doesn't recognize them until I make the audio setup change, and when I turn them off I get messages about failure of the audio engine and a request to relaunch Finale. However, if I just ignore the messages Finale is working fine and is playing through my MacBook speakers.

[motet]

On my setup with Finale 2014.5, it works as expected--plug in headphones, even in the middle of playback, and it switches to headphones. Nowhere in Finale's settings do I see headphones mentioned or an indication that Finale knows what it's being played through, so I think this is a function of your sound card, external to Finale. You might investigate that.

If you're using the Aria player, which i don't, I guess it could be that. In terms of the crash when unplugging headphones (doesn't happen on my system), what do you mean by the audio engine?

[bopeuph]

Yeah, it likely has to do with this Dell...When I got it, it couldn't handle sound with more than one program at a time, which was useless to me because I typically work with a DAW and Finale at the same time. Dell tried to charge me because "audio issues aren't covered under warranty," which all it's done is made me realize this is the last Dell I'll ever buy. And the Microsoft store did a warranty fix for me even though I bought it from Costco.

That being said, I don't have this issue in 2014. It's solely a 27 issue, so it's using the audio drivers differently than 2014 did.

[motet]

Does it happen with both Play Finale through MIDI and Play Finale through VST?

[bopeuph]

Turns out, as a matter of fact, the MIDI isn't working at all, period. The play bar is moving across like it's playing, but I guess the MS Wavetable isn't getting the information.

[motet]

Same thing happens for me. It's been that way a long time, back to 2014.5. But with VST, you can use the Garritan instruments or the SoftSynth instruments. I've never quite understood it.

Plugging in the headphones turns off the speakers for me, though there's a several-second delay for that to happen after plugging in the jack.

What does your Audio Setup screen look like?

[bopeuph]

The only difference is I don't have ASIO option (which I can't imagine wouldn't be supported on this laptop, but it is kinda obsolete now), and DirectSound and WASAPI as options, but DirectSound is what it's currently set up as. I should experiment with WASAPI.

As for the VST, I believe it's because Finale SoftSynths are now a VST option. I've noticed MIDI doesn't follow Expression commands, and while I think MIDI uses the same SoftSynths, they are more expressive in the VST setting. At least, that's how I've understood it.

Since getting this version, its currently set to default for SoftSynth with these charts, though maybe it's because that's how these files were set in 2014. I don't really need a lot of playback functionality past making sure I didn't write in a wrong note, so working on playback takes a backseat in my work.