Can someone recommend a plug-in for additional sounds?

Discuss playback problems, including VST, Garritan, MIDI, etc.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:36 pm

Finale offers only one (partially functional) drum kit and some synthetic-sounding guitar soundfonts, so I am looking for additional sounds. I wanted to try NotePerformer but found that it requires version 27 of Finale or later, and I am using v26.3. Can anybody recommend a soundfont plug-in compatible with Finale?


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miker
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Post by miker » Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:26 pm

Djard,

Why not start by googling soundfonts compatible with Finale?

As I understand it, it’s not so much a plugin, as an additional library.
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Djard
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Post by Djard » Sun Jun 04, 2023 3:05 am

I did try a Google search but found nothing that mentions Finale. A library would be nice. I tried a number of VST drum kit plug-ins; but according to MakeMusic, they can cause freezing. The latter I previously resolved by removing a third party plug-in that worked...until I started to edit a score.

In the meantime, I am using Hydrogen drum synth that allows easy installation of any sound in WAV formart, so I have the rich Linn drum sound. But I prefer to write drum parts in conventional notation.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:05 am

Djard wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:36 pm
Can anybody recommend a soundfont plug-in compatible with Finale?
Hmm. Finale's playback capabilities are largely unchanged in well over a decade, in what is a fast-moving area. Finale still only supports VST2 on Windows, which limits your choice, as many plug-ins are EOL-ing VST2. (E.g. Kontakt 7 is only VST3.)
I'm guessing that these 'freezing' plug-ins work fine in other host apps?

There are Human Playback preferences for Vienna Instruments available to download, but I'm unaware of any others, either user-created or otherwise. So you'd likely have to create the HP prefs yourself for any other library. If you're comfortable with Finale's percussion maps, then that's another hurdle overcome. The MIDI Editor is not easy to use, to say the least, if you're looking to add manual CC data.

Your simplest option for no-fuss better playback is to upgrade to F27 and buy Noteperformer, which will give you intelligent phrasing and a wide range of improved sounds over Finale/Garritan**, without having to spend any time configuring, defining, tweaking, etc, etc.

NP4 also has the option to 'control' other high-end libraries, like Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra, OT's Berlin Orchestral, Opus Hollywood Orchestra, Steinberg's Iconica, etc, which is one way of overcoming the VST barrier and the need to configure them yourself.

However, if you really want to jump in the deep end of producing high-quality audio from notation, using a wide range of sample libraries, then it would be remiss of me not to mention Dorico, which has all the aspects of a DAW, like automation lanes, MIDI piano roll, expression mapping, audio effects, spatial arrangement, etc, etc, on top of its engraving abilities.

MuseScore 4 has also added support for VSTs, and improving those capabilities is firmly on the agenda there.

MM might add VST3 support in an update, just to keep up-to-date, but I'll leave to your judgement whether a major overhaul of the MIDI Editor and playback config is imminent.

** TBH, I actually think that GPO5's Woodwind often sounds better than NP's. The keyboards, too.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:01 pm

Thank you for your kind response and valuable advice.

I suspect that Finale supports only one or two third-party VST plug-ins at a time, since they work for me when I only have one recognized (I move those not currently used into a temp folder).

I am eager to upgrade to the latest version of Finale, so I can get NotePerformer but hesitate; since upgrading from version 2012c to v26.3 created a huge mess that took several weeks for me to correct--I had to convert all my *.MUS files firstly to MusicXML before saving them as *.MUSX files because of all the problems I experienced when converting directly from to MUS to MUSX (many notes, spacing, articulations, expressions and lines were scattered).

Does version 27 support files created in v26.3, not scattering the notation?

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michelp
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Post by michelp » Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:08 pm

You can download the demo of Finale 27 and make some tests...
26 files should be fine, maybe except for some articulation positionings.
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Djard
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Post by Djard » Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:21 am

Thanks for the kind help. I will try out the programs.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:21 am

Going from 26 to 27 should be fine (though there's the question of whether you shift existing projects to the SMuFL fonts or not..); but going from pre-26 to any later version will involve the change in slur/artic positioning, which "may cause contents to settle in transit". :lol:

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:23 am

Thanks. I believe v27 is available as a trial, which is on my to-do list as soon as I finish a mix-down of a current project.

The playback of dynamic markings in v26.3 is inconsistent, which is confirmed by the amplitude of the waveform when exported to my audio editor. Hopefully this major bug is resolved in v27.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Thu Jun 15, 2023 5:07 pm

Djard wrote:
Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:23 am
The playback of dynamic markings in v26.3 is inconsistent
Is that not just Human Playback variation?

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Sat Jun 17, 2023 1:35 am

If the wild variation in volume is part of HP then the software developer resonsible must have been smoking too much weed: in some of my scores, I had to enter a hidden "ppp" as the playback volume suddenly played at ffff. Other times, entering pianissimo has no effect.

I export instruments individually then correct them in an audio editor, wherein the waveforms can be modified properly. Then, after adding some compression, I mix down the 24 or so tracks to stereo.

Sometimes the dynamic markings that are not honored in Finale playback are honored when exported. The engineering is lamentable.

Bill Reed
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Post by Bill Reed » Sat Jun 17, 2023 1:20 pm

Just turn HP off to compare. Then you'll see if that's the source of the issue
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