Viola solo playback not in tune

[Jay Emmes]

I'm pretty sure I have read something similar on here, but I can't find it. So forgive me for possibly doubling an already presented problem.

I've been working on a file for a few weeks now and until today there was no problem with playback whatsoever. All of a sudden to day the viola plays back a few cents below tune. Not just new entries, but from measure 1 on.
I have reloaded the instrument (GIfF), closed and opened the document, quit and reopened the application, changed human playback style, cleared MIDI data, even rebooted the computer, but all to no avail.
Additionally, when I change the instrument to something completely different, that new instrument is out of tune as well. So there is something wrong on that particular stave. But what and how to fix it?

Does anyone have an idea what I can do besides deleting a few weeks of work and start from scratch? Every suggestion is most welcome, so thanks in advance!

[heinzfan]

Have you tried erasing the midi data from that staff? If that doesn't work, from an analytical standpoint, I would try adding a staff, entering some of the same notes and assigning the same instrument. Does that then replicate the problem or does it play correctly? If it plays correctly I would copy/paste the rest of the notation to the new staff. If that is out of tune then I would resort to reentering the viola notation on a new staff, assuming there's some quirk in the original one. Other forum members may have better suggestions or an answer.

[Jay Emmes]

Erasing MIDI data had no effect whatsoever. So I finally did create a new stave for the viola and manually entered all notes. I hesitated to copy and paste, because I might copy the problem along. The new stave behaves as it should, so I deleted the old one and so far everything is back to normal.

I just keep wondering how it could happen after entering about a hundred measures for an entire orchestra, only on one stave and from measure one on without having any problem with those hundred measures before. Reloading the instrument, reassigning a new instrument, nothing had any effect. The problem obviously was in the stave, not the assigned set of samples. Once the stave was deleted, the problem was gone.

Thanks for your help!

[motet]

What a bizarre problem! I can't imagine what would make something a few cents flat except a MIDI pitch bend command, and it sounds like you eliminated that as a possibility.

[Jay Emmes]

I could imagine a MIDI pitch bend on the note I inserted at the moment this problem arose. Suppose I touched that wheel accidentally when inserting notes. Not sure how that could have happened, but suppose. But how could that affect the entire stave from measure one on? I was almost one hundred measures into the score and everything was fine, but from that moment on everything on that stave already written was out of tune as well.

Clearing MIDID data had no effect, though, quite frankly, I have never noticed that command having any effect whatsoever. I reloaded the instrument, no effect. I changed to a different instrument, no effect. I could have changed channel and see if that did anything, but at the time I didn't think of that. Only thing left to do —that I could think of— was to delete that particular stave, add a new one and reenter note for note. As said, I didn't dare to copy and paste, afraid that I would copy the problem as well.

Enfin, that did solve the problem (though did not answer why it became a problem in the first place) and I'm glad it were only a hundred measures in.

Thanks for all interest and help. This forum remains indispensable for Finale users.

[oldmkvi]

I haven't had a single Inst go out of tune,
but I've had number of Finale Files go crazily, bizarrely out of tune altogether.
Time was the Gliss Smart Shape would set it off.
Sometimes just one more entry, and it goes wild.
Closing and restarting Finale fixed it, but was annoying
and wasted time.
It happened to a a Harp Ens I was arranging,
sounded like a Dali Painting, shoulda kept it!

[Djard]

I often experience the problem you describe but only in edited tracks (Finale loathes editing). Choosing another HP style has never fixed such an issue for me. Clearing the MIDI Data from start to end sometimes resolves the problem as does assigning the instrument to a new bank. What always works is changing the instrument, which is not really a solution. Another thing you might try is choosing a Custom HP style and uncheck one item at a time, until the culprit is found. The latter worked for me in more than one instance.