Early Music instruments in Finale?

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

I play natural trumpet and cornetto.

I discovered if I fool Finale by -

1] using any non transposing treble instrument (Why does somebody at Finale have such a narrow vision and automatically assumes all trumpets are in B flat?) -

2] re-assign a trombone voice to the treble instrument I can approximate the timbre of a natural trumpet.

Sackbut timbre can sometimes be caused by substituting a tuba voice in a trombone part.

A very nice cornetto sound works to an annoyingly limited degree by giving a C treble instrument a trombone voice.

There I run into problems and I'm hoping someone here can help me out. Kontakt seems to think the highest possible sound a trombone can make is the top line treble F, but much period music played by cornett and sackbut ensembles goes to at least the A two steps higher than that F. The result is no sound is made for notes written higher than the top F on the treble staff.

Is it possible fo me to increase the range of the trombone for such music?

An even better question is why does Finale fail to recognize the need for an alto trombone?

And, for me, the best question is:

Does anybody know if any authentic instrument sounds are available for Finale?

[michelp]

An even better question is why does Finale fail to recognize the need for an alto trombone?

And, for me, the best question is:

Does anybody know if any authentic instrument sounds are available for Finale?

Finale can use VST and Audio Units sampled instruments. Vienna Instruments, for instance, offers a wide range of sampled instruments, including the alto trombone, see : http://vsl.co.at/en/211/496/817/860/919.htm.
They can be used with Finale, if your computer CPU is powerful and you have a good amount of Ram. Human Preferences especially developped for Finale are available, so that Finale actually plays dynamics, articulations and several expressions that you enter in the score.

[Warren Barnett]

A trumpet defaults to Bb because most trumpets are Bb, but you can change the key of an instrument it the transposition in the Staff Attributes menu. You will notice that the trumpet is transposed. Just change it to the key that you need.

Warren

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

Thanks again Warren. By now I already discovered what you posted.

It's amazing what you can find if you simply read the instructions...

But, ya' know, some of that stuff is very well hidden and can be difficult to find. Personally I like the built in tutorial videos very much.

I have a new issue to discuss, another can of worms not usually associated with Finale proper. Look for the new post.

[ryananderson08]

Many first trumpets are made with a 2-piece bell (where the instruments bell is soldered onto the body). This dampens vibrations and affects sound and projection. You can also choose a trumpet with a "seamless" bell, where the two pieces are joined without solder and creates a one-piece bell without any seam for continuous, even vibrations in all registers.[/url]

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

The modern instrument I play (Bach Strad C-trumpet) has such a bell, so I am familiar with the terminology.

There are two issues with the timbre of natural trumpets. 1) because the tubing length of a natural trumpet is about twice that of a modern trumpet there are many more audible overtones in the sound it makes; 2) articulation in many cases is less "sharp" or "pointed" than what is normally heard with modern trumpets. Players of modern trumpets refere to this as the "splat" effect. HA! Valves are for sissies!

I discovered a long time ago that by writing natural trumpet parts with a trombone selected as the instrument the sound is practically the same as that made by a natural trumpet. This ought to be a "Do'h" thought because the trombone is about twice the length of a modern trumpet.

Unfortunately, instruments used with Finale have restricted ranges. I think the top note permitted with a trombone is either G or A although most natural trumpet parts often play notes up to a perfect fifth higher. If there is a way to extend the range of a trombone in Finale I could use it to make a near-perfect reproduction of a natural trumpet.

As for the cornetto, I recently did some experimenting with a combination of instruments available in Finale. Writing exactly the same notes in two parts - - Oboe d'Amore and trumpet - - the result is somewhat similar to that made by a single cornetto player. Some tweaking is required to make the balance between the two instruments sound right. The Oboe d'Amore is set considerably higher in volume than the trumpet to make an approximate cornetto sound.

Of course this method is intended purely for the joy of hearing the computer play cornetto! I input a movement from a suite by Samuel Scheidt using this method. The instruments of choice are two cornetti, one sacbutt, harpsichord, and bass viol. Balances need to be carefully controlled in set up but the resulting sound is pleasant. I'm also reminded of the importance of including appropriate ornaments on every second pass through this sort of music. Simply repeating with no ornaments is...boring and not much fun when playing with live players.

I should add I was a founding member of the Columbus Cornett and Sacbutt Ensemble (ca. 1972 - 1987?). The most enjoyable period of our ensemble existance was when our membership included me and another cornetto player in addition to alto, tenor, and bass sacbutts with harpsichord added occasionally. I also play natural trumpet which is included in some music played by such an ensemble.

I hope I have't taken up too much time here.