Playback

Finale can play your score in one of three ways: as recorded during a Hyperscribe or Transcription Mode session, using Finale’s built-in Human Playback technology, or literally based soley on the notes, rhythms, and dynamics exactly as they appear in the score - and any MIDI data added deliberately with the MIDI or Expression Tool.

When you record music using Transcription Mode, HyperScribe, or when you import a MIDI sequencer file, Finale captures the expressive data including key velocity data (how hard you struck the keys), MIDI continuous data information (the pitch wheel, and other controllers and wheels), and tempo fluctuations. If you “capture” this data before transcribing the performance into notated form, Finale will retain it even after the performance has been turned into notation, and can play it back—nuance for nuance—at any time. However, if a score was not recorded from a live performance, you can still listen to Finale’s interpretation which was designed to replicate a live human performance. This feature is called “Human Playback.”

Human Playback, which applies to playback by default, generates a MIDI performance far more sophisticated than a straight MIDI performance. This method of playback is designed to read the MIDI data from a score, interpret additional markings, and replicate a human performance during playback. Finale intelligently interprets markings such as tempo indications (i.e. “accel.” or “rall.”), hairpins, tremolo markings, harmonics, and more. You may notice other subtle changes as well, like a slight ritardando at the end of a piece, or an increased volume applied to a solo staff. Since an accurate performance of notated music heavily depends on the style, Finale offers several style choices, including Romantic, Classical and Jazz, to more accurately interpret the score. See Playback Controls.

IMPORTANT! To playback a piece using recorded MIDI data, or if you want to include any adjustments to playback added with the MIDI Tool or Expression Tool, first set Human Playback to None. Human playback overrides all other MIDI information. See To specify playback parameters. The Human Playback Preferences dialog box allows you to have HP on, but select what types of data you want HP to ignore or incorporate. You can also enable or disable human playback by region by adding expressions defined for Human Playback On and Human Playback Off in the playback tab of the Expression Designer dialog box .

When Finale plays back without Human Playback enabled, it responds to any custom musical markings you’ve placed in the score, such as staccato or accent marks, dynamics, and MIDI patch and channel indications. Human Playback interprets default markings automatically, so no further intervention is needed. For details on creating your own playback-intelligent symbols, see Articulations, Expressions.

If you plan to transcribe your real-time performances or use Finale as a notation-based “sequencer,” then it’s important to understand the distinction between a playback of the score and a playback using the captured MIDI data. A number of Finale functions apply to one or the other kind of playback only; the MIDI Tool is a good example. Many of its options are specifically intended for the editing of the captured MIDI data, just as you would edit the raw MIDI data of a performance in a sequencing program.

Finally, remember that the notated score and the captured MIDI data aren’t completely independent. Suppose you transcribe a performance with the Transcription Mode and capture the MIDI data. When you play the piece using the captured MIDI data (with Human Playback set to None), you’ll hear it played with your original “feel”—volume, tempo, pedaling, and so on. Yet you can edit the transcription by changing notes, transposing, adding dynamics or other playback expressions—and you’ll hear the edited music play back with the captured MIDI data still intact.

For instructions on capturing performance data, see Transcribing a sequence and To import a MIDI file.

To play back a score

1. With the Playback Controls closed, while pressing the Space bar, click the measure at which you want to begin playback. See the table below for various options in starting playback.It doesn’t matter which tool is currently selected. The behavior of the playback is governed by the settings in the Playback/Record Options dialog box (see “To specify playback parameters” below).

2. Click on the screen to stop the playback. Finale may take a moment to respond.

Note: If you notice Finale missing notes or instruments during playback, Garritan Personal Orchestra may be exhausting your computer’s resources. You can disable GPO at any time by unchecking Play Finale through Audio Units under the MIDI/Audio Menu. To use Finale’s internal SmartMusic SoftSynth, from the MIDI/Audio Menu, choose Device Setup > MIDI/Internal Speaker Playback, and then choose SmartMusic SoftSynth Playback from the Playback To popup menu.

To use Playback Controls

Playback Controls reside on a movable window. They give you several additional controls over the way your score plays back—for example, they contain Play, Stop, Rewind, and Fast Forward buttons. They also let you listen to any portion of the score, even if you’re viewing a different section on the screen.

1.   From the Window Menu, choose Playback Controls. Playback Controls appears.

2. Adjust the Measure control, if necessary. This text box shows the first measure to be played. To change this number, either type in a new one, click the up or down arrows, or click one of the large buttons on Playback Controls. The button (Rewind to Beginning) enters 1 in the Measure text box. The and buttons quickly decrease or increase the number in the Measure text box, and the button (Fast Forward to End) puts the last measure’s number in the text box.
3. Click Play (or press the space bar). The music plays. To Stop, click Stop; to pause, press the space bar again (or click Pause); when you’re ready to go on, click Continue—or press the Space bar once more.

If, while you’re listening, you catch something you’d like to hear again, click the button for a few seconds; Finale will suspend playback, the Measure text box number will decrease (as the program “rewinds”). Release the button, and playback will begin again (with the number in the Measure text box). Similarly, you can click the , (Rewind to Beginning), and  (Forward to End) buttons at any time during playback.

4. For additional playback options, click the expand arrow. Playback Controls expands.

Using Play From and Play Through, specify what range of measures you want Finale to play; the default settings tell Finale to play from Measure 1 displayed on the screen through the end of the piece. By changing these numbers, you can even tell Finale to play measures that aren’t on the screen. Or, by entering a small range and repeatedly clicking the Play button, you could, in effect, “loop” through a certain segment.

The Tempo control sets the playback tempo unless you’ve created tempo changes by recording them, by placing Expression marks, or by using the Tempo Tool. The Base Key Velocity, on a scale from 0 (silent) to 127 (very loud), establishes the overall key velocity setting, from which all dynamics are measured. In other words, you can make the piece generally softer by decreasing this number, but individual dynamics within the piece will still have an effect.

For a discussion of Playback Controls, see Playback Controls. To make real-time adjustments to volume, panning, and other playback attributes, see To use real-time mixer controls (below). 

To use real-time mixer controls

Volume, panning, the instrument sound, and other playback attributes can be adjusted as you listen to Finale’s performance using Finale’s mixer controls. Mixer controls are available in three places; the Mixer window, the Staff Controls (in Studio View), and the Instrument List. Adjustments made to any of these controls applies to them all. All mixer changes are supplemental to all playback data currently specified in the score (HP, MIDI Tool data, etc.). For example, an increase in volume applied with the mixer does not affect the contour of volume within the score, only the master or staff volume as a conventional mixer would affect the master volume or volume of individual tracks.

1. From the Window Menu, choose Mixer. The Mixer controls appear including master and staff controls. You can also view the set of staff controls, called the Staff Controls, to the left of your score in Studio View. To do so, from the View Menu, choose Studio View. The same controls (with the added capability of individual control for layers and chord symbols) are also available in the Instrument List Window (Window Menu > Instrument List). 
2. Start playback using any of the methods described under To use Playback Controls. Mixer controls apply to playback regardless of the measure or type of playback you initiate.
3. Click and drag the sliders or wheels to customize output. See Mixer for an illustration of the controls. Note that the configuration of the mixer controls is saved when you save the Finale document. Also, changes to a control for one staff apply to all staves set to the same channel. If you want to assign a staff a unique channel you can do so by defining a “New Instrument” in the Instrument List. (To do so, in the Instrument List choose View by Instruments and click New Instrument. Choose the same instrument sound (patch) for your new instrument and assign it a different channel).

To play back selected staves

1. From the Window Menu, choose Instrument List. The Instrument List appears.
2. Click the Mute button for each staff you want to silence, or click the Solo button to silence all other staves). In other words, if your score has 40 staves, and you just want to hear the piano part, it’s much quicker to click Solo for the two piano staves than to mute the other 38 staves. But if you want to hear everything but the piano, click in the Play button for the piano staves. If both Mute and Solo are selected for the same staff, Mute overrides Solo.

To send an All Notes Off message

On rare occasions, you may encounter a situation called MIDI lock, in which your synthesizer is “stuck” on a certain note or chord.

From the MIDI/Audio Menu, choose All Notes Off. Finale sends an “all notes off” message to every note of every channel. You should find that, after a moment, the situation is corrected.

To correct erratic MIDI playback

If your score has many chords, consider using the MIDI Tool’s Randomize command to offset the notes’ attacks (Start Times) slightly from each other—not enough to hear, but enough so that your MIDI system doesn’t have to handle many notes being struck precisely together. See MIDI Tool Menu.

If you notice Finale missing notes or instruments during playback, Garritan Personal Orchestra may be exhausting your computer’s resources. You can disable GPO at any time by unchecking Play Finale through Audio Units under the MIDI/Audio Menu. To use Finale’s internal SmartMusic SoftSynth, from the MIDI/Audio Menu, choose Device Setup > Internal Speaker Playback, and then SmartMusic SoftSynth Playback from the Playback To popup menu.

To specify playback parameters

To adjust Finale’s playback interpretation of a score, you can adjust the Human Playback settings located in the Playback Controls. Human Playback overrides all performance data, MIDI Tool data, and other playback information deliberately added to the score (with the exception of MIDI data set to “Incorporate” in the Human Playback Preferences dialog box). Therefore, if you would like to listen to a performance as it was recorded, or if you would like to playback performance details added to the score with the MIDI or Expression Tool, set Human Playback to None. To do this:

1. From the Window Menu, choose Playback Controls. Playback Controls appears.
2. Click the expand arrow. The Playback Controls expand, offering additional controls.
3. Click the popup menu for Human Playback Style and choose None.
4. Close out to the Playback Controls. When you play back your score with Human Playback disabled, Finale checks the Playback/Record Options to find out certain playback parameters, as described here.
5. From the Document Menu, choose Playback/Record Options. The Playback/Record Options dialog box appears.
6. Select the playback parameters you prefer from the Playback/Record Options dialog box. Choose Chase from Measure 1(from the Dynamics and Markings popup menu) if you want Finale to quickly scan your piece and “chase” any expression markings that occurred earlier in the piece up to the point you clicked. These might include tempo, dynamics, patch changes, and so on; select this option if you’re starting playback in the middle of the piece and want these playback variables to be current (and transmitted to your synthesizer) as of the starting point you clicked. If you choose Reset instead, Finale will ignore any changes that have occurred prior to this point in the score, and will begin playing based on the markings available in the measure you clicked. Choose Use Current Settings if you’ve interrupted playback at a certain spot, and now want to continue using the expression settings in effect when you stopped playback. Click Ignore Repeats if you want Finale to play through repeat barlines (and text repeats) as though they didn’t exist. Select Reset Repeats if you want such repeats to be “set to zero” each time you begin playback again. If you don’t specify Reset Repeats, Finale will remember how many times each repeat has been “activated.” If you’re proofreading a score by playing one section at a time, you will want Finale to “remember its place” each time you stop, so you probably won’t want to select this option. Next, specify any captured MIDI data you want to incorporate into the playback. Captured MIDI data is captured from a real-time performance in the Transcription Mode, created with the MIDI Tool, or imported in a standard MIDI file from another sequencer. Select Play Recorded Key Velocities and Play Recorded Note Durations if you want the playback to incorporate the key velocity (volume) information and Start and Stop Time data (tiny anticipations or delays of the beat such as rolled chords and swing) from the original performance. Select Play Recorded Continuous Data if you want the playback to use the pedaling, pitch wheel, and other MIDI continuous datainformation from the original performance. Click Send Patches Before Play from the Instrument List windowif you want Finale to send initial patch settings to your synthesizers before beginning the playback. The initial patch settings are determined by the Instrument List (see Patches).
7. Click OK (or press return).

To make the music scroll during playback

If you want, you can tell Finale to scroll the music, so you can follow the score as you’re listening to the playback.

1. From the Window Menu, choose Playback Controls. Playback Controls appears.
2. Click the expand arrow. The Playback Controls expand, offering additional controls.
3. Check Scrolling playback. You may now play the music in the normal way.

To “audio spot-check” music

No particular tool has to be selected.

• While pressing option and the Space bar, drag the cursor across your score. As the cursor strikes each note, you hear it played on your MIDI keyboard. You can drag in any direction, and at any speed, and from one staff to another. You might use this trick for checking chord voicings, scanning small sections for wrong notes, or just for fun.