Post by David Gaines on Jun 2, 2015 14:02:07 GMT -5
Here are the basic go-to resources (besides this forum, of course) with which everyone, especially beginners, should be familiar while doing battle with the seemingly inevitable headaches that go along with trying to get VSL and Finale to play nice with each other. :-)
1. The support at VSL's website by Andi Olszewski for notation programs is quite good. I strongly recommend that all VSL users register there for a free account and take advantage of the notation programs section of their community forum. Browsing through Andi's many responses to the various questions people have posted regarding usage of VSL inside Finale - particularly regarding Human Playback - will answer a lot of basic questions.
2. Andi and VSL have created Human Playback Preferences files for the VSL Special Edition collection that make more-or-less accurate Human Playback possible (if you use Finale 2012 and aren't already aware of this issue, Export To Audio will not work if you're using VSL instruments in Finale 2012 - it does work with 2011 & earlier as well as 2014).
There are different files for Finale 2008, Finale 2009-2012, and Finale 2014. IMPORTANT: these preferences files are effective for the Standard articulations only - per Andi, they will not work with the Extended (or "plus") articulations OR with individual download instruments OR with any of the VSL collections besides the Special Edition volumes:
Finale 2008: Human Playback Preferences for Special Edition Vol 1–4
Finale 2009 – 2012: Human Playback Preferences for Special Edition Vol 1–4
Finale 2014: Human Playback Preferences for Special Edition Vol 1–4
You'll have to create your own customized Human Playback preference file for your downloaded instruments or for non-SE collections. This is most easily done by loading the "official" HP preference file listed above for your version of Finale, then editing it from within the Human Playback dialog box to add your other non-SE instruments. I can help you with this, as can a number of other experienced Finale/VSL users here. It's not difficult, just tedious.
3. Andi also created a comprehensive keyswitch dump library file (for Finale 2009-2014) which consists of score expressions for every keyswitch used in VSL. This is how you can trigger keyswitches (to change VSL articulations) from right inside your score without using Human Playback. IMPORTANT: you can use these in combination with Human Playback when using the Special Edition standard articulations, but they're the ONLY way to trigger articulation changes with VSL individually downloaded instruments or with their other collections besides SE.
4. Finally, if you want to use SE's non-pitched percussion instruments inside Finale, Andi also created a percussion map for Finale 2010-2014.
For help using any of these files, or for any kind of help getting VSL products to work properly within Finale, I recommend posting at the VSL community forum and duplicating your post both here and at the MakeMusic Finale support forum (which I'm assuming is already a familiar resource to anyone who's registered here with the users group).
DG