First thing to check is to be sure that in the Instrument List you
have set the channel for your percussion staff to be channel 10,
which
is the GM percussion channel. If you haven't done that, setting it
properly may be all you need. If you HAVE done that and are getting
the wrong sounds for your percussion staff, but are getting
percussion
sounds, then you have more work to do.
You should experiment with a new score.
You need to define the notes you are going to use in the percussion
staff.
Using the staff tool, double click the percussion staff and set the
clef you want. At the bottom of the dialog, under Notation Style
select Percussion and then click the Select... button.
Which of the ones you choose from the following list is entirely up
to
you. I generally use the GM entry & Playback. Whichever you select,
you highlight it and then you HAVE to click EDIT. It is in this
dialogue that you can select the note shapes and set the sound for
playback. At this point it is helpful for you to have the list of
your Percussion Channel sounds from your playback module or
soundcard.
Otherwise you have to experiment using the Listen... button to define
the Playback Note.
One step that many people forget at this stage is to check the box
that tells Finale to use that note on that staff. In earlier versions
there was only one box and I believe it was near the middle of the
Note Definition panel on the right of the Percussion Map Designer
dialog. In Fin2004 it is in the bottom panel on the right and there
are some other buttons which allow you to use All Notes, All Named
Notes or None, in addition to the individual check-box which allows
you to define just a few notes for use in any specific staff.
One problem with GM, which is supposed to be a standard, is that
regarding percussion maps each manufacturer or soundbank designer
feels that he/she is above the need to stick to the "standard" GM
percussion map. Sometimes it's because they want to include
different
sounds and other times it's because they feel that the sounds should
be reorganized differently from the standard.
Percussion staffs and the Percussion Map Designer are one aspect of
Finale that could definitely use a complete reworking. Sometimes
after defining a percussion map following all the steps it STILL
doesn't work right. Sometimes after defining the percussion map
you'll find that all your previously entered notes on that percussion
staff jump to strange new locations. Sometimes after defining a
percussion map, your percussion staff STILL won't work correctly but
if you create a NEW percussion staff and define it using the SAME
definition, then use mass-mover to copy/paste the percussion notes
from the existing non-working percussion staff to the new, empty
percussion staff, everything works fine. Sometimes after defining a
percussion staff, even if everything is working properly, when you go
to enter a note on the percussion staff it jumps to a different
location from where you tried to place it. (This may have been fixed
in Fin2004, I haven't had to create a percussion part in Finale this
year so I don't know.)
Sometimes it's all just plain, pure, simple, old-fashioned luck if
the
percussion part works properly for playback. You can do the proper
set of steps one day and it doesn't work only to come back the next
morning and do exactly the same thing and it works. Then the next
day, on a different piece, the same set of steps doesn't work again.
I hope something in my post helps -- I know how frustrating working
with percussion maps in Finale can be!
David H. Bailey
Dean M. Estabrook wrote:
Ok......I'm up and running on my iMac with OSX.3 and a Roland JV 35
keyboard. All seems to be going well, except.... I'm writing a Band
Piece with a bunch of perc. parts (Snare, Tam, Tam, Sus. cym., Bass
Drum etc. I'm not having any trouble notating the parts, but, how
do I get them to playback with the sounds of the chosen instruments?
I've read the Perc. section of the documentation re maps, libraries,
etc., but it somehow doesn't get through to my brain cells. I
suspect I just don't understand some of the terminology, which is
not unusual for me, I must admit. I'm a real newbie with the perc.
stuff.
Dean
I err, ergo sum
Dean M. Estabrook
Director of Music
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
Yuba City, CA
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