Finale 2006, GPO, and SoundFonts

[etLux]

Is it possible to use the GPO and SoundFonts simultaneously in Finale 2006?

I've tried everything I could think of, but when you engage the VST/GPO, it appears to disable/ignore any MIDI source.

Would there be a VST wrapper or some such to accomplish this?

Thanks!

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Nickie Fønshauge]

At present, the only way to use GPO and soundfonts simultaneously, is to play GPO through an external VST host, like Studio. Or you can use a host, that can host various VSTi plugins, i.e. GPO and a soundfont player.

[etLux]

Thanks much, Nickie.

I am not very well versed, technically, in this whole end of things.

Would you know of a free or low-cost host/wrapper I could use with a SoundFont? I need to get a choral SoundFont working... and currently work solely with Finale (no "Studio" or other software, etc.).

Thank you again!

Best,

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Dave Hoffman]

Is it possible to use the GPO and SoundFonts simultaneously in Finale 2006?

I've tried everything I could think of, but when you engage the VST/GPO, it appears to disable/ignore any MIDI source.

Would there be a VST wrapper or some such to accomplish this?

Thanks!

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

I have wanted to use GPO, VDL2 (NI VST program) and the MakeMusic soundfont included in Finale all in the same document. In a VDL2 forum, I was told this, although I have not yet had a chance to try it:

"You may consider upgrading to Kontakt 2. It will load instruments from VDL2 as well as GPO, and you could use it to import the synthgms.sf2 file which is basically the GM soundfont that comes with Finale. Doing it that way, you'd simply be running it via an NI plug-in, rather than via Finale's SoundSynth.

Another benefit to using K2 is that each it will allow for more channel outputs than the Kontakt Player which only allows 8 channels per instance."

[etLux]

I have wanted to use GPO, VDL2 (NI VST program) and the MakeMusic soundfont included in Finale all in the same document. In a VDL2 forum, I was told this, although I have not yet had a chance to try it:

"You may consider upgrading to Kontakt 2. It will load instruments from VDL2 as well as GPO, and you could use it to import the synthgms.sf2 file which is basically the GM soundfont that comes with Finale. Doing it that way, you'd simply be running it via an NI plug-in, rather than via Finale's SoundSynth.

Another benefit to using K2 is that each it will allow for more channel outputs than the Kontakt Player which only allows 8 channels per instance."

Thanks, Dave.

But I don't really want to put out $600 for Kontakt2 right now -- to get a choir pad... lol. If I had the dollars, I'd probably go a little more for E/W Symphonic Choirs, which I think includes the NI player and which Finale says they support.

It seems really strange that Finale 2006 shuts off access to MIDI when you use the GPO with it...

Is there some sensible technical reason for this? It tends to really throw a monkey wrench in the works.

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Dave Hoffman]

Thanks, Dave.

But I don't really want to put out $600 for Kontakt2 right now -- to get a choir pad... lol. If I had the dollars, I'd probably go a little more for E/W Symphonic Choirs, which I think includes the NI player and which Finale says they support.

It seems really strange that Finale 2006 shuts off access to MIDI when you use the GPO with it...

Is there some sensible technical reason for this? It tends to really throw a monkey wrench in the works.

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

I can't remember what I paid for Kontakt2 but I know it wasn't $600. There was an upgrade path for those with NI players.

[Jim Casella]

If you already own a NI sampler (like GPO, VDL2, etc.) K2 is available as a "crossgrade" for considerably less than the full version. Or better yet, if you're a teacher/student, the academic version is priced even lower (around $290).

[Jerry W.]

Not sure if this will help. The prices bandied about here seem like the upgrade from K1 to K2. But I could be wrong.

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39117

:) Jerry

[Nickie Fønshauge]

Would you know of a free or low-cost host/wrapper I could use with a SoundFont? I need to get a choral SoundFont working... and currently work solely with Finale (no "Studio" or other software, etc.).

If you're on PC and don't need more than 32 MIDI channels, free (or low cost, not quite sure how it is these days) SynthFont can do it in connection with MIDI-Yoke or some similar virtual MIDI cable. Just set up tracks in SynthFont, that correspond to the tracks in Finale, with the appropriate SF2/VSTi assignments, set it to input from the 1(or 2) MIDI-Yoke port(s), that you specify as MIDI Out in Finale, and you should be all set to go. But, mind you, this costs CPU power.

[etLux]

Nickie, Tom, thank you *both* so much on this.

For those of us who are such novices in this field, such generous help from our technically more adept and experienced colleagues is *greatly* appreciated.

Thank you both, again -- I'll go see if I can figure this out!

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[RickMcGowan]

> I've tried everything I could think of, but when you engage the VST/GPO,
> it appears to disable/ignore any MIDI source.

Yes, it seems to do that...

Doing this takes a bit of setup, and for some things you might want a MIDI loopback driver. But sending some of your channels to GPO and some to another MIDI playback engine isn't hard. If you haven't downloaded GPO Studio from Garritan, do that, and install it. That's what you need to put the GPO *outside* of Finale, so that you can use Finale's MIDI output and redirect different MIDI outputs of Finale to other programs.

> Would there be a VST wrapper or some such to accomplish this?

Yes. "sfz" is a free soundfont player. You can install it into a free VST host like "SAVIhost". And then hook that up with MIDI Yoke. (Checkout kvr-vst.com for VST stuff, and look for free hosts, free modules, etc.)

First, don't engage the VST/GPO, leave "Play Finale through Native Instruments VST" unchecked.

In the MIDI Setup window, use "GPO Studio 1" (and 2, 3, etc) as your output. In the Human Playback Preferences tell Finale to Activate GPO Support "always". In MIDI Setup, send the output for your first device or two to GPO Studio. Go to the "Show Advanced" button of the MIDI Setup Use channelss 17+ or whatever to send to "SmartMusic Soft Synth 1" (or example).

If you want to sue an external soundfont player, then use MIDI Yoke as your output, and hook other end of the MIDI Yoke device to the input of the other soft synth program. (I.e., use MIDI Yoke NT 1 as the output from Finale, and Midi Yoke NT 1 as the *INPUT* in your other soundfont player program.

I've done this in several different configurations. If you experience timing problems, you might want to get a sample delay module in one or the other signal path.

Rick