weird out of tune playback, Fin 2009b mac

[jim dukey]

Hi, Any suggestions as to why the playback of the included Garritan Jazz insts
will suddenly go completely weird, beyond simply out of tune? I've deleted some files and gone back to earlier copies. I really like the playback and cd burning capabilities for demoing, but it's a little(!) upsetting when it goes bonkers! It's like the worst Salvation Army band on it's worst day ever!! No offence meant... Thanks for any help, Jim D.

[Henry Buck]

I've had a Garritan violin go out of tune a couple times in Finale. Just closing and reopening the document (i.e. reloading the samples) solved it, though.

[swinkler]

The only time I've experienced anything like this is when my keyboard's pitch wheel was sending pitch wheel data randomly. I finally had to disable the pitch wheel which I never used anyway.


Steve Winkler

[rbowser-]

Hi, Jim - Some MIDI data is definitely accidentally creeping into your file. Maybe from an erratic Pitch Wheel as Steve suggested. Or Var 1 or 2 is somehow getting in there.

I've never had need to use it, but everyone seems to swear by MIDI Ox which can diagnose what is going on in your MIDI set up - it should show you how the errant signals are getting in there. Here's the link which explains, and where you can get the free download:

http://www.sonicspot.com/midiox/midiox.html

Steve--That's a drag about your Pitch Wheel. I understand you're saying you never used it--but it is an extremely useful thing to have. It's a key ingredient in a more natural emulation of many instruments, Violin, Trombone, all Brass. Since you've had to disable yours--try exploring with drawing in some pitch wheel data in TEENY amounts, and see if you can tame it. Make that Sax melt more, Bone slide more etc.

Randy

[swinkler]

The way I troubleshot the problem was simply arm midi track in Sonar to record and let it record for a few seconds. I didn't have to touch the keyboard at all. When I stopped recording, I could see tons of pitch wheel data in the track so I knew where the problem was.

I probably should replace the keyboard actually. It's a keyboard with a USB interface which went out some time ago as well.

Steve Winkler

[jim dukey]

Thanks for the responses! In the Aria Player, I only find a Mod Wheel, and the Var1 and 2 referred to. But no changes to them fixes this one file I have saved. It's one I downloaded as an example of what it sounds like when one goes "out". None of my files that I'm working on at the moment are acting up, but maybe I can upload a short example next time it happens. Anyway, I'm really happy with the Garritan Jazz and Woodwind sounds.

[rbowser-]

Hi, Jim - Changing controls in Aria or any sample player doesn't become part of your project. You have to investigate the MIDI data actually in your files to see what's going on--There has to be something there that shouldn't be.

I don't know what this means, "...It's one I downloaded as an example of what it sounds like when one goes "out"..."

Randy

[jim dukey]

I was trying to help someone at the Finale Forum who was having similar playback problems that I had on a couple of Files that I haven't worked on in a while. I saved their example, posted there, and was trying to get it to playback properly, to no avail. I think it only happens on files started in an earlier version of Finale, and opened in 2009b. I will download the midi program you mentioned and try that.

[rolifer]

Jim

When I used Sibelius and had a big project going on that used a lot of CPU, the instruments would go out of tune from time to time.

Closing and reopening would solve it for a while, but the solution was to get a faster computer with more ram. You didn't say what your computer was nor how big was the project. Could that be your problem?

Ron

[Henry Buck]

Let's not jump to conclusions. Buy a whole new computer just to fix a small problem like this? It seems likely that there was some small corruption or bad setting in your old computer that caused the detuning problems, a corruption a new computer would not have. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with processing power or memory. I get this problem with only four instruments loaded in Finale, and I have 4 GB RAM.

[jim dukey]

I just read at at the Finale Forum that MM has acknowledged the out of tune playback as a bug. Maybe 2010 will fix it!

[rbowser-]

I just read at at the Finale Forum that MM has acknowledged the out of tune playback as a bug. Maybe 2010 will fix it!

That's ---amazing--- The supposed leader in notation programs and they have a bug that causes instruments to go out of tune? That's more than amazing, it's--disgusting, don't you think? sheesh.

MEANWHILE - Sibelius 5 sounds great. :)

Randy

[Jeff Turner]

I just read at at the Finale Forum that MM has acknowledged the out of tune playback as a bug. Maybe 2010 will fix it!
I'm not having any trouble at all with 2009 playback. I just brought in a file that was started in Fin 2008, brought it into Fin 2009 and had no problems at all with playback. The playback was using GPO though, not the jazz samples. Can you point me to MM's statement on this?

Thanks,
JT

( I do remember reading once where glisses/falloffs in Finale affected the playback. Pitch wheel type midi information. Don't know if that's your problem, but if those are in your score, try deleting them and see if that helps)

[swinkler]

I'm not having any problems either. Especially the Aria player is very stable for me.

I'm running a PC so I don't know if the problem you're speaking of is specific to Mac or not. I'd be curious to know what conditions expose the bug.

Steve Winkler

[niclet]

Hi everybody, this is my first comment in this forum. I have the same problem described here and with files created with Fnale 2009b, so it is not cause by opening a file created with an older Finale version. Also, my computer have excellent specs. But, after looking for solution, I find this :

I just read at at the Finale Forum that MM has acknowledged the out of tune playback as a bug. Maybe 2010 will fix it!
So maybe it is the only answer but not a solution yet. I'm very disappointed now. I have studio sessions to do next week and this issue give me a hard time to finish all parts for the orchestra. I know I should write this on MM's forum...

@ jim dukey : can you give a link or a reference for this information?

Thanks so much.

[jim dukey]

It was at the Finale Forum, on the Make Music web site, good source of info!

[Jeff Turner]

It was at the Finale Forum, on the Make Music web site, good source of info!
Looked there, couldn't find it.
Can you provide a link please?

[swinkler]

I think this is the article Jim is referring to.

http://forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?f=6&m=252720&g=253117#m253117

Steve Winkler

[rbowser-]

Yes, Jeff, I noticed that at that Forum, the problem specifically referred to was dangling pitch bend data. Good advice there, though, to insert MIDI commands to zero out any questionable controller.

Randy

[jim dukey]

OK, This happened again on a file opened in 2009b from 2008b. It was fine for a while, then went hilariously out of tune. Pitch bends or glisses had nothing to do with it. The solution is to create a new doc in 2009b, and copy the wacky file into it. I just drag-copied it, and it's been fine , so far. It's not happened to anything I started in 2009b in the first place. I like the Garritan Instruments included with Finale, and I'm glad this "Thing" isn't fatal! Jim D.

[Sonare Coeli]

OK, This happened again on a file opened in 2009b from 2008b. It was fine for a while, then went hilariously out of tune. Pitch bends or glisses had nothing to do with it. The solution is to create a new doc in 2009b, and copy the wacky file into it. I just drag-copied it, and it's been fine , so far. It's not happened to anything I started in 2009b in the first place. I like the Garritan Instruments included with Finale, and I'm glad this "Thing" isn't fatal! Jim D.


There's a quick fix that should tide you over for now. Click the main selection tool, then highlight the section in question. Go the the Edit drop down menu at the top of the screen, and then click Clear Selected Items. Next (be very careful about this), click none at the bottom of the window. After everything on the menu is deselected, click Midi Data, and then click on the particular elements you want to clear. If you did not use a MIDI controller to enter data, just selecting all three options will be best.

Hope that helps,

Tyler

[jim dukey]

Hi , That didn't work for me, and I tried clearing all 3, and each one, and combos. But, copying to a new file has worked. I also tried restarting Finale, the Computer, to no avail. Also, the size of the file seems to have no bearing.I have 4gb Ram, but only the 2.4 GH Imac. Playback of articulations improved with the 4GB Ram. Anyway, with this workaround, I won't panic when it happens again!

[Garritan]

There may bee several things that cause this.

On possible cause may be the sample rate on the sound card. If it is set to 48Khz, things may playback a half step out of tune. So the first thing to check is to make sure the soundcard is set to 44.1khz.

Also, make sure human playback is enabled. If it is not it may read the mod wheel data as modulation rather than dynamics/volume. And make sure that the GPO is the soundsource and that the SoftSynth is not set as the default playback device.

Hope this helps.

Gary

[jim dukey]

Hi Gary, Thanks for your response. Where in my IMac will I find the info on the soundcard? I do use HP, And Play through Audio Units, Aria Player. This glitch, is rare, and Copying to a new Doc has fixed it. But I want to check the setting on the Sound Card. I will check out About This Computer in the Apple Menu. Thanks again, Gary, Jim D.