KeySwitch in Aria and Finale - HOW?

[RichR]

Okay, I am completely lost. I understand key switches but since the new ARIA engine has come out and the new Finale 2010, I cannot figure out how to tell Finale when I want alternating bows, down bows, up bows, detache, pizzicato, trills, whatever. When I look at ARIA there are no keyboard notes marked as key switch notes. There IS a pull down menu which I can hear the different key switches, but I see no way to program the switches into a Finale score. The Finale HP doesn't help much either. For instance, I want detache and that is listed in Human Playback as a GPO, ARIA key switch (I am assuming auto alternate bowing). What mark in Finale tells the ARIA engine to do a detache? None are listed in the articulation menus other than staccato and that does NOT make a key switch to auto alternate or anything but the standard sus-short. I would really like to use auto alternate because I like that sound. How do I do it?

Any help is ALWAYS appreciated.

Thanks

[Michael_uk]

Hello Rich,

Just about any effect can be applied in Finale. Here are some from those you mentioned.

Alternating Bows: These are automatically triggered by non-legato, non-staccato notes, or notes lasting less than 0.25 seconds.

Down Bows: Add the usual down bow marking in your score as an articulation.

Up Bows: Add the usual up bow marking in your score as an articulation.

Pizzicato: Use the 'Expression Tool' to add 'pizz' as required in your score.

Trills: Use the 'Articulation Tool' to add 'tr' as needed or .....
Alternatively use the 'Smart Shape' tool to click and drag the 'tr' for the duration of the trill.

There are plenty of others. Try searching Finale's manual using 'Keyswitches' or 'Human Playback' etc and you should find just about most of what you need. If there is an effect you need but not provided, you can usually create your own in Finale.

Hope this helps.

[wilhoit]

Allow me to suspect that Rich's issue is the same as mine (and various other people's), which is that something about the keyswitch mechanism is broken. My situation is that I upgraded from the "instruments for finale" delivered with Finale 2010 to full GPO4 and since upgrading, the expressions that should operate by actuating keyswitches through Human Playback, such as "pizz." and "arco", no longer have any effect. Several other people have apparently had this problem in varying forms and have had inconsistent results with a range of possible solutions. I've tried every suggestion that I have found mentioned anywhere and none have worked for me. Finale 2010b, Windows 7, GPO4.

[wilhoit]

Well, I solved it -- for myself, your mileage may vary.

The keyswitches in GPO4 are apparently in different octaves than in earlier versions. Example: all string pizz. used to be F-2, now it is F1 for violins and violas, F0 for 'celli, f-1 for bass.

I went into "Human Playback Preferences" and corrected the octaves, one by one. This involves duplicating e.g. the PIzzicato technique as "Pizzicato (Violin/Viola)", "Pizzicato (Cello)", etc. and adding conditions that they fire on "Violin" etc. in the patch name. Very tedious and shouldn't be necessary, someone at either Garritan or MakeMusic botched their release engineering and testing on this one.

[qccowboy]

are you sure you are using the "notation" folder instruments?

I have had absolutely no issues with keyswitches, Finale and GPO4.

with the "notation" instruments, all the keyswitches are standardized.

[Michael_uk]

Very tedious and shouldn't be necessary, someone at either Garritan or MakeMusic botched their release engineering and testing on this one.

It isn't necessary and no botched release engineering or testing at all. Ive been using Finale 2010 with GPO4 since they were both released and have had absolutely no problems or issues with this.

Here is an mp3 test file I hurriedly put together sounding the following working examples.

Finale 2010 with GPO4 Aria Working Articulations and Expressions.

This Finale 2010 with GPO4 test file uses two staves; Solo Violin KS and Section Strings Violins KS.

Bar 01: Solo Violin alternating bows, detache.
Bar 02: Section Violins alternating bows, detache.
Bar 03: Solo Violin legato using Smart Shape slur.
Bar 04: Section Violins legato using Smart Shape slur.
Bar 05: Solo Violin staccato using articulation markings.
Bar 06: Section Violins staccato using articulation markings.
Bar 07: Solo Violin pizzicato changing to arco using expressions.
Bar 08: Section Violins pizzicato changing to arco using expressions.
Bar 09: Solo Violin trill using articulation.
Bar 10: Section Violins trill using articulation.

So, where is the 'botched engineering and testing'?

To achieve the above in Finale, the 'Notation' set of instruments must be used and key switched instruments selected.

[RichR]

I have yet to solve this problem in my set up as well. My work around has been to physically put a note in another layer of the staff on the correct keyswitch trigger notes. It works but looks sloppy with all those ledger lines.

Your mp3 shows it can be done, but how about a .mus file that has it setup correctly so we can see what is going on. And I am using the notation instruments from the notation folder with the designation -n at the start of each instrument name in the ARIA player.

As an aside, Michael, I would not try to sell the song in that mp3. The melody you used is a little overworked!

Thanks for all the comments guys. I know it is something I am missing because if it works in your machines, it should work in mine.

[Michael_uk]

Hello Rich,

Here's the Finale 2010 .mus file for the mp3 example I posted.

Finale 2010 with GPO4 Aria Working Articulations File

Hope this works with your Finale and that it helps to resolve this.

[Jeff Turner]

Michael,

I tried your file. Everything worked except the pizz. It didn't catch the keyswitch. I'm on a Mac, that might make a difference. Any Mac users have problems with the pizz. expression not triggering the keyswitch?

[Michael_uk]

Michael,

I tried your file. Everything worked except the pizz. It didn't catch the keyswitch. I'm on a Mac, that might make a difference. Any Mac users have problems with the pizz. expression not triggering the keyswitch?

Hello Jeff,

I'm just wondering if the pizz broke on the crossover from Windows to Mac. I'm thinking does the pizz work OK on Finale files created on a Mac and native to the Mac?