Many of the new features are tantalizing and so I've ordered my Mac upgrade in spite of the copy protection. Other improvements such as Human Playback stop just short of being really useful. Perhaps I have the wrong impression of how it works. Please correct me if you know otherwise:
1) You cannot use your own sounds and samples together with Human Playback except by replacing soundfonts in the new synth/sampler engine.
I think my own gear and sounds are better than the Finale ones (based on the mp3s they have provided as demos). I know that "Save to Wav" wouldn't work with my own instruments, but why not "Human Playback"?
2) Automatic trills, glissandos, hairpin dynamics are a part of Human Playback but not the regular playback.
I've been using TGTools to make harmonics, trills, tremolos, and so on, play properly as part of the MIDI file. It looks like I'll still need these!
3) Patch changes are ignored? No pizz. to arco and that kind of thing?
4) Only 16 channels for Human Playback?
5) How does Human Playback find a sound for a part labelled "Camilla" or something like that?
6) I'm assuming that Human Playback does not save a MIDI file or Finale playback file. What format besides Wav does it save?
In another MIDI related question, perhaps someone knows if Finale 2004 will offer more MIDI channels. Right now on the Mac (OS 9), we have a maximum of 4 sets of 16 channels using OMS or FreeMidi. Has this number been increased in the new version?
Thanks for considering this rather long set of questions! My concern is essentially that this great new utility "Human Playback" is insulated from the kind of tweaking and customizing that makes Finale so good.
As John Cleese says in Clockwise, "It's not the despair, I can stand the despair. It's the hope!"
- Randolph Peters _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
