Hi Gary,
Great question!!!
Gary Griffiths wrote:
I’m becoming more interested in the standard of my playback in Finale (WinFin2k5) and I am hearing a lot of good things about GPO. However, I can’t find anything in the OLM about how to use it with Finale, apart from one section on Human playback that explains about GPO, but not exactly how to use it.There are a number of tutorials and tips on the Garritan web site in their support section... but the short answer is that there is a pretty steep learning curve, or at least there was for me.
Not really... Human Playback uses various MIDI controller messages to try to imbue a score with some animation or "human-ness", and GPO uses different MIDI controller messages to attain the same effect. The biggest difference is that GPO is really meant to be played, and the Human Playback feature in Finale is meant to interpret a sequence of events codified in a score. When you stop to think about it, they are two dramatically different approaches!!Does it work seamlessly with Human Playback once installed?
Do you have to pick different samples for everything (solos, pizz, arco, trem etc. etc. etc.) or does that work seamlessly too?There are a couple of mechanisms for picking different patches/samples, but you have to manage it yourself using either patch change messages or key switching. It works, but seamless would probably be a bit generous.
My scores are quite meticulous in their dynamics, articulations etc. Would Finale and GPO pick these up automatically?This is probably the biggest rub... Finale uses MIDI volume messages and GPO uses the modulation wheel. At first I thought it was an odd choice, but after some experimentation I discovered that GPO is changing a lot more than just volume, and it makes for a much more expressive performance.
Do I need to export my score in some way into another programme and then process it through GPO?That seems to be about the best way to go today. As this thread demonstrates, there are two camps, and they have rather opposite points of view. Camp #1 thinks that sequencers should sequence and scoring packages should present scores. This is, I believe, a result of technical limitations that existed for most of the life of the MIDI standard. Older computers could do only so much, and older programmers could write only so much code, or even have an appreciation for the finer points of so many topics. If you want a really powerful scoring tool you need to look at Finale, Sibelius, Rosegarden, and a couple of others. None of them provide what most would classify as even meager sequencing capabilities.
If you want complete control over the sequence then you need to look at tools like Sonar, Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer, Freestyle, etc. I think all would agree that their scoring tools are weak, but you do have tremendous control over the performance itself, even if you don't have a musical keyboard or other MIDI controller for input.
I'm fairly active on a couple of Sonar mailing lists/newservers, and the request for better standard notation tools comes up frequently. Similarly, Finale users want to push the envelope on sequencing within Finale. I don't think either group is going to be completely happy any time soon. I think that the Human Playback feature works well enough for its intended purpose, which is a rough approximation of what humans might do with a score. In fact I think it works really well!
I am of the opinion that two tools are still necessary, and I go one step further, if I need an audio file I usually (not always, sometimes I get lazy or don't have time) play the parts in from the keyboard or a MIDI guitar controller. Then, if I'm feeling really ambitious I edit the daylights out of them<G>!
But, I grew up when editing tools could also be used to shave your beard after three long days in the studio. As a rule, I seldom perform edits to audio or MIDI data that I couldn't do with a razor blade or a mute switch. I find that this quite often helps me to preserve the feel of a performance, and that's usually what I'm after.
And that rule is not some kind of dinosaur reaction to the current tools, but just a line in the sand. And the wind does, from time to time move the line. But I like human performances, and since I can't afford to hire an orchestra every time I have to find the next best thing... which for me is samplers like GigaStudio and sample playback tools like GPO. In fact, while the quality of sample available for Gigastudio is superior to GPO, I find that lately I use GPO almost exclusively for the instruments it provides, and only turn to GigaStudio for things that aren't part of GPO.
My two cents....
Bill _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
