Created on - Last updated on

Attention Mac Users
Apple will release macOS 15 (Sequoia) on Monday, September 16, 2024.
Finale v27 is not compatible with Sequoia and will not be updated.

For more information:
macOS 15 Sequoia and Finale Notation Products
Disabling Automatic macOS Updates

There is a known issue that affects a handful of customers on Windows computers that causes Finale 2014.5 and Finale (version 25) to play with a low volume on playback through VST (MIDI/Audio > Play Finale Through VST). In most cases, this volume can be returned to normal by reinitializing the DirectSound audio driver. Please follow the steps below to do so...

  1. Open a document in Finale.
  2. Click MIDI/Audio > Device Setup > Audio Setup.
  3. Select WASAPI from the Audio Driver menu.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click MIDI/Audio > Device Setup > Audio Setup.
  6. Select DirectSound from the Audio Driver menu.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Try playback.

If the issue persists at this point, please contact Customer Success.

 

If these steps resolve the issue, then they will need to be taken each time you launch the program.

 

We do have a script file that can be programmed to a keyboard shortcut to allow this process to be made easy each time you launch the program. This feature (FinaleScript) can be complex, so please take caution when using this feature. If you are curious about FinaleScript, please reference our user manual documentation here. Please follow the steps below to set up the FinaleScript shortcut. You may wish to try this with a new blank document first (File > New > Document With Setup Wizard).

  1. Download the Audio_Fix.zip file to your Desktop from the link below.
  2. Double-click the .zip file on your Desktop to extract the contents of the folder.
  3. Right-click the Audio_Fix.xml file and select Copy.
  4. Hold down the Windows key on your computer keyboard and press the letter R at the same time.
  5. In the Run dialog box type "%appdata%\MakeMusic\Finale 2014.5\FinaleScript" (for Finale 2014.5) or "%appdata%\MakeMusic\Finale\FinaleScript" (for Finale v25).
  6. Click OK.
  7. Paste the file into this folder.
  8. Relaunch Finale.
  9. Click Plug-ins > FinaleScript > Options.
  10. Select the "Don't show Palette when calling a script from the menu" option.
  11. Click the Save and Close button.
  12. Back in the document use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+D to initiate the fix (it can take 10-15 seconds).

Once you have set this up you should be able to use the shortcut CTRL+ALT+D whenever you launch the program to initialize the fix. Please be sure that you have a backup folder of the files you open in Finale before initiating this fix on those files.

 

In the event that the steps above do not resolve this issue, we would recommend utilizing the volume faders in the VST Banks & Effects dialog box (MIDI/Audio > VST Banks & Effects) to increase the overall volume of the score. Using these sliders rather than the system volume on its own could help prevent sudden changes in volume when moving between Finale and other applications. It should also help provide a more granular control than using solely the system volume. 

 

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