I too would love to find the list of what Finale automatically chooses and sends, when, and why.  I.E.  What is Finale looking for exactly to make it use the alt/detache, or the martele technique?  Is it tempo dependent?  Does it have to do with staccato markings?  Notes in quaver?  What exactly are the 'rules'?

It seems to me that when one applies HP, things do get embedded, but you can clear it all, or only specific sections if you've made any changes.

This blows a lot of novice users minds if they decide to swap instruments later on in their workflow.  I see a LOT of 'why are my keyswitches working wrong' posts in various forums........

The answer usually is, "You applied HP at some point with those 'wrong' key switches active in HP preferences."

The second most common answer is, "You might need tighter filters in your HP Preferences."  Here's a score where I've attempted to clamp down really tight on GPO5 filters....so it's easier to 'mix and match' them all without getting 'technique conflicts'.  https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115006492367-Applied-Human-Playback-Playback-Data-Dump-Expression-Designer-for-GPO5-GOS-Strings-KS?sort_by=recent_activity


Example:

I noticed that if I were to 'apply human playback' from inside the MIDI Tool menu while I'm set up to use a GPO5 "Orchestral Strings" setup, and then swap things in my score manager over to one of the Legacy Strings, then old keyswitches still get sent.

I can click the MIDI tool, select Apply Human Playback from the MIDI Tool Menu, and use the options that come  up to 'clear' the old stuff, then reapply HP again.  Now the old key-switches are gone, and  new ones are in place.

While I haven't run tests to confirm this, I theorize that I could also 'select a section' of the score first, and such HP clearing/application would only apply to the selected objects/events.  This should even allow you to do things like, "Apply a classical groove to one section of the score, a romantic groove to another, and a baroque to yet another, and so on."

While it can be a bit confusing at first, I find it to be an empowering methodology.  The 'apply human playback' option tosses up a lot of flags you can set, process, clear, etc....perhaps in layers or multiple passes using a variety of techniques.  It also allows you more flexibility when you want to use the MIDI Tool to draw in things like CC events, or manipulate velocities of individual notes.

It is possible for instance, to set up a group of techniques, apply human playback, and then disable those techniques....the events will still be sent since they are now embedded in the score.  You could then apply another set of techniques ON TOP of what you've already done.

Example (as I understand it)....say you have a special articulation that's a bit much for the entire piece, maybe a detache for non-slurred notes, or a portato thing for tenuto that works for a particular passage or movement, but you don't want it in the entire piece

On the first pass, you could simply toggle off the techniques you don't want applied to the entire score....apply human playback, then select ONLY the passage(s) where you DO want the articulation active, and apply human playback again.

Another example:  Since Finale doesn't automatically do sautille for you, you might want to assign it to martele or maybe even spiccato or staccato for some passages....but not others.

So, you could have a variety of articulations all set to trigger as 'martele', but toggle them all off but the one you want for a given passage.  I.E.  Say somewhere in the middle of a piece, you want to change from martele to sautelle for short dotted notes in quaver (or whatever Finale seems to be picking....seems like it can be tempo related).  Select the martele passage while your martele technique(s) are active......apply human playback.  Select your next passage where you want sautille instead....toggle the martele variants off in your HP preferences, and toggle the sautille stuff on.  Apply human playback again.  And so on.............

It seems to me like this is why all that stuff is embedded into the score rather than being parsed through something like soundworld-soundset and re-triggered in real time as Sibelius does it, or via 'expressionmaps' in real time as Dorico does it.

Just be aware that if you're drawing stuff on in with the MIDI Tool as well (CC lanes, custom Note Velocities, etc.), be careful when hitting the 'clear' button in the "MIDI Tool/Apply Human Playback" dialogue.  You can toggle things on and off for the clearing process...such as CC data, or HP events (these would be your HP Preferences 'techniques'), custom drawn tempo controls, and so forth, and be careful to 'select' the right staves and measures that you want cleared first, or it'll clear the whole score. 

Some of this "MIDI Tool/Apply Human Playback" stuff can't be 'undone' with the ole ctrl-z trick once you hit clear or apply, and a nice visual reference to what you're doing with customized MIDI data isn't exactly Finale's Forte (it's OK for the number of bars you see on screen....but no way to zoom out for a full score overview....um, that I know of yet anyway)....so it's also a good idea to save your score first before hitting clear, or apply HP....just in case you accidentally clear/add/replace something unintentional and need to go back to a previous version.

Really, it just takes a little practice.  Finale can do a really good job with playback given all the not so obvious methods of applying techniques to text or objects........and when that's not quite enough.......you can just draw it in with the MIDI tool.

Another thing that I find really worth the time and trouble to master, is using the shape tool to make your own dynamic and tempo curves.  It's not terribly obvious that the Finale can do this, but it's amazing.  These work a little differently that HP Techniques, because you attach them directly to expression text or a graphical symbol.

Example:  Maybe you have an instrument where the default fz attack is just way too much.  You can change the fz expression to use your custom curve to alter whatever CC your instrument needs within more tasteful boundaries.  At first it might be a little confusing.......but keep at it and don't give up....it's well worth it to figure this out :)

Brian,

  Thanks for the post.  I'm very interested in this topic and I appreciate your help.