OS Windows 8.1 on a 64-bit, 20-core Xeon processor

Software is PO5, and Finale 25.5xxx

I try to include multiple articulations within the same part. This is one of the reasons I do first drafts of everything (and final drafts of music that will be performed by individuals or ensembles, live) in Finale, rather than a DAW. I’ve used the feature where technique text sends a data dump that triggers a different articulation within a key‑switched group, but find that it is usually pretty flakey. It will either not work at all or—if I am trying to drop in one or two notes from a different artic—will work too slowly, too late; it will change after the next command has already been issued to tell it to resume playing the original.

This is why I've taken to putting different articulations on different layers, which is cumbersome but at least allows me to get a somewhat unhappy marriage of using a single staff system to represent a single instrument playing with changing articulations.

That workaround is regrettable at best, and still doesn’t fix the fact that the final output will have dozens of hanging rests in each measure that uses a layer other than 1. It’s still better than nothing.

What I would like to see happen, in order from best to worst way of doing things:

1. Create more global commands, allowing all key-switched articulations to be addressed with standard commands (this should also be the simplest to code, I would think), the way that pizz. will currently switch to the pizzicato articulation. The Finale versions of these commands work every time; the ones I write are slow, and often just don’t work if the change is rapid or brief in duration

2. Create standalone instruments from all of the articulations included in the key-switched instruments (most are available separately, but not all). This would allow the layered method to work reliably and consistently (but creates all of those extraneous rests, unfortunately)

3. Fix the speed problem with the data dump tool. I have a really fast computer; 20-core Xeon processor, 32 Gigs of RAM, etc. It’s not the hardware that is the problem, it’s the software

One other thing; I am using the TG Tools plug ins (the paid upgrade) to create harmonic articulations that are at least in the correct pitch during playback. I’ve bought the most recent, expanded version of Personal Orchestra (5) and Instant Orchestra; but none of these has a harmonics patch for individual strings. If you could add that in your next upgrade it would make my life easier.

Note that I also subscribe to East West Composer Cloud (using the Play VST) and have used that in Finale, but really missed the ability to change articulations without elaborate workarounds (the layers thing works, but as indicated above I only resort to that when I have frequent, rapid changes in the score). I have little or no reason to continue to upgrade Garritan products if this part of the workflow doesn’t improve. Another approach would be a simplified way to map keyswitches to articulations, Midi channels, and technique text. Something that could be done once then forgotten, rather than something that has to be laboriously set up for a new document.