Are you playing through VSTs or MIDI?

Is this the same as what you used with the original files?

How old are the "older" files you are opening and updating? (I am a little confused: are you opening 2014.5 files in v25, or are you opening even older files in 2014.5 and in v25?)

If opening .mus files in 2014–25, Finale should always prompt you to Save As and will write a .musx. You may have to open this new file and reassign VIs.

Newer versions of Finale are supposed to open older files but sometimes, all that happens is that the notes and lyrics display. Even that can be an issue if the fonts are old enough or the original document used 3rd party fonts. My oldest files required Sonata which you purchased when you bought the earliest versions of Finale.

Expecting playback to work automatically is not a good idea unless the older files used General MIDI to the built in MIDI engine in a Mac or PC. Sometimes, even that doesn't work until you reassign sounds.

Playback in 25 is simply a nightmare when one opens an older file and I am not talking like a decade old.  It is an absolute nightmare!!!

With that said, export the file to XML, import back, reassign the sounds and you should be fine.  You still may have to reassign some sounds manually.

I have no idea what MakeMusic did in the 25 version with playback, but whatever it is they need to seriously take a step back and work on it.

On MAC, my VERY short list of issues from the last 7ish days.  XML solves most of the issues, but what a time suck.

My short list of problems:

1. Tempos do not always playback correctly. Yes MIDI data has been deleted etc. The only fix is XML out and back. Yes I have sent in tons of files with details about what I suspect the issues might be or triggers.

2. Depending upon the file, the volumes are all over the place. Some too quiet to even hear no matter what volume or mixer setting you use. This even goes for two files with exact same ensemble: one inaudible and the next too loud. It makes for a lot of extra work when you have to save and then edit the audio in a another program.

3. About every 5th file, Finale quits with saving as an Audio file.

4. When selecting Garritan and then reassigning instruments, it does not work many times. Try doing a band chart with 20+ instruments and only half of the sound work and the rest have to reassigned manually. What waste of time! And why are trombones set to blastissimo under Garritan?

5. Some older files will not even playback. They simply quit out of FInale immediately forcing me to re-open, XML, XML, back etc.

6. Some files you get no sound from whatsoever. This happens a LOT!

7. Playback stop button does not work on the first try far too often. I have seen this posted on MANY forums.

8. In Score Manager, when manually changing the "device" many times Finale does not take/except the change on the first try.

I routinely open files I created going back to 1989 with none of the problems you describe.

If you're not talking a decade old, then what exactly are you talking about? You are long on complaints and have given no information that anyone can use to help. Let's start with your platform and OS, ok?

In the meantime, I'm going to make a wild guess. You're now in a 64bit environment and your old instruments are 32bit only. I suspect that, had you updated them to 32/64 bit versions as most commercial libraries have been for 5 years or more, you wouldn't be having many of these issues.  Again, only a guess but it fits the problem.

Hi Mike,

Quick perspective:  I have produced over 600 sound files in the last month which is where my list above comes from.

I will answer your questions one by one:

1.  Files dating back to 3.1 and forward.  Pretty much every every version in between and made by many different people.

2.  I provided a solution to the problem which is XML out and back.  I am not looking for further solutions, but rather for MakeMusic to take their product as seriously as their user base that may be having a difficult time with it currently.  I have provided MakeMusic MANY files as well as MANY links from various forums showing that many are having playback issues.  I have since given up on sending anymore feedback and await their next version with the hope that they can fix some or all of these issues. Count yourself lucky if you are having no playback.  That is fantastic!  I am not so lucky...

3.  I stated MAC and 25.  I am not sure what else is needed as 25 only works on certain OS's, but like I said I am not looking for help.  I offered a solution to the original poster's issue (in bold to point it out) and then talked about my issues.

4.  No idea on the 32/64 as playback has never been my concern until recently. I open a file and get the issues I stated above.  I try to reassign, etc. and many times still have issues.  Some of the issues have been there for many versions leading up to 25.  The tempo issue being the most prevalent and annoying.  XML out and back solves them.  The problem is the massive time suck to do so.

If you have a better solution, I am all ears!  I have another 3000 files to go...

If you can playback working, you can produce some pretty nice sounding files as samples!

That's all I have.  Time to get back to work :)

PS:  I TOTALLY concede I am complaining.  Absolutely 100% it should be viewed as a complaint with the hope the issues get solved someday.

>3. No idea on the 32/64 as playback has never been my concern until recently<

It is now. I have found 32Lives quite useful. It allowed me to use many 32bit only libraries and plugins during the transition. 64bit apps in a 64bit OS cannot see 32bit only plugs and libraries. This is not a Finale issue except that 25 is 64bit only (2014 was supposed to be but that was changed before release).

https://www.soundradix.com/products/32-lives/

I've noticed that 32Lives even allows older versions of certain Finale plugins to run in 25. In this thread, I didn't post that I had found a converted version of SmartMusicSoftSynth because it wasn't relevant to the conversation.

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115006802247-Missing-Audio-Units-Plug-in-MakeMusic-SmartMusicSoftSynth

Humor me for a second and pretend I know nothing about Finale* despite using it for over 20 years:

I open a file.  Under "MIDI"Audio" I select "Play Finale Through Audio Units" and then select "Reassign Audio Sounds".  Check "Score Manager" to see if the devices are reflected accurately.  Manually change as needed.

Shouldn't I simply get sound when I hit playback?  I know how to fix the issues, but a newbie would be completely lost is my guess.  What am I missing?

I will be blunt:  I don't understand the links above whatsoever, but many thanks!  They are way over my head.  Despite 40,000+ pages of music engraved over the years I have almost never used playback until the 25 version.  

*I have been accused of knowing nothing many times :)  In the case of playback, I would agree with them.

Thanks!

>Shouldn't I simply get sound when I hit playback?<

Only if you have selected AUs that can play back.  Nothing you've posted indicates that is the case.

>Despite 40,000+ pages of music engraved over the years I have almost never used playback until the 25 version. <

Nothing you have posted indicates a problem with Finale. You are going on about how you expect things to work but nothing about the problem—except that you are blaming Finale.

What AUs are you trying to get to play? If they are the GIfF included with 25, then this is puzzling — unless you didn't run the separate installer for those and put them in the default location (but you did that, right?). If that's the case, reinstall and make sure you run both installers.

If they are 32bit only AUs, they're not going to sound for you.

I'm done guessing now. 

Mike,

MakeMuisic tells me to do the method I described above:

I open a file.  Under "MIDI"Audio" I select "Play Finale Through Audio Units" and then select "Reassign Audio Sounds".  Check "Score Manager" to see if the devices are reflected accurately.  Manually change as needed.

I do nothing special, but use out of the box Garritan.  I have reinstalled, etc.  XML is the only thing that seems to work therefore I blame Finale or poor programming.

I appreciate your help, but as you said "this is puzzling".  It sure is.  Imagine a new user trying to figure it out?

Back to work!

Are you using the demo or a purchased copy of Finale?

If you are using a purchased copy, did you try the demo first? If so, did you re-install the entire package when you purchased?

The demo version does not install the Garritan Sounds.

I followed the whole trend on this and tried what was suggested which was creating a .musx file.  It did not work.  I opened a score from Finale 2014.5, sounds all loaded and there was no playback.  These are large scores, and playback is imperative.  My workaround is to use a Finale 25 template, then copy the old score and paste it into the new document.  It's time-consuming and frustrating, but at least it works.  Hopefully, this is an issue Finale will fix going forward.  

>Hopefully, this is an issue Finale will fix going forward.  <

Like I advised the other person, there may be nothing to fix. Although 2014.5 is compatible with a 64bit Mac OS, are the sounds it is expecting to see?

Hi J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN,

For me, I have never used a demo of Finale.

Art,

Did you try exporting as XML and import back in?  This should be much quicker and I am fairly sure will solve your issue.

And yes I agree ">Hopefully, this is an issue Finale will fix going forward.<"  It is unacceptable and they know it.  How "the other person" cannot see that is beyond me.  Yes I am teasing you Mike :)

Time to move on.