Instruments are playing back in the same octave range regardless of staff position

New post

George Spanos Posted February 08, 2023 02:22

Hello all,

I am having a strange issue. I imported a midi file from Pro Tools into Finale 27.3 Trial Version on Mac OS 11.7.3. I switched the playback to use Audio Units. I can change the plugin and hear everything fine.

My problem is: no matter what octave range my violin part is in, it will always play within the same range. So, for instance, I have a C5 note in the treble clef but Finale is playing the violin back as a C4. If I transpose the part down two octaves to a C3, it will play back a C4 still. I don't have any transposition markings setup and I have tried a number of different Audio Units plugins (including switching to a piano sound) with the same result... any ideas?????

Thank you.

4 comments

Date Votes

George Spanos Posted February 08, 2023 02:59

Well I think I see what happened now. For some reason, in the ScoreManager the transposition for the violin part is set to be up an octave. If I select "None" Finale transposes the notes on the staff down an octave visually and plays them at the correct pitch (C4=C4). If I go to the Selection Tool, click on the staff to highlight, then right click and select "Transpose" and choose "Up" by the Interval of an octave, the part transposes back up to the proper pitch visually (like it was at the start), and also plays back at the correct pitch (C5 =C5).

Ugh, this is a bit of a pain but I guess there is no way around this? I can't see a way to select "None" for the Transposition option in the ScoreManager and have Finale retain the notes within the octave that they currently are being displayed in... or am I missing something?

PETER THOMSEN Posted February 08, 2023 05:06

… If I go to the Selection Tool, click on the staff to highlight, then right click and select "Transpose" and choose "Up" by the Interval of an octave, the part transposes back up to the proper pitch visually (like it was at the start), and also plays back at the correct pitch (C5 =C5) …

I would use the Transposition metatool:

First, highlight the region,

next, hit the number 9 key on the computer keyboard.

The default Transposition metatools (which I use all the time):

9 - Octave Up

8 - Octave Down

7 - Scale Step Up

6 - Scale Step Down

MIKE HALLORAN Posted February 08, 2023 19:07

Is there a reason you are exporting as MIDI and not MusicXML?

George Spanos Posted February 09, 2023 01:52

I would use the Transposition metatool:

Thanks for the tip Peter, will use that!

Is there a reason you are exporting as MIDI and not MusicXML?

Mike, I don't think Pro Tools exports MusicXML, I can only see 'export midi' as an option unfortunately. Unless I'm not seeing that option somewhere?

Please sign in to leave a comment.