I have similar problems. Occasionally it locks up on opening, I then go to Cubase and it opens fine.The playback is horrendous too not usable to create an audio file. There must be something that can be done. I can import the same files into Cubase 9 and the playback is perfect and glitch free. I have tried importing the file to cubase and then re exporting for importing into finale again but still Finale either locks up on import or will not play it smoothly.   Does anyone have any advice that I can follow to help imported midi to play back. At the moment my go-to for a playback file is Cubase and for creating notation it is Finale. It would be nice if finale could be played back as nice as Cubase then I could add my horn sections and test the playback in the same package.

If you don’t tell us what exactly you are doing, it’s impossible to know what’s going on.

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/215729367-General-Discussion-House-Rules

otherwise, the best I can do is say, “It works for me” and that ends the discussion  

I fired up PM 2014.5 on my Mac and imported MIDI that I had exported from Logic, Encore, Digital Performer and a couple of files I found on the internet. All displayed as expected.

Interestingly, PM is not supposed to work on Mac OS 10.13 with APFS but it does for me (it was already installed when I updated the OS).

You do have to set up the parameters so that PM knows how to quantize and split the notes. It’s never perfect — never has been. 

1. Interestingly I have just imported a midi file that I have had since 1994 into Finale 25 with the same settings as finale 2012 and the output that you hear is stilted when imported into the 25 version but not in the 2012 version
2. I have opened this file in 2012 on both windows 10 and win 7 and the playback is as it should be
3. so to recap 2012 opens and plays fine
4. finale 25 (on my Mac) doesn't play correctly either through midi or audio units.
5. Cubase on my Mac plays the midi file accurately and allocates instruments faultlessly
6. finale all versions allocates all voices to a single instrument in this case bass. and to a single channel channel 1 so I have re-allocated channels with the drums on channel 10 this is acceptable but the playback is not on 25

I am happy to clarify any of these points if I can add any more info that will help.

I have the wav forms here to show as best I can the timing inconsistency visually. Live playback is not on the beat compared to exported audio. Therefore it is (in my opinion) within the software engine of finale. If the exported audio is correct then the live playback should be too.

For the sake of clarity to anyone following the thread or wanting to help provide a solution I will bullet the problem chronologically.  

1. I import a midi file into finale
2. I set the import settings to play the file as near to the original expected arrangement as I can
3. I have tried all the permutations of the setting that in the past have yielded acceptable results
4. The file creates an exported audio output with correct timing
5. The live playback file displays the incorrect timing as shown quite clearly above
6. The track is a simple drum track 
7. I have also tried deleting all midi info following the work flow suggested this made no difference
8. The output from finale was made using the export audio feature
9. The recorded live playback output was made using a Tascam DR-100 digital recorder
10. The two file were imported to Cubase and the starting beat aligned to show the discrepancies

I re-installed Finale on supports advice and it appears that the Finale had a piece of corrupt code some where. The fresh install has corrected whatever was wrong. midi imports fine and playback is now as expected. Great support quick and courteous - many thanks!