I understand that I could set patches on different channels in the aria player and then just assign a channel change to the expression, but why can't I just change patch as in earlier Finale versions?

What options have you tried?

What OS are you using?

Are you using MIDI (Softsynth) or VST (Aria player)?

What patch are you changing from, and what are you changing to?

Running El Capitan.  Wanted to change from an instrument patch to a vocal one using MIDI/Softsynyh.  Did try using channel switch in Aria player, but I'm working with large scores and am already up to 4 banks.  Although it works well, I'm overwhelmed keeping the channels and patches straight.  BTW, is there a way to assign bank changes as well as channel changes?  

In the Program tab of the Expression-definition/Edit panel, the process for changing a MIDI patch seems pretty straightforward.

The way to differentiate VST Banks is to add 16 to the channel number each time you move to the next bank. So Bank 2, MIDI channel 1 is  channel 17 (16 + 1). The first channel of Bank 3 would be 33 (16 + 16 + 1).

Thanks, Adrian, but this patch change procedure is the one that isn't working--during playback, the patch change doesn't occur. I'm even working on a file that did switch patches when played in 2014.5. BTW, thanks for the reminder about changing banks arithmetically--I forgot that's how they worked..

Can you give more detail what patch you are changing from and what you are trying to change to, perhaps even giving a screen shot of the Expression Designer > Playback panel for us to look at?

• In Windows, ALT+PrtScn copies the top screen to the clipboard so it can be pasted into Paint for editing. I have not tried to do anything similar on a Mac in many years but suspect they have a similar function and complementary image-editing app. (I hope so.)
• Screen shot: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361 
• Use Preview to Edit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201740 

Used this screen:

Even though created Expression icon was correctly appended to staff, the patch change didn't take effect.  Any thoughts?

I do not know what else to tell you, unless the instrument you are changing from makes a difference (it isn't a VST instrument, is it?). The following setup gave me a shift from Piano to Voice when I tried it. (Sorry we can't attach working Finale files here.)

Thanks, Adrian, for your efforts.  I suspect my problem will be addressed in future releases.