My sense is that unless you have created and applied your own Percussion Map based on the MIDI values listed in the GPO manual or a similar list for GIfF, you will not have much luck with the suspended cymbal, since Finale does not appear to have supplied any map to attach the correct MIDI values to the appropriate percussion instrument names (at least for suspended cymbals).

Thank you, J Adrian,

I find the percussion side of Finale (and Garritan) rather confusing, often obtuse.
I happened upon this thread: https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360036519834-Percussion-Map and thought at first that I finally found a break through.

The more I read, the more complicated it became until, at last, it seemed that know one really knows for sure.

Perhaps the Finale tech people will finally come up with a direct, clear, simple, and intuitive interface to notate and produce basic and fundamental orchestral instruments sounds.

:-)
Vanessa

You're right, the percussion situation needs help. But also remember that GPO was initially programmed for use in DAWS, not notation programs. GPO's integration with Finale was done after the fact. Had it been programmed initially to be used with a notation program, I suspect that it might have worked more smoothly.

But IMO, you might be better off trying NotePerformer for your playback instead of GPO. The sounds IMO are better than GPO and the programming is superb. If you do have a problem Arne (the programmer) is easy to reach and will help to resolve any problems which come up. You can try it free with their 30 day demo.

Thank you, Jeffrey,

I have heard there are other libraries. So much that I find with Finale and Garritan are superb or, at the least, highly satisfactory.

Then I find that their choral sample allow the bass voices only up to B3 (the B just below middle C), which is preposterous. Any decent choir should have "basses/baritones" that sing at least to a "D," and up to "F."

There other cases of really bad shortcomings. In this case, the real limitations of very standard orchestral practice.

Other than, NotePerformer--which I plan to try on a trial bases, with what other sound libraries have you tried or used?

:-)
Vanessa

None of the other libraries that I use work well with Finale. I use NotePerformer with Finale when writing. Then I bring that midi file into my DAW, (Logic), and create my audio demo. I use sample libraries by Spitfire for my finalmp3, The BBC orchestra library and Eric Whitacre Choir.

Vanessa,

I own a bunch of the Garritan libraries, and for the cost find them useful. Clearly better sounds sets have evolved since the Garritan sets were released (most are quite old now) and in some cases better sets existed even when the Garritan collections were released--but at greater, sometimes much greater, cost.

It is possible to use other VST sound sets with Finale, but they will often not automatically link up with Finale's Human Playback (HP) system and Finale does not provide the sculpting ability (through add-on effects processors) that a DAW would as a matter of course. One can program additions to the HP system, but I have never waded into that.

Vocal sounds are still rare in any VST (especially if actual lyrics are involved, but that's an entirely different matter). Sound samples may be too organ-like or have too slow an attack. I frequently use instrument families not part of my current orchestral ensemble to cover the vocal lines, but if you are using a full orchestra and chorus, that's pretty much out the window.