The sound is similarly bad on all my files, and I've never had a problem before. Should I uninstall Finale and re-install it? Don.

Are you using Aria sounds or SynthSoft MIDI sounds or another VST. Since it takes time to fade out, could something have shifted your reverb settings too high?

(How old are your speakers? Do other programs play through them satisfactorily?)

Not sure how to answer that, Adrian, and thanks for replying. MIDI/Audio says I'm playing through VST. I don't know where to find anything further.

I've discovered that the problem is intermittent, in that I can turn on Finale, open a file, and it will play perfectly well. Then it might decide to play up. It's only been doing it for a short time, and I've not had a chance to see if it's anything I do that might cause it.

My speakers are not particularly old, and everything else plays perfectly well through them. 

Where would I find reverb settings?

BTW, your message only turned up in my Inbox today. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you.

Here are two places where reverb might be set.

Hi Adrian. I have SmartMusicSoftSynth set in VST Banks and Effects, and there are no ticks in any boxes.

I don't know how to get the Aria Player screen up.

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure Aria was available to F 2011. In the MIDI/Audio menu there may be a way to tell the computer to Play Through VST. But I admit I am particularly hazy about how Finale used to work before F 2012 was introduced.

If you are on Windows 10, you might check to see that an update has not fiddled with your Audio Device Setup for Finale. I have found that with more recent version of Finale Windows has somehow caused the Audio device to switch away from the DirectSound selection that works best for me, but usually that just makes my sound go silent.