While we are on the subject of midi drivers here is a quick step to take if you find that you have lost playback, your playback will only sound as piano, or your midi device will enter notes but will not playback using the SmartMusic Softsynth - reload the midi driver.

Go up to your Midi/Audio Menu and mouse down to the bottom option Reload Midi Driver. This should reactivate the driver and restore sound. I have run across a few situations will my playback will still be voiced as a piano, but if I scrub over a note the original voices will once again work properly.

This tip will only work on Windows machines and in older versions of Finale it was called 32-bit midi driver - it may or may not have a check mark in front of it. In any case, selecting it will reload the midi driver and restore your sound.

Nota bene:  this tip will not reload the driver for your external device.  If you are not able to enter notes using your external device than you will want to reload the driver for the specific device that is connected to the computer.

 Let’s face it, midi devices and their drivers are mysterious enough as it is - they don’t need any help in order to act strange or to flat-out not work at all.

So, if you use a midi device while using Finale, I recommend connecting it directly to your computers USB port - not through a USB hub. I have looked through some of the major midi manufacturer’s support sites for information regarding this subject - but of course most are very vague. All of them claim that the device will work and offer no trouble-shooting methods whatsoever.

Here is what led me on this quest:

Continued

Took a few months, but they’re here!

Note: the official statement on the homepage still says that they are working on the updates, but skip that and head right to the driver section.

M-Audio Drivers

If you are using an M-Audio device for entry and you have just upgraded to Mac OSX 10.5, you may have noticed that you are not able to use your device for input. Currently M-Audio does not have any drivers that support OSX 10.5. Continued