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Sample List for Executable Shape dialog box

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How to get there

Click the Expression Tool $image\Expression_Tool.gif$ , and double-click a note or measure. Click the desired expression in the selection box, and click Edit; then click the Playback tab. Click Execute Shape, and then Select; in the selection box that appears, either click an existing Executable Shape and click Edit, or click Create. In the Executable Shape Designer box, click the Use List check box.

If the expression already appears in the score, double-click its handle, then click the Playback tab, Execute Shape, Select, Create, and then Use List.

What it does

An Executable Shape is a line whose contours Finale "reads" as it plays back your music in order to produce changes over time of some musical aspect: tempo or volume, for example. You draw the Executable Shape itself in the Shape Designer.

Normally, Finale samples (consults the contour of) an Executable Shape at regular intervals. For example, Finale might sample the shape you’ve drawn for a rallentando every eighth note, so that the tempo decreases with each passing eighth note.

If you want Finale’s playback to respond only to specific samples (instead of every sample), select Use List. This technical dialog box appears, where you can enter a series of numbers, one in each text box, to tell Finale which samples provided by the Executable Shape you want it to register for playback. See Executable Shape Designer dialog box for more information.

[Text boxes]. The numbers in these text boxes specify which of the samples generated by the Executable Shape you want Finale to "notice" (respond to) in creating the playback effect. Enter the sample numbers, in sequence, in the successive text boxes. Use the right and left arrow buttons to scroll the display to the right or left by one text box at a time; you can have up to six specified sample numbers.
<< >> [buttons]. Click the right or left arrow button to scroll through the six text boxes.
Clear. Click Clear to reset the numbers in all the text boxes to 0. If you click OK at this point, Finale removes the X, if any, from the Use List checkbox, and will sample the Executable Shape at regular intervals in the usual way (every eighth note if the Time Scale is 1:1).
OK • Cancel. Click OK to return to the Executable Shape Designer dialog box, where Finale puts an X in the Use List checkbox. The sequence of samples you entered will now repeat in an endless loop for as long as the Executable Shape (or the music it affects) lasts. (Endless, that is, unless you also select Quit at End of Sample List, in which case Finale only plays through your list once). Click Cancel to return to the Executable Shape Designer dialog box without changing the Sample List. (If you didn’t put numbers in any of the boxes, Finale doesn’t put an X in the Use List checkbox.)