Whether you are creating music for drum set, orchestral percussion, or a drum line, Finale allows you to easily create, notate, and playback percussion parts.
Staves configured for percussion entry can be added with the Document Setup Wizard or the Staff Setup Wizard (Staff menu). These staves automatically ignore key signatures and transpositions, and are configured for intuitive entry whether you are using a mouse, computer keyboard, or MIDI keyboard for entry. See Percussion note entry.
Finale’s percussion notation offers a great deal of flexibility and control through the use of percussion layouts. A percussion layout is a list of defined percussion instruments available for use in a staff. This definition includes staff position, notehead style, and note type (snare drum, cymbols, etc.). The same percussion layout can be used for multiple staves and can be edited in the Percussion Layout Designer dialog box. See also To edit percussion layouts.
If you are using an external MIDI device for entry (like a MIDI keyboard), Finale can be setup to input and playback using any percussion patch. See To setup an external MIDI device for percussion input & playback.
To ensure your percussion notation is configured properly for your playback instrument, select the appropriate Percussion MIDI Map in the Instrument List. See Configuring Percussion Playback for details.
Orange percussion notes indicate notes that are not assigned to a percussion layout in the Percussion Layout Designer dialog box. This may occur, for example, if you have opened a file that includes notes that were not used (not "highlighted") in the previous Finale version's Percussion Map Designer. These notes will look and playback correctly, but do not conform to Finale 2010's new Percussion Layout paradigm. To assign these notes to Note Types, see To assign Note Types for regions of percussion notation.
Note that if your original percussion map was not one of the General MIDI maps, the wrong note types may have been assigned as your file was converted to the Finale 2010 format. You can reconvert Note Types to the Finale 2010 standard using the Reconvert Percussion Note Types dialog box .
To enter percussion with Simple Entry
To enter percussion with Speedy Entry
To enter percussion with HyperScribe
To setup playback for a percussion staff
To setup an external MIDI device for percussion input & playback
To load a percussion layout library
To save a percussion layout library
To create a percussion staff with a customized percussion layout
To adjust stem connections on noteheads
To create slashes-with-cues drum notation
To import a MIDI file with a standard percussion track
User Manual Home |