To setup an external MIDI device for percussion input & playback
You can input and playback percussion using an external MIDI device's percussion sounds, such as a percussion patch on a MIDI keyboard. To do so, configure a percussion MIDI map to correspond with your external MIDI device's MIDI note to instrument mapping for the desired percussion patch. Once you have done this, you can easily choose the percussion MIDI map whenever you wish to use the those sounds for either input or playback. (To setup an external MIDI device with Finale, see Setting up your MIDI system.)
- Close Finale and navigate to the "Finale 2010/Finale MIDI Devices" folder on your hard drive. First, you need to make a copy of one of Finale's included percussion MIDI maps. (Alternatively, you could simply overwrite one of the existing percussion MIDI maps you do not intend to use. If you would like to do this instead, skip to step 3.)
- Make a copy of the file General MIDI.xml and save it to this folder. Give it a name that corresponds to the external MIDI device and percussion sound you would like to use.
- Launch Finale. Then, from the MIDI/Audio menu, choose Device Setup > Edit Percussion MIDI Maps. The Percussion MIDI Map Editor dialog box appears.
- Click the Map
drop-down menu, select the map you named, and choose "General MIDI." Or, choose the map you would like to overwrite.
- In the Name text box, enter a name that corresponds to the percussion sound you would like to use.
- In the Note Type list, double-click the number to the right of Bass Drum so a text box opens and highlight the number. Now, you will tell Finale which MIDI note on your external MIDI device corresponds to the bass drum sound.
- Play the bass drum note on your external MIDI device. Notice the number changes to the MIDI note performed.
- If you do not see the desired instrument in the list, click the Select a Note Type to Add
drop-down menu and choose the new note type, then click the Add Note Type button to add it to the list. Then, select its number and play the corresponding percussion sound on your eternal MIDI device.
- Repeat steps 6-8 for every percussion instrument you would like to use, then click OK. Now, you need to assign the percussion MIDI map to your selected MIDI input device.
- From the MIDI/Audio menu, choose Device Setup > Percussion Input Maps. The Percussion Input Maps dialog box appears.
- Click the
drop-down menu of the bank of Finale channels that your device is configured to use for input, and choose the percussion MIDI map you just defined. The bank of Finale channels configured for MIDI input is listed under MIDI In in the MIDI Setup dialog box.
- Click OK to return to the score. You are now ready to enter percussion using your external MIDI device using any of Finale's entry methods. See Percussion note entry.
- To use this these percussion sounds for playback, simply select the percussion MIDI map you have defined under the Perc
. MIDI Map column on the Instrument List for the desired percussion staves.
