Percussion

Whether you are creating music for drum set, orchestral percussion, or a drum line, PrintMusic 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 > New Staves). 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.

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.

To enter percussion with Simple Entry

1. Click the Simple Entry tool .
2. Use the mouse or caret to enter notes as you would regularly. See Simple Entry. All instruments available in the staff's percussion layout will be available for entry.

If your percussion staff includes more than one instrument on a single staff position (e.g. snare and side stick both on the fourth space), you will be able to scroll between them by dragging up or down with the mouse or using the up and down arrow keys. Refer to the visual cue that displays the note you are about to enter.

Remember: you must be using a Percussion template or Setup Wizard percussion instrument to see the percussion noteheads.

To enter percussion with Speedy Entry

1. Click the Speedy Entry tool . 
2. Enter notes as you would regularly. See Speedy Entry. All instruments available in the staff chosen will be available for entry.

If your percussion layout includes more than one instrument on a single staff position (e.g. snare and side stick both on the fourth pace), you will be able to scroll between them by dragging up or down with the mouse or using the up and down arrow keys. Refer to the visual cue that displays the note you are about to enter.

Configuring Percussion Playback 

Non-pitched percussion sound libraries differ from pitched sound libraries in that each MIDI note represents a different percussive instrument rather than a different pitch. Imagine playing a MIDI keyboard set to a certain percussion patch; each key plays a different percussion instrument. Change the percussion patch and the keys play different sounds, sometimes completely different instruments altogether. Finale’s percussion output works the same way. If you change the way Finale plays back (from SoftSynth to your AU device, for example), the messages (MIDI notes) sent from your percussion staves may be interpreted as different percussion instruments. Therefore, when you change your playback device, (or send your file to a different computer with different sound libraries), you must also tell Finale how your percussion MIDI notes should be interpreted. Fortunately, Finale includes preset maps for all included percussion playback options, and you can define a percussion MIDI map for any external MIDI device.

After you change your playback device, do the following to configure percussion playback.

1. From the Window menu, choose Instrument List. The Instrument List appears.
2. Under the Perc. MIDI Map column, for each channel assigned to non-pitched percussion, select the map designed for your playback device. Your current playback device is listed in either the MIDI Setup dialog box or, if you are using an AU device, the Audio Units Instruments dialog box.
3. Playback the score. Your percussion staves play back correctly.

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