I have bought and installed my sound blasters card( Capable of storing sound fonts) and its software. I am using finale 2002. with the small VD setup. I inputed my composition into the VD finale template and when I push play there is only piano and other instrument sound. I have had this program for two months and have not been able to use it.

d,
This sounds like something that can be resolved fairly easily by verifying some settings from within Finale. I just sent you an email to have you call me. I'll do my best to help you out. It might also be something that tech support at Finale can assist you with by letting them know that you are trying to have Finale access sounds from a certain bank in your soundcard.

jim

Adam
I did the steps that you told me to do. about the 5th time I figured that it wouldnt work. The sounds are loaded in the sound card because when I click around on the key board I hear them. But when I punch my composition into the finale template and do the play back I hear nothing but pianos and other instruments, I dont hear one virtual drumline sound. What now! Is there a number where I can call to get technical support for the specific situation. I really just want to start writing. This is also what I had planed to use for my resume for various instructors but I cant. Please help with frustration.

Thanks

d,
As cobybos eluded to, there will be a bit of learning involved if you've never worked with samples of this nature. Stay with it though. Once you've learned your way around, it's awesome!

First off, your description of the problem could use some more specifics. Here's a quick nutshell version of what you need to do:

Load the soundfont bank into your soundblaster card. Important: take note of program numbers and what "bank" you loaded it into.

Test that your sounds are being heard by opening up the "Keyboard" in AudioHQ. Set the bank instrument and click around with your mouse to test the sounds.

Open the finale template, and set your MIDI Setup to send "Midi out" to your soundblaster card. There may be a few options here, and you should make sure it coordinates to the "soundfont device" setting that you have set in your soundcard (found in AudioHQ).

When inputting notes in finale, be sure you're entering them into the correct octave, and you're using a midi keyboard. Refer to the Keymaps found in the Help file to see which keys align with certain sounds.

That's really all there is to it. You may have to fiddle with your settings when your first getting started. This is mainly in Finale's MIDI Setup window, and/or your Instrument list window in finale. If all else fails, you can open your "Sounds and Audio Devices" control panel in windows, and set your default MIDI device to your soundblaster card (again, noting your soundfont playback device found in AudioHQ). Then you can try setting Finale's MIDI Out (in MIDI Setup) to "default midi device".

If you're simply having trouble installing your soundfonts, there's a good tutorial video on the tapspace site for soundfont/soundblaster users.

Try to be patient as you learn, and it'll all pay off once you're writing some sweet beats.

Good luck,
Adam

read through the very detailed walk through that was included with your Virtual Drumline. The instructions should answer all of your questions.