Hey everyone.  Congrats to Cavaliers on another championship.  Well deserved.

Here are my questions:

How well will VD2 run on a brand new Mac Mini?  How about an iMac?
Also, I see that Finale Notepad is free software.  Am I able to use VD2 with Finale Notepad?

Thanks!

[quote author=RedCowLive link=topic=1308.msg5737#msg5737 date=1155568574]

Here are my questions:

How well will VD2 run on a brand new Mac Mini?  How about an iMac?
Also, I see that Finale Notepad is free software.  Am I able to use VD2 with Finale Notepad?

Thanks!
[/quote]


I don't believe the VDL2 player is ready for the Intel processors found in the latest Macs. It will run fine if they have the PowerPC chips.

Regarding Finale NotePad, it is very limited in its features. Including limited number of staves and measures and the use of sounds other than the QT midi sounds. Your best bet is to visit the Finale forums and look at the product comparison chart showing all the features available with each product. HTH


Ted Boliske

Finale Notepad does not have a MIDI Menu with a MIDI Setup where you would need to go to change the settings to access these sounds.  So - for right now using Finale Notepad to access Virtual Drumline sounds would not be possible.  You may want to check into PrintMusic.  PrintMusic does have a MIDI menu and you should be able to route your sounds out to another device.

Just wanted to maybe clarify:

I use Bidule and when I open BIdule and load the set up, and then Open PrintMusic 2006, Bidule Outputs >DO< show up in the MIDI Setup. So - you should be able to use VDL2 externally with PrintMusic 2006.�� I have not done to much testing with it but I will do that tomorrow and let you know how it works.�� You should also be able to open the Finale 2006 template within PrintMusic 2006.�� Obviously, there are things you can not do in PrintMusic that you can in Finale, but you may be able to do most of what you want - in terms of writing for Battery, basic mallet composition, etc.�� I was able to use the Finale template in PM and then notate using those sounds.  If you routed it out through some external source you would also only have 1bank to work with and 8 channels...the limit to the VDL player.

Examples:

1. No Staff Styles in PM, so youd have to use a separate staf above a mallet line for percussion/aux stuff for one player
2. No Expression to do a channel change.�� Expressions would only do a tempo playback effect.
3. No Editing of Percussion Maps

Just a little heads up I thought would be helpful if you were thinking about trying that.�� www.finalemusic.com/printmusic is where you can find out more about PrintMusic and there is a 30-day FULL demo of the program so you could even try it out.�� Hope this helps.