Ok, first and foremost, I am trying to write a part that has roto toms interlaced throughout the snare part. (similar to the ";BLAST!"; production) So whats the easiest way to do that without having to go through and put a channel/patch change before and after each of the notes?
Also, not that big of a deal, but ever since I installed leopard, every time I quit Finale voluntarily, the message comes up afterward that says ";finale unexpectedly quit. report to apple?"; Not a big deal, but any thoughts on why this is happening? Thanks :)

- Sam

I will check on the Roto Tom thing, but as for the issue with Leopard and Finale, this is a known issue that Finale is having upon quitting.  This message is not signifying that anything has gone wrong with your document or the program.  It is a nuisance message.  I am sure it will be something they will address when they release an update.

If you did not want to do Channel Changes, you could go to the INSTRUMENT LIST in the WINDOW MENU and then expand that staff by clicking the arrow at the far left.  You will see all four layers and the channels that they are on.  Set on of the layers to be the channel for the Roto Toms and then write those parts in the other layer.  This however may make some problems with beaming and being in the way of each other. 

I think the best way (for not wanting to do channel/patch changes) would be to create a new staff above those snare lines and let that staff be for the Roto Toms.  When you then are done writing you can go to the PAGE LAYOUT TOOL and then choose OPTIMIZE STAFF SYSTEMS.  This staff will be removed except for the ares where it is being used.  This still leaves an issue for Beaming, but al least the stems and notes will not have a chance of running into each other.

Using the Channel Changes I think would get you what you want Audibly and what you want visually, but these other ways are ways to get what you want audibly faster,  but with a different visual look.  If you had a sequencer, other may just go ahead and write the part the way it should look and not worry about the sounds from the notation environment, and then import the MIDI into the sequencer and then you can basically move the note in the keymap editor so that it plays the right sound.

Hope that helps.  Let me know if you need any clarification.

Great. Thanks a lot coach for all the info. I will check it out and see what works best for me. :)

- Sam