I am writing for my indoor line and Im coming across some playback issues.  Instruments are dropping out.  Now that might not sound so wierd, but when I reboot Finale 09, it will be fine.  It's like a cache problem or something.  Why would rebooting Finale make my playback issue go away? 

Also, my computer can load the sounds from Kontakt pretty quick.  When I reboot Finale the first time (after having those issues), the sounds load at a CRAWL.  So I hit cancel.  Then I load Finale again, and the sounds load at great speed.  This happens pretty consistently. 

One last thing.  I typically leave Finale open, so I can go watch tv, eat, whatever.  That way I can just come right back and start writing.  Would this have anything to do with this? 

Thanks for the help!

If you're going to be away from the computer for more than an hour or so, I'd suggest closing Finale...

Why is that?

And also, if you were writing for more than an hour, what would be the difference?

The first thing that should always be done is to try to refresh the Finale Preferences to see if this helps.  I would drag the original file to the desktop and then have Finale create a new set of preferences to see if this will work better.  MakeMusic found that these were getting stored in a different location so I am sure someone who has vista, or Finale support can show you where those would be.

Also, sometimes if you leave an application running while you are not using it and your screen saver comes on, or it hibernates, etc this might cause a problem. 

You are also using Finale on a 64-bit computer - which it hasn't been officially tested on.  I also used it on a 64-bit computer for a bit while I was working at MakeMusic and I had the same issues you are seeing.  So you may well be running into issues with it being on a 64-bit machine.

Some Finale 2009 users have had great success with Vista 64, some have had VST playback issues.  As Scott said, when a computer goes to sleep or has a screen saver pop up, you might lose some info that was stored in RAM, especially with an un-tested operating system.

As general system maintenance, I find that when you�۪re not using something, either turn it off or close the program to let it rest and you won�۪t run into any strange performance.

Trashing preferences might be a good place to start-

1. Close Finale
2. Click your Windows Start Orb and choose Computer in the Start Menu.
3. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Finale 2009
4. Find and delete these two files in this folder:
    Finale.ini
    Finmidi.ini file.
5. Now navigate to C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Finale 2009*

* Note: The AppData folder inside your user account folder is hidden by default. If you don't see the AppData folder at first, click the Organize button in your folder window and choose ";Folder and Search Options";. In the window that appears, click the View tab and choose ";Show Hidden Files and Folders"; in the Advanced Options list.

6. Find and delete the Finale.ini and Finmidi.ini files in this folder as well.
7. Empty your Recycle Bin
8. Restart your computer.
9. Reopen Finale

Thanks for the help you all.  I'll check that out!

Let us know if you still need help.  Hopefully that will do the trick.

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you know I think I figured out what was up.  It seems to have been a DFD issue.  The default Ram reserved for playback was minimal.  I have 5 gigs of Ram and I just dont think it was using it.  Once I adjusted the bar to the right (More ram usage), the dropouts stopped. 

There ya go!