I installed the VDL 2.5.2 library yesterday, and until then, I had never experienced random transpositions with any VDL 2.5 instrument.  I was using Finale 08 and loaded the sample ";marimba syn soft";.  I pressed Finale's play button for the first time after the sample had been loaded and the marimba pitches sounded in the correct key/transposition.  Strangely enough, as I pressed the stop button in Finale, I heard the marimba transpose up a half step during the marimba's reverb.
  I experimented with all marimba samples, and it seems that marimba syn soft and the lite version (including the new Finale specific samples) react the same way--after the first play from when the sample is loaded, all proceeding plays are a half step higher.  I made sure that I correctly replaced the instrument and multi folders with the newest ones (three times to be sure) and I updated and restarted my pc, which runs windows 7.  A temporary fix is to use the RoseW soft sample, but I have no idea why the syn soft sample is malfunctioning.

I ran into the same problem today as well on an older file. I did the same work around for now.
Did you happen to install Kontakt 4.1?

  Well, I'm using Kontak 2.2.4; I think it was included with Finale, but I'm not sure.  Is there a free download of Kontak 4.1 for VDL owners?  If so, I'll give that a try and see if anything different happens.

[url=http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-player/?page=781]http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-player/?page=781[/url]

  Interestingly, after I installed kontakt 4 and loaded the same sample inside of Finale 08, I clicked some notes on the kontakt keyboard and the sample had directly loaded a half step up.  At that point I had not pressed play in Finale at all.  So Kontakt is probably not the culprit.  At this point, I'm convinced it's the sample itself because none of the other sample samples act in the same mannor.

I can't reproduce this.

Jordan - please try loading the Marimba Synthetic LITE sample into the [b]standalone[/b] version of Kontakt Player (either 2.2.4 or the newer version 4). Do you get the same result? If not, it's possible that Finale is saving some tuning settings within the plugin that are being retained somehow.

If that's the case, I'd start by checking the ";TUNE"; knob on the Marimba in question (within Finale, viewing it in Kontakt Player). It should be set to 0.

This may be a long shot, but it's also possible that some sort of MIDI command in Finale (under the surface) is causing your pitch wheel to bend up, making your marimba sound a 1/2 step higher after playing. I'm not exactly sure what might cause this, but it might be worth looking into, perhaps in regard to HP preferences, or whether you've used any glissandi within your score.

Jim, et. al. - I was thinking the same thing regarding the tuning knob on KP2 and the ";stray"; midi info .... Finale tends to leave info in a measure even after you have deleted/moved an expression, especially if that expression resultedin a continuous midi data change.  It also happens when you apply HP data, or TG Tool Playback data, to a measure or several measures, and change or update the preferences repeatedly. 

I actually had a very similar problem with Marimba pitch shifting .... I was communicating with Ted Boliske about it because I thought I might have isolated it to the Template for 2010, but I don't think that was it.  The problem came about when I copied a large segment from one score to another (separate files).  The first playthrough would be the correct pitch but after that the pitch shifted a half step.  I ended up having to transpose the whole staff down a half pitch.  And the reason I thought it might be Template related was that I could not reproduce it using Finale's VDL Lite instruments in a Finale generated score.  I have not had the problem since then.  My suspicion is that its a Finale problem.

Todd 

Todd - thanks for sharing your experiences on this one. It sounds like one of the more elusive quirks.

  Jim - I have no idea why, but my standalone Kontakt 4 and Kontakt 2.2.4 don't even work!  Kontakt 4 plays back weird buzzy noises when I use any instrument, and Kontakt 2.2.4 doesn't even have any sounds.

  One of the first things I checked when this all began was the tuning knob of the marimba - it's at 0, so that's not the problem.  However, since you and Todd both noted that Finale does strange things at time with midi data, I checked the score I was working in when the marimba first started misbehaving; I used a glassando marking for wind chimes, and I presume that that may have triggered something involving the marimba.  Just to mention a few clarifying details that might help solve this riddle in the long run, no other staves are affected, new scores that I have started since then act the same way, I have restarted my pc several times, and the only instruments affected are ";Marimba Syn Soft"; and ";Marimba Syn Soft LITE"; (this includes the normal directory of instruments and the ";Finale Specific"; directory).  I cannot think of anything else to do.  Maybe reinstalling Finale would help?  It would be a pain, but if anyone thinks it might help, I'll do it.

Thanks to everyone for brainstorming with me on this!

  A couple more details I forgot:
--The wind chimes and the marimba part are not in the same staff
--I'm not using a template of any kind

Thanks again!

If you're hearing strange sounds from Kontakt, you may want to look into your audio settings. In your signature, it indicates you're using the on-board soundcard, so you may want to check that Kontakt is configured to use the driver that performs best. Typically on a PC, this would be ASIO, but if it's a lower grade soundcard, you may not have that option. You may also want to check the sample rate to ensure it's set to the same rate your default sound is set to. If they don't match, strange things can result. For most people, 44100 is a good standard choice. It may be worth verifying this in your standard ";Sound/Audio"; control panel on your PC too.

One way you can troubleshoot, is to solo the staff (track) in question. Then instead of using either of the Synthetic Soft marimbas, try loading in a different marimba to that [i]same channel[/i]. My guess is that you may end up hearing the same result, meaning something under the surface in your score is causing some sort of pitch bend or transposition.

The other thing to be mindful of is whether multiple staves are sharing this same marimba channel. There may be markings or MIDI data in other staves affecting it.

Have you tried completely disabling Human Playback? I wonder if that might be causing things to go wonky.

While we're brainstorming, it might not be a bad idea to outline your problem on the [url=http://forum.makemusic.com/]Finale forums[/url] as well, or possibly by contacting their technical support. They're often stocked with a different arsenal of suggestions you may benefit from. I'm sure there's a reason it's happening. We just have to figure out where the culprit lies.