My specs...
PC
Win 7
VDL 2.5.2
Kontakt4
Finale 2011b
Oxygen25 MIDI keyboard
Finale 2011 templates

After recently updating all my stuff to get to work on writing, I am running into a wall with the same things over and over again.  Here's the problem...

All mallet instrument entries, sounds and playback are great.  The Battery and Rack Combo instruments are quite the opposite. 

Snare R & LH hits are showing up as A&G above the staff (treble clef) the note heads appear black as I enter them and when I move to the next measure they change to dark orange.

Tenor and bass drums are the same. The sounds are fine but the entries are off slightly. 

Any of the rack combos are also WAY off of the correct entry.  A cymbal crash on Rack combo B sounds fine but entry wise it shows up many ledger lines below the staff.  Same with sus cym rolls only they show up many ledger lines above the staff.

All this to say... that I have checked the percussion layout designer and I select the correct percussion layout (it's already selected) and then I click edit.

All of the notes are already listed correctly for their sounds and assignments.  This is so frustrating!!!  There doesn't seem to be an answer. 


Please help!

There's a step missed somewhere.

If you go to the Snareline staff, double-click on a measure with the Staff Tool, go to Notation Style > Percussion > Select, what is the exact layout name selected for that staff?

Next, go to Window Menu > Instrument List. Locate the Snareline staff. What is the exact Perc. MIDI Map selected?

Does the same problem occur if you enter the notes via Simple Entry without a MIDI Keyboard? Are you sure you're pressing the correct keys on your MIDI keyboard?

Hey Justin,

I went to the percussion layout selection...

I made sure to exactly select VDL2.5 Snareline Manual Full/Lite (MW)

In Kontakt4 I selected Snareline Manual (MW)

Something that seems weird though... in the Instrument List I have assigned it as CH1 which syncs to the corresponding channel in Kontakt4, HOWEVER, the Perc MIDI Map at the far right of the menu says [i]VDL Snareline Manual[/i]

Does this mean that this Finale 2011 template will only allow VD Lite and Manual?

Ok so.....  I feel as though I've done everything correctly (set up wise).  There have been many views of this post but only 1 person who has helped?!?  Really?

Any advice from anyone would help.

Thanks,

That seems OK from a Setup Standpoint, unless I misunderstood your last post.

Can you post a file that this happens on? Also, as I asked before, does the same problem happen if you click in the notes with Simple Entry versus your MIDI keyboard?

When I tried to enter by simple entry I selected a quarter note and attempted to enter it.  I moved the mouse cursor over the ";C"; until it said ";Snare Section Hits LH";. 

I click to enter the note and I get an error window that says ";Finale 2011 for Windows has stopped working"; ";A problem has caused the program to stop working correctly.  Please close the program";

This happens every time I attempt to enter it in simple entry. 

When you go to the Window Menu > Instrument List, is the Percussion MIDI Map listing for the staff in italics?

Yes.  It says [i]VDL Snareline Manual[/i] same for tenors, bass, cymbals & rack combos.

All other staff lines have nothing listed in Perc MIDI Map

So is this a good or a bad thing?

It's a wrong thing. The defaults for the templates should be the VDL Manual for that specific staffs instrument. Meaning the snare staff has VDL Snareline Manual, tenor is assigned VDL Tenorline Manual, bass has VDL Bass Line Manual, etc. The rack/percussion staff should be Rack Combo A. The indoor template has a second rack for Drum Set.

Also, if it is in italics, it means Finale is unable to locate the proper Percussion MIDI Map XML file. Did you copy the XML files from the Finale 2011 Templates folder into the following folder?

C:\ProgramData*\MakeMusic\Finale 2011\MIDI Device Annotation

or:

C:\Users\(Your user name)\AppData*\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 2011\MIDI Device Annotation

*This is a hidden folder. To show hidden files and folders, go to Explorer's Organize Menu , Folder and Search Options, the View tab, and Show hidden files and folders.

Thank you both for your help with this.  I re-read all of the set up documentation and there was so much that I did not originally do (i.e. copying files to different folders).  In the end I had to go to the instrument list and click the drop down menus for the percussion MIDI Map and hand select ";VDLite Snareline, Tenorline"; etc.  and all of the sudden it works great! All the notation is where it's supposed to be and the sounds are correct. 

However, the percussion staff/ rack combo is still acting up and placing cymbal crashes and rolls all over the place in ledger lines etc. 

Any ideas for this?

Thanks again!

The VDLite layouts are for the sounds included with Finale not the full version of Virtual Drum Line.