Can anyone help me to get my Motif ES and Finale music-notation software to talk to each other?  As a 66-year-old, I no doubt need some young whippersnapper who talks the language of these two things intuitively to guide me. 

Supposedly, Finale speaks GM and so does the ES, but I can’t get them to communicate.  What I am trying to do is this:  I have entered the entire orchestral score of Rhapsody in Blue in Finale.  I used 16 tracks.  What I would like to do is play the file from Finale through the ES, so that I can mute the piano track and play the piano on the keyboard live while the Motif plays the rest of the instruments.  That should be possible, shouldn’t it?

Is there anyone out there who has used both of these things together (the Motif ES and Finale)?  Can you help?  Sometimes, Finale will play through the ES, but it plays the wrong instruments.  Sometimes, it will play the top 8 tracks (though not on the right instruments) but not the bottom 8 tracks.  I’m pretty proficient in Finale, but pathetic with the Motif ES.  I would appreciate any assistance, in the simplest of instructions suitable for a kindergartner, that I can get.

I’m putting this in both Motifator’s and Finale’s Forums in hopes that someone might read it and be willing to help.  Thanks.

bloomalum - 17 April 2009 06:12 PM

Can anyone help me to get my Motif ES and Finale music-notation software to talk to each other?  As a 66-year-old, I no doubt need some young whippersnapper who talks the language of these two things intuitively to guide me. 

Supposedly, Finale speaks GM and so does the ES, but I can’t get them to communicate.  What I am trying to do is this:  I have entered the entire orchestral score of Rhapsody in Blue in Finale.  I used 16 tracks.  What I would like to do is play the file from Finale through the ES, so that I can mute the piano track and play the piano on the keyboard live while the Motif plays the rest of the instruments.  That should be possible, shouldn’t it?

Is there anyone out there who has used both of these things together (the Motif ES and Finale)?  Can you help?  Sometimes, Finale will play through the ES, but it plays the wrong instruments.  Sometimes, it will play the top 8 tracks (though not on the right instruments) but not the bottom 8 tracks.  I’m pretty proficient in Finale, but pathetic with the Motif ES.  I would appreciate any assistance, in the simplest of instructions suitable for a kindergartner, that I can get.

I’m putting this in both Motifator’s and Finale’s Forums in hopes that someone might read it and be willing to help.  Thanks.

Well, I’m not an expert for Finale, but since you said that Finale speaks GM, than you should do this:

1. Go to Song mode and select empty song.
2. Press Mixing, than Job and select [F1] Init.
3. Check GM option and press Enter.

Now your Motif mix is initialized as General MIDI (GM) with Acoustic Piano on all parts except part 10 which is set to GM Drum Kit. So, when you start your application (Finale) your voices in Motif will corespond to GM settings in Finale and you could than set Piano part to Mute and play it by yourself.
Hope that this helped you.

Alex

Thanks, Alex.  I’ll try it and let you know if it worked.

Well, I’m not a young whippersnapper, but it sounds like you’re taking the long way around the barn to me. Here’s the easy way to do what you want to do.

First, get a small cheap mixer something like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV6/

Take your audio output from your computer (you can use the headphone out for instance) and plug it into the mixer. You’ll need a regular computer stereo audio cable (1/8 inch plugs) and an adapter on one end to convert it to two 1/4 inch plugs to go into the mixer.

Take your line outputs from the ES and plug them into another channel with 1/4 inch plug cables. Run the output from the mixer to whatever you are using to run your speakers.

Now in Finale, just mute the piano tracks and let Finale be the main sound generator. The ES can now just be the piano, and there you go.

If you want to record it, record the audio output from the mixer.

I’d love to get ahold of your file, by the way…

DrDel