Finale 2011: How do I change an instrument in the score?

I have 5 staves in my score. I'd like to change the Trumpet to a Clarinet (the second staff). I cannot find any information on how to do this in the manual. This seems a simple job...

I would like the score to say "Clarinet" instead, and I want to have it play a clarinet. I keep screaming at the score, but it doesn't change!

Much appreciation if someone could answer this simple question. peace, Sylvester

If you're keeping the staff in the same position, you can click on the Staff Tool, right click the box that comes after the staff name in any given system, then click on Edit Staff Attributes. In there you can change both the Full Staff Name and the Abbr. Staff Name (you can also change transposition, but you won't need to if you're going from a Bb trumpet to a Bb clarinet). Next you can go to MIDI/Audio menu > Instrument Setup > Instrument List and change the midi value for any given staff (or staff layer).

I was close, but I needed this advice very much - and I need a little more.

I was able to change to clarinet, as clearly instructed. Thank-you.

I have GPO4, and I suspect that I have not set my score up right in the first place to "play through VST." It is checked off in the MIDI/Audio drop box.

I think it was playing through softsynth before (it sounded pretty lousy), but I successfully stopped that tonight. I deleted the "Instruments" [softsynth] (and I replaced them again, just in case). Now neither softsynth nor VST GPO4 sound.

GPO4 has all the right instruments assigned, and it seems to be properly linked to Finale 2011. But I hear nothing when I play it.

Have you any idea why?

thanks for your expertise.

I had a look at your website. I really enjoyed your music, and we have something in common.

I was a student for a while at Queens College, at that time at about 1990. One of my teachers was Bruce Saylor, who allowed me to more or less do my own thing, since the theory class was not advanced enough. I was an organist, not so much a composer's composer. I wrote stuff for church use.

I saw your works being played at LeFrak concert hall, and I became suspicious. Prof. Saylor is a fine composer, and he knows enough to keep anyone engaged for years.

I was using Finale in those days - it was very hard for me, since I was nearly PC illiterate. I came back to Finale in 2011, and it is still immensely difficult, but more possibilities exist.

peace and best wishes, sylvester

I fiddled around with it, and I think I have worked out my sound problem. It now plays with different qualities, both "through VST" and "through MIDI."

Thanks for leading the way - I have actually accomplished some understanding of GPO4 in the process!

peace

Bruce! Yes, he was my comp instructor at Queens and he is fantastic. Nice to meet another alum, and thanks for checking out my music.

I'm sorry to get back to this post so late, but I'm glad you figured out what to do.

When you use the expression tool, you can change the patch with that. For me, I'll make an expression saying "Clarinet" , go to "Edit"; "playback" and click on the pop-up menu to "patch." Assign a channel to that and have that set on your VST player or whatever you use.

This is how I trigger "pizz" and "mutes!"

Hope that helps!

-Sir Wick