The Mixer

As you listen to your document, you may discover a need to adjust the balance of individual staves. For example, you may want to increase the volume of the flute section, or move the trumpet section to the right side of the stage using panning controls. You can use Finale’s Mixer controls to make these adjustments. The Mixer allows you to make real-time playback adjustments to the full score, or each staff individually. The mixer settings you apply are post-processed on top of existing playback data, so all existing MIDI data, including HP, is left as-is (as if you were sending the music from your computer through a conventional mixer). Mixer settings appear in the Mixer window and Staff Controls. There is even a view, Studio View, designed specifically for auditioning your score. To view these controls, do the following.

Volume, panning, and instrument controls in the Mixer and Studio View Staff Controls are linked. A change to a setting in one of these two places applies to both.

1. From the View menu, choose Studio View. Your music is stretched across the page as if you were in Scroll View. The Staff Controls appear to the left of your staves. The Staff Controls are permanently affixed to the left of your staves in Studio View (and only available in Studio View).
2. From the Window menu, choose Mixer. The Mixer window appears. All the staff controls appear at first. In the following example the Mixer is minimized. Mac users, click and drag the lower right-hand corner to adjust the size of the mixer. Windows users, move your cursor over the edge until you see a double-sided arrow, then click and drag to resize the mixer.

The Master controls apply to the full score and include a volume slider, reverb dial and room size dial. Staff Controls include a volume slider, pan dial, and instrument selector, as well as Solo, Mute, and Record buttons. All Staff Control settings are redundant to the staff controls in the Mixer. All Mixer/Staff Control settings are saved with the document, so your music will sound the same the next time you open it.

Now, let’s take a quick tour of the Mixer controls and explore some real-time playback effects:

3. Click the Play button in the Playback Controls. The following steps should be performed during playback. It is a short piece, so if you reach the end, just click the play button again and continue where you left off.
4. Click the Master Volume Slider in the Mixer and drag to adjust the volume. Then, to make fine adjustments, use the up and down arrows to move the slider incrementally. You can also view these changes, or enter them manually, in the Instrument list.
5. Click the INST LIST button at the bottom of the Master control pane. The Instrument List appears. Click the Title Bar at the top and position it so it is not obstructing the Mixer or Staff Controls.
6. In the Staff Controls on the left side of the screen. Click and drag a Pan dial counterclockwise as far as possible for one of the Piano staves. When you release the mouse button, a small box displays the current value. Notice the piano shifts to the left speaker or headphone. Also notice the sympathetic response in the Pan text boxes of the Instrument List. You can also type a MIDI value (1-127) in any of these text boxes to specify a precise value.

Volume, panning, and instrument controls in the Mixer and Studio View Staff Controls are linked. A change to a setting in one of these two places applies to both.

7. To the left of the String staff, Click the “S” button in the Staff Controls. You are now listening to a string solo. Click “S” again to hear all the staves. The “M” performs the opposite function of muting a staff. You can mute or solo as many staves as you want.
8. Finally, click the Reverb dial and drag clockwise. The Reverb and Room Size effects apply only to the overall output.

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