Finale - Not Responding

What is Finale's problem!?!? Almost every time I try to get it to play back the piece I'm writing it stops responding!

Is there any known fix for this or have I just used too many key-switches etc.?

Impossible to answer without knowing more about your computer, the file, etc.

That's my computer's specs and the file (Finale 2009) and a PDF of the same file are attached

[String Quartet] - II.mus

I can't look at the .mus at the moment (at work), but from the .pdf file, you shouldn't be having any issues. The only thing that gives me pause is that you only have 2GB of RAM - Vista pretty much requires 2GB just to run.

Once I can look at the .mus, I'll update this thread with any additional info that can help. I can't see what you're using for playback.

Notationally, you should be enclosing the two violin staves in a curly brace, not a straight bracket. Also, don't use 8va markings for string instruments, unless you're *well* above the treble clef (therefore, typically violins only...). Your viola part can be placed in treble clef for those sections if necessary.

You might try running 2009 in Windows XP compatibility mode and seeing what happens, though I've never had any problem with running it just in Vista.

Thanks for the help, sadly running it in XP compatibility mode didn't work. This hasn't happened except with this piece, and originally I only had 512MB of RAM.

Also, try restarting your computer. Finale benefits from restarts, I've notice from other forums.

It's been happening over a period of weeks!

Finale doesn't seem to be running well with vista...

I've used Printmusic on my desktop on XP, and it worked fine until I switched to vista. It just has crashes whenever I try to playback or save.

Now on my laptop (with vista also), I can't save it as an audio file, and this is a brand new laptop.

I was able to play the file without any difficulty. I'm thinking that your use of the KS instruments, in combination with your 2GB of RAM, may be causing errors.

You might want to try reinstalling Finale.

If makes any difference, it only happens when I try to play from part-way through, it usually plays fine if I start from the beginning

Its a lack of ram. I have the same problem and just don't have the money to fix it. Try using save as audio file and then setting the playback to the space you want to hear at the moment.

What is Finale's problem!?!? Almost every time I try to get it to play back the piece I'm writing it stops responding!

Is there any known fix for this or have I just used too many key-switches etc.?

OMG! THAT ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME! AND IT FREEZES AND I HAVE TO SHUT THE PROGRAM DOWN WITHOUT SAVING!!!!!!!!!!

Save early, save often.

Or... just switch to Sibelius... :)

, which also crashes. Flint's advice holds true for Sibelius as well as Finale.

(Sibelius' Auto-save isn't foolproof. It's possible to lose some really important stuff despite it.)

, which also crashes. Flint's advice holds true for Sibelius as well as Finale.

(Sibelius' Auto-save isn't foolproof. It's possible to lose some really important stuff despite it.)

Well... I've used it for 6 years and never had a problem with it.

That's all I'm saying.

*shrug* And I've used Finale for 12 years. Your point being...?

It's like Mac users saying that Macs crash less. That's a lie, too. I've used both, and ultimately ditched the Mac because I got tired of have to try to rescue the thing so damn often. Windows XP crashed on me ONCE in the 5~ years I used it (when attempting to install iTunes... LOL). Windows Vista crashed on me TWICE in the past 2 years (both were driver issues from a third party company). I'll take that over my old "so, when's the Mac going to crash this week?" experiences.

Entrusting *any* program (or OS, for that matter) to auto-save things for you is an exercise in futility. Save early, save often. Don't rely on auto-save... since frequently, auto-save is what's going to cause the crash to begin with.

*shrug* And I've used Finale for 12 years. Your point being...?

I give up.

I said that they could try Sibelius instead of Finale (since it is giving so many problems, as evidence by the first page of this thread AND almost every thread in this category of the forum). Someone said "yes, but Sibelius has problems too." I said that that has not been my experience.

That's all. There's nothing to argue about.

Yeah, definitely get into the habit of pressing ctrl+s often - very often. Finale 2009 runs on my vista machine with no difficulty (actually, I seem to have missed out on all of the supposed vista problems). However, my computer has more RAM - this could be an issue like others have said, since Garritan uses up a lot of RAM. I know someone whose Finale is prone to freezing up due to a lack of RAM.

The issue probably isn't your OS. It might be a driver, or your audio card, or even your graphics card. I would make sure that all of your drivers, esp the ones for your audio and graphics are up to date. Try and free up some of your RAM by disabling startup programs and processes that eat up RAM unnecessarily. Go to Start Menu -> type in 'msconfig' -> and check out the Startup tab for things you can cut back on.