Tuning Sibelius or Finale

The translation by to some degree Sibelius (kontakt player) and Finale of the score to audio almost always give me goosebumps. Tuning is a relative art, but come on!

It makes my teeth crack and inside my head a vain snaps. Am I the only one who notices this?

What to do?

No, you are NOT the only one to notice this! It drives me crazy, too. I don't know whether the samples were recorded out-of-tune, or whether the absolute tuning is occasionally jarring because the playback is not able to make the kind of microtonal adjustments an experienced live player would naturally make. G as the third in an E-flat major chord is going to be a cent or two higher than it would be as the fifth of a C major chord. I don't notice the problem as much with keyboard samples...more in the strings and winds.

Anyone have any idea what is behind this situation?

I don't think you'd easily notice a difference of two cents. Usually, we say that the just noticable difference is five cents.

I sometimes experience this problem with MIDI files as well (exported using Sibelius?). It might be a soundcard issue.

I don't think you'd easily notice a difference of two cents. Usually, we say that the just noticable difference is five cents.

I wasn't trying to be exact. But yes, you're probably right. :)

Whether two cents or ten, it's still out of tune here and there, and we're not talking about general MIDI, but playback within Finale or Sibelius itself. Finale uses some moderately sophisticated samples and/or synthesized sounds.