If you’re interested in notating a performance that’s currently stored in a hardware or software sequencer, you have several options. If your sequence is stored in a sequencing program (software), you can usually transfer it to Finale by saving it as a standard MIDI file; read your sequencer’s instructions, then see To import a MIDI file for instruction on converting a MIDI file to standard notation.

If the sequence is stored in a physical (hardware) sequencer, or if you have a second computer equipped with its own MIDI interface, you can plug the sequencer (or extra computer) into your computer and play the sequence into the Transcription Mode window. As far as Finale is concerned, the MIDI signals it’s receiving in this way are no different from the ones you produce when you play your synthesizer. The Transcription Mode can record tracks simultaneously from as many MIDI channels as you like, and then transcribe up to four channels at a time.

To transcribe a sequence from a sequencer using the Transcription Mode

1. Create the empty score, including meter, key signature, and staff configuration. You can transcribe onto one or two staves at a time.
2. Click the HyperScribe tool .The HyperScribe menu appears.
3. Choose HyperScribe > Transcription Mode. Click the measure at which the transcription will begin. You enter the Transcription window. If the sequence is capable of providing a MIDI “click track,” or if you can add a separate track consisting solely of quarter-note (or some other value) “clicks” on a single pitch, you’ll save time in the long run, because Finale will be learning where the beats fall at the same time as it’s hearing the music. If your sequence does not contain a click track, skip to the instruction marked by the asterisk (*).
4. Choose Time Tag > Click Input. Specify the incoming MIDI signal that will serve as the click. The easiest way to enter the click description is to click Listen, and then play the click itself. Note that if the click itself is to be a pitch, make sure it’s either a very high or very low pitch—one that won’t be mistaken for a note in your sequence.
5. Click Ignore First Data Byte (so that it’s no longer selected). This checkbox essentially tells Finale whether or not it should be particular about the MIDI signal it’s interpreting as Time Tag information—in other words, whether or not to consider any key (or controller) to be a Time Tag. You don’t want this option selected, because you’re going to record both Time Tags and keyboard notes simultaneously.
6. Click OK (or press ENTER). If the clicks will be “tapping” any duration other than a quarter note, be sure to let Finale know by choosing the correct duration value from the First Tag is submenu of the Time Tag menu.
7. Click Record under the words Time Tag. If the sequence won’t be providing a click track, leave Play selected under the words Time Tag; you can add the Time Tags separately after you’ve recorded the sequence.

7. Click Wait Till. Finale is now in “pause” mode, where it will remain until it receives the first MIDI signal from the external sequencer.
8. Play the sequence. Click anywhere (except on a button) to stop recording. When you stop recording, you’ll see your music expressed as a sort of scrolling horizontal bar graph; the lengths of the bars indicate the durations of the notes, and their position in relation to the piano keyboard (left side of the screen) indicates their pitch. If you recorded the Time Tags (“click track”) as the sequence played, you’ll also see note icons at the top of the screen, indicating the placement of the beats.
9. To play your performance back, choose Edit > Select All; under the word Keyboard, click Play; then click Start. You hear the sequence played back. Note that Finale records the MIDI channel information from the sequence, too; when it plays back, it will transmit the MIDI signals over the same channels on which they were received. Keep this in mind if you’re having trouble hearing all the tracks in the sequence when you play it back.
10. If the sequence didn’t contain a click track, add Time Tags. See To transcribe a sequence.
11. Select the MIDI channel and pitch information to be transcribed by choosing Transcription Filter from the Transcription menu. The Transcription Filter dialog box appears, in which you can specify the range of notes within each MIDI channel you want transcribed.

For example, if your sequence contained tracks recorded on several different MIDI channels, you can now transcribe them onto individual staves, one at a time; if the flute and clarinet were both on channel 2, for example, enter 2 in the first MIDI channel text box. Then, to make sure you only transcribe the flute part, enter the highest and lowest notes of the flute’s register in the Key Range: High and Low text boxes. (To enter this information by playing it, click Listen; play the lowest note, and then the highest note of the range you want to specify.)

You can also use this high note/low note filter in reverse. If, for example, you specify a Low note that’s higher than the High note, you’ll have defined a range of notes you want to omit from the transcription; only notes lower or higher than the specified range will be transcribed.

12. Click Use Filters. You’ve just told Finale, in terms of MIDI channel and range of notes, what it should extract from the complete sequence for notation onto its own staff. When you’re finished transcribing this element, you can return to the Transcription window, choose Transcription Filter again, and specify the next MIDI channel setting to extract the next “track” out of the sequence, and so on, until you’ve filtered out each individual “track” from the sequence.
13. Choose Time Tag > Assign Measure Tags. For each downbeat, Finale automatically puts a tiny M above the other Time Tags in the Time Tag display area, according to the time signatures in the score itself.
14. If you’re transcribing onto two staves, choose Transcription > Split Point > Fixed or Moving. If you choose Fixed, a dialog box appears. Enter the number of a synthesizer key whose pitch you want to designate as the dividing point between upper staff (usually treble clef) notes and lower staff (usually bass clef) notes. (Or, if you prefer, click Listen and play the key.)

If you choose Moving, Finale will split a two-handed performance onto the correct staves (treble clef or bass clef) by tracking the positions of your hands as they move up and down the keyboard. Enter (or, by clicking Listen, play the interval of) the largest hand span (in half steps) that occurs in the sequence. As long as there’s a discernible gap between your two hands, Finale can track a changing split point automatically. Click OK to exit either Split dialog box.

15. Click Transcription > Quant Settings. The Quantization Settings dialog box appears.
16. Choose a smallest note value and type of quantization. Choose the smallest predominant note value in the piece. Select either Mixed Rhythms, Space Evenly (for a swing feel) or No Tuplets. See Quantization Settings dialog box for more information.
17. Click More Settings. The More Quantization Settings dialog box appears.
18. If you like, click Key Velocities, Note Durations.
19. Click OK twice.
20. If you like, click Save Continuous Data, and Save Tempo Changes. When the dialog box appears (when you click Save Tempo Changes), press ENTER.

These four options tell Finale to remember the precise feel of the original performance, and to keep this data handy for playback when you dismiss the dialog box. If you don’t choose these options, then when you play back the transcribed music from the score, Finale will simply play back the sheet music—mechanically reproducing the notes, but without expression or feeling—instead of an exact re-creation of your original performance.

21. Click the Transcribe button. If the results aren’t perfect, remember that your performance is still intact, in the Transcription window. Click the first measure of the transcribed notation to switch back into the Transcription Mode, where you can correct any split point or quantization settings; then click Transcribe again.

If you still don’t get good results and you can’t figure out what’s wrong, read the Quantization Settings Guide. If you discover occasional split-point errors in the transcription (where a right-hand note was notated on the left-hand staff, for example), see To correct split point errors.

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