No Playback in Notepad?

[Brawler4Ever]

There is no sound played when I place a note correctly. However, if I place, say, a quarter note over an eighth note when there's no room, it still plays the error sound like normal. But it never plays the actual note that I place, whether it's correctly placed or not.

[InsigTurtle]

Have you checked the audio setup? (under device setup in the MIDI/Audio menu)

[Echo]

I've had that issue before, but it fixed itself whenever I restarted my computer. Maybe try a system restore?

[Brawler4Ever]

I did a System Restore this morning, and now it works!

Thanks to everyone for your input, it means a great deal to me that I'm able to continue arranging again!

[holland_oates89]

I'm obviously way too late to the party here, but I'm glad to hear things are working for you again!

Based on what you described, it sounds like either your MIDI playback device got changed somehow, or if you use an ASIO driver on your version of Windows it is possible that Finale's playback engine can 'seize' the ASIO driver and occasionally prevent it from working.

Just in case this happens to you again, try these steps:

1. Close NotePad.
2. Close any audio applications.
3. Press the Windows Key and R at the same time to open a run command.
4. Type the following directory EXACTLY (but without quotes): "%appdata%" - This will take you to your user-level AppData folder.
5. Look for a MakeMusic folder, then a Finale NotePad 2012 folder inside. It might just be named NotePad 2012... I don't remember because I don't have a Windows computer with me but I can check tomorrow at work.
6. Inside this Finale NotePad 2012 folder, look for two files named "NOTEPAD2012.INI" (or something similar) and "FINMIDI.INI" - Delete both of them. And don't worry, it won't break your computer.
7. Restart your computer.
8. Launch Finale again. You'll be asked to reconfigure your MIDI driver - make sure it is set to SmartMusic SoftSynth.

That should do the trick, but if you're still having trouble feel free to contact tech support at http://makemusic.custhelp.com/app/ask

Even though NotePad is a free product if you're having a technical issue and you submit a case our Customer Success team should be able to help get you set up. If you do contact them, heh please don't bring me up because they'll find it funny and throw things at me. Thankfully they don't know my username... yet.