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[Y2K]

I'm on a MacOS9lives version of OS9 with a blueberry clamshell iBook, and I'm having difficulties getting Finale Allegro 2002 to output general MIDI sound.

Looks great because I'm already familiar with the later versions so there's no steep learning curve, but unfortunately I can't hear anything during playback nor when inserting notes.
I don't have an external MIDI device, but why should I? Virtual Drummer and MidiGraphy for example are playing general MIDI sounds straight out of the box, and I was expecting Finale to do the same because the capability to play back those sounds way or another already seems to exist. Nothing fancy, just the basics.


In the MIDI settings window, the MIDI system "Allegro MIDI Driver" is chosen by default. When that is chosen, as input and output channels you only have the option to choose Modem or Printer ins and outs.

I installed some extras from the image.
First, FreeMIDI, which it recommended. In the MIDI settings window, that option will show "None" in both output and input lists, i.e it has no options.

Finally, there's Open Music System. As Output Device in Allegro Channel 1-16, you can either pick QuickTime Music, studio Patches pgm chg or ∞ IAC BUS #1.
If you pick one of them, for the subsequent output channels 17-32, 33-48 and 49-64 you can only pick whichever of the three is remaining.
As input device, you can only pick ∞ IAC BUS #1.

I tried to mess around with these without understanding what they really refer to, and unsurprisingly, none of them seem to result into output sound.

When "Allegro MIDI Driver" is chosen, even the playback cursor won't move from the beginning, but with the other two, it starts to scan the bars as expected.

My last pre-OSX memory from notation software is from the late 90s, a Performa running Passport Encore; We never had an external MIDI controller or sound generator hooked up to it, but I vividly remember that in order to make it play barebones MIDI sounds, you had to select "use MIDI Manager" from the menu and that was it. But that was Encore, and if I've understood anything at all, MIDI Manager was a pre-OS9 thing.

How should I configure this for sound?

[IIO]

if you send MIDI over OMS or freemidi you will usually have to enable some virtual device, and when i am not wrong, OS9´s onboard "quicktime music instruments" is off by default and has to be enabled for midi input in the quicktime controlpanel.

[Y2K]

Okay... If I go to  > Control Panels > Quicktime Settings > Music, I'll find QuickTime Music Synthesizer there and it's already selected. If I edit the list of available synthesizers (not to actually edit but to see what's in there), For QT Music Synthesizer, it has Channel 1 selected for it and you can't change that. Also, for MIDI port, it has "Studio Patches pgm chg" and you can't change that either.

I see that there's a new item that has appeared to Control Panels, called "OMS Preferred Device". The window says "Simple MIDI applications which only communicate with a single device should use" and you either pick QuickTime Music (selected already) or "Studio Patches pgm chg" or "∞ IAC Bus #1".

Back to Allegro's MIDI window to try various settings, unfortunately I still can't get sound. Because I didn't really change anything, I guess. But I wonder how the other software are able to utilize that regardless... Somehow this Mac already has the capability, but Finale doesn't know how to use it.

EDIT: ADDITION

I had installed Finale 3.7 earlier, but it looked a bit too rough for my use so I kept looking for something slightly more refined...
I tested it now, and noticed that it isn't playing sound either. But if I expand its playback controls palette, there's a setting "play sound through internal speakers" or something like that, and that makes the sound audible! It never occurred to me that it might *not* play sound through the internal speaker in a situation where there are absolutely no audio output devices plugged into the computer, and I'm hearing all the usual sounds from the internal speaker...
Unfortunately I don't see any similar setting in Allegro 2002 so either it doesn't exist because it assumes that automatically, or, I can't find it...

EDIT: ADDITION 2

Hey! In Allegro 2002, under Options menu, there's a setting "Internal Speaker Playback" which is equivalent to what I just described above. Why that has to be a separate trick when there are no external speakers plugged in and the UI sounds are coming from the internal speakers is absolutely beyond me. I'd better share this little tip to the abandonware sites in case anyone else out there is losing their patience over the basics.

I was messing with this for about 2 days by the time when I decided to ask, but isn't it always that by the time when you get to your GP's office, all the evidence of the pain is gone...  Well, hopefully the record of this post can help someone in the future.

[IIO]

some day we have to write a better QT instruments file for people like you.

i think its piano sounds terrible - while its OSX successor is suprisingly good.

[Y2K]

Haha that would be nice, as long as it doesn't mean requiring (another) tower Mac.

Yeah well, I don't know if anyone really uses notation software to enjoy the musicality per se; When I want great sound design and expression, I just use a DAW on a modern-ish computer. I mostly notate as an exercise, when some music I like has never been released as a transcription. And that's a lot of music.
But I would like to try notating as a means of composing too; Normally I'm always with a keyboard and a DAW which gives a very different approach to composing than if you're just literally writing it. An OS9 iBook is old and intimate enough as an environment to make you focus on that task in a way that you couldn't do on a modern desktop machine. Notation software forces you to focus on the quality of melody and harmony instead of getting lost into browsing samples and sounds eternally, just to get overwhelmed by the choices.