Hi Sky Fire Forge, thanks for the report. I did a quick test and I’m not able to reproduce the issue on my machine. Here’s a screen recording: https://www.loom.com/share/f1216395c4d44d0c821a145462b23c26   The problem may be specific to your show, or it may be specific to your computer. Do the effects work properly if you go to ‘File > New show’ and add just these effects? If the effects don’t work properly in a different show, the problem is most likely specific to your computer. Unfortunately, those are the hardest problems to solve because they are almost impossible to reproduce on our end.

Hi Tim and Drew, I’m using PFX50MN-RS and it seems that all the stars flicker on and off simultaneously when it first launches.  The pics are of PFX50MN-RS (lower left), MN551 (lower right), and JY4-0190 (top shells) and I stepped thru a few sequential time codes with 10 ms spacing. These are with random turned on. Hopefully, the pics make sense. Is the simulation for PFX50MN-RS correct. There also seems to be similar phenomenon for JY3-0184 (not shown). Is the simulation correct?   Thanks, Tim  

  Sven wrote: Seems like I found a solution for my question about amplitudes. I bought the songs from Amazon and it seems to work better. Maybe they decrease the quality if you use a converter to download them. When you buy them all is good.   Hi Sven, amplitude primarily affects perceived loudness, it doesn’t directly correlate to audio quality. Amplitude represents the height of the waveform, which corresponds to the intensity of the sound. Higher amplitude signals represent louder sounds, while lower amplitude signals represent quieter sounds.

Seems like I found a solution for my question about amplitudes. I bought the songs from Amazon and it seems to work better. Maybe they decrease the quality if you use a converter to download them. When you buy them all is good.

Dirk and Tim, Thank you both for your help.

Hi Sven,   if the volume is also different you  are able to adjust that in Finale ! Make a right click on the music line and clci Set Volumen. Now you can adjust the tracks volume form 1 to 10 where 10 is maximum volume). You can do this also for all songs in the song window for all song.

  Pyro_7100000 wrote: Are all the videos that have just been uploaded to Youtube the winning cakes?   Not quite! The simulations are compilations of the best VDL descriptions submitted by the winning contestants with refinements made by the Finale team. Soon, we will publish a page with a break down of the VDL for each cake. Stay tuned!

  Sven wrote: Tim Jameson wrote: Sven wrote: Hello, again a technical question. In the picture below you can see the waveforms of 2 identical songs. One is downloaded from Amazon on Highest quality and the other from Youtube. As can be seen the peaks from the Youtube downloaded song are alot higher in Finale 3D [purple song] compared to the Amazon Music version. I did all the editing with legally downloaded Amazon songs and noticed it only afterwards. Could this lower intensity waveform be a problem? Thanks I don’t believe this is actually something that is “Finale related” and can’t see where it would affect anything. Did you happen to open both of them in Audacity (or similar audio editing software)? I’m curious if the same thing shows up there or not. My guess is the Youtube song was simply encoded with a higher amplitude than the one downloaded from Amazon. Thanks for the answer. Yes, I opened and compared both waveforms in Audacity and the same problem with the waveforms is present, i.e. the Amazon waveform has a lower amplitude. But if I get your point it doesn’t really matter for the show and I can keep using my Amazon tracks with lower amplitudes? Yes, that’s correct, just carry on with the Amazon tracks.  Good luck with the competition

  Tim Jameson wrote: Sven wrote: Hello, again a technical question. In the picture below you can see the waveforms of 2 identical songs. One is downloaded from Amazon on Highest quality and the other from Youtube. As can be seen the peaks from the Youtube downloaded song are alot higher in Finale 3D [purple song] compared to the Amazon Music version. I did all the editing with legally downloaded Amazon songs and noticed it only afterwards. Could this lower intensity waveform be a problem? Thanks I don’t believe this is actually something that is “Finale related” and can’t see where it would affect anything. Did you happen to open both of them in Audacity (or similar audio editing software)? I’m curious if the same thing shows up there or not. My guess is the Youtube song was simply encoded with a higher amplitude than the one downloaded from Amazon. Thanks for the answer. Yes, I opened and compared both waveforms in Audacity and the same problem with the waveforms is present, i.e. the Amazon waveform has a lower amplitude. But if I get your point it doesn’t really matter for the show and I can keep using my Amazon tracks with lower amplitudes?

  Sven wrote: Hello, again a technical question. In the picture below you can see the waveforms of 2 identical songs. One is downloaded from Amazon on Highest quality and the other from Youtube. As can be seen the peaks from the Youtube downloaded song are alot higher in Finale 3D [purple song] compared to the Amazon Music version. I did all the editing with legally downloaded Amazon songs and noticed it only afterwards. Could this lower intensity waveform be a problem? Thanks I don’t believe this is actually something that is “Finale related” and can’t see where it would affect anything.  Did you happen to open both of them in Audacity (or similar audio editing software)?  I’m curious if the same thing shows up there or not.  My guess is the Youtube song was simply encoded with a higher amplitude than the one downloaded from Amazon.