Oh yes, it's active.

Andi - Yes to all questions. I'll start over and walk us both through the process. Sorry, but my line breaks aren't translating when I post this, so it all runs together. 1. For simplicity, I'll start by opening VSL-SE_HumanPlayback.MUS to eliminate any possible contamination from my own templates. 2. From MIDI/Audio menu, Instrument Setup, VST Instruments, selecting VSL from the pull down menu in Ch 1-16 slot 3. clicking on the edit button (looks like a pencil) brings up the VSL main dashboard 4. click on Matrix Assign, expand Special Edition Matrix Files folder, expand 22 Trumpets folder 5. double click 14S Trumpet ensemble, it loads into the first matrix slot on the left 6. play a few notes on the VSL keyboard to confirm I've got sound, close the VSL dashboard 7. close the VSL Instruments dialog, which takes me back to the blank score 8. click on Playback Settings, HP Preferences, Instrument Techniques, expand Vienna Instruments folder 9. confirm there are 3 articulations for Brass (sustained C#0, staccato C0, legato D#0) 10. confirm Vienna Instruments - Special Edition is the 'current' preference set 11. Save and Close, OK, brings me back to the score 12. Window, Instrument List, change Grand Piano to Trumpet and assign it to midi channel 1, X to close the dialog box 13. I enter some notes in the score: 2 half notes and a whole note. I have Playback checked so I hear the trumpet as I enter. 14. click Play and all three notes are played as staccato, which is a problem since they are long notes 15. back to Playback Settings, HP preferences, Instrument Techniques, Vienna Instruments folder 16. Show Details on Brass:Sustained, I change the 'Instr.' from 'Brass' to 'Trumpet' on all 3 articulations 17. no difference in performance 18. I change the Apply Only filter from 'If device name contains: Vienna' to No filter on all 3 articulations 19. no difference in performance 20. back to the VSL Dashboard, I click on cell 4A (legato) and exit 21. performance is now legato 22. this is consistent on all VSL instruments I've used so far. That's my story. Hope you can help! Tracy

Sorry, but it doesn't help. I've used my own setups and get the same result. Is this the end of the story?

Did what you suggested. Started from scratch with Setup Wizard. Created a one-staff score with Violin as the only instrument. Vienna Ensemble doesn't currently work (see separate thread) so I used VSL. Set up HP Prefs to use the prefs from your website. All notes play staccato only - no legato or sustained. I think this issue may be a problem in Finale. In experimenting with Finale's Garritan Orchestra keyswitches, I'm finding them to be non-working, too. However, with both Garritan and Vienna, if I include the keyswitch note (C0, C#0, D#0) in the actual score, I can successfully switch articulations. It should also work by adding a staccato marking or 'pizz' text expression, but it doesn't.

Okay, through trial and error I have learned that I can get Finale articulations to trigger the appropriate VSL cells if I rename the filter in the HP Prefs from 'Vienna' to 'VSL'. I think once we figure out how to get Vienna Ensemble to load the VSL libraries, the standard HP Prefs will work. Just a hunch. So my other thread in this forum is the main issue now. Thanks!