Having an efficient and ergonomic setup is essential for doing great work. Over the years, I have refined my setup to ensure I can be as fast, comfortable, and, most importantly, as musical as possible. You can’t be creative if you’re wasting time battling technology! In this series, I will share my setup tips and secrets.
How I open DAW files from Finale
Most projects I work on involve many scores. A film could have 50 cues, and a show I am arranging might have 25 songs. As the lead orchestrator and arranger, I am not only working on my own scores but also checking and proofing the scores of my team. This means I am opening many scores a day, each with a corresponding Digital Performer or Transcribe file, where I can reference the original material from the composer or artist. I used to have to click through folders and lists of files to find the correct one, but now I just use one keyboard shortcut, and the corresponding file opens and spots to the correct start bar.
The Keyboard Maestro script that makes all of this happen is quite complicated and tailored to my scores and setup. There are several parts to it. The first part looks at the file extension to determine which program it is using. In my case, it looks for DP, Cubase, or Transcribe. The reason it needs to know this is that the steps after opening the file are different for each program. Additionally, it needs to switch macro sets for my jog shuttle so it controls the correct program.
The second part involves capturing the starting position within Digital Performer (DP), opening the correct DP project file, and ensuring that DP closes any open files without saving (since DP can only have one file open at a time). It will also handle and dismiss any pop-up dialogs that appear. Afterward, it moves DP to my left monitor and positions the playback marker at the previously captured cue start point. Finally, it switches back to Finale, ensures the score is displayed in page view, and maximizes its window.
Next up, how to control DP in the background.