Finale (computer program)

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Finale is the flagship program of a series of scorewriters created by MakeMusic for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Several less expensive versions of Finale, with subsets of the main program's features, are made. These include Finale NotePad, Finale NotePad Plus, Printmusic, and Allegro. Two more such versions, Finale Guitar and Finale Songwriter, have feature sets tailored to different musicians' needs.

1 Operation
2 Version history
3 Capabilities
4 "Lite" versions
5 Prominent users
6 Criticisms and known issues
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Operation

The default document is a 31-measure piece for a single treble clef instrument. A Setup Wizard, the preferred method of starting a score, consists of a set of dialogs to specify the instrumentation, time signature, key signature, pick-up measure, title and composer.

There is a Main Tool palette, and the right tool must be selected to work on a given score element, e.g., Smart Shape tool to work on trill lines and dynamics hairpins, Staff tool to work on staves. Also, there are four layers of music that can overlap. (The operation of Finale bears at least some surface similarities to Adobe Photoshop.) Each tool has an associated menu just to the left of the Help menu, available only when that particular tool is selected.

On the screen, Finale color codes some elements of the score as a visual aid, on the print-out all score elements are black. With the right tool selected, many adjustments are possible either by clicking and dragging or by entering measurements in a dialog box.

Finale 2006c under Mac OS X displaying the score of Michael Haydn's Symphony in D minor. The program color-codes some score elements on the screen.

Finale automatically takes care of many of the more mechanical aspects of music notation, such as stem direction and alignment of different rhythmic values. For other things, the program makes a good guess, such as enharmonic spelling from a piano keyboard: it is smart enough to spell F-sharp rather than G-flat in a V/V chord in C minor, but some chords, for instance V+, it might understandably use G-flat instead of F-sharp.

[edit] Version history

As of December 2006, the current shipping version of Finale is Finale 2007. A key new feature of this release is an integrated "linked" score and part management system. A properly-set-up "full score for extraction" can now contain all the data and formatting necessary to generate a full set of linked ensemble parts, which are ensconced within a single Finale master document. Limitations on the scope of custom formatting between parts and conductor score (such as the size and formatting of measure numbers) suggest that this new feature is targeted to media production work, where quick turnaround and accuracy is a crucial factor, rather than publishing. The 2007 release also is a Universal binary, and runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

The most advertised new feature of Finale 2006 (released in the summer of 2005) was the Garritan Personal Orchestra, an integrated sound library with upgradeable selections from Garritan Personal Orchestra for more lifelike playback than the SmartMusic SoftSynth (which is still included in the program). In addition to Page View and Scroll View, the 2005 release added StudioView™, a display mode which is similar to Scroll View with the addition of a sequencer interface. This feature offers an environment for creation, evaluation, and experimentation with different ideas in a multi-track environment. In StudioView, an additional staff shows up called TempoTap™, allowing for complete control over rubati, accelerandi, and ritardandi.

Finale 2004, released in early 2004, was the first release to run natively on Macintosh computers running OS X "Panther". This was considered a "late" release by MakeMusic, and full support for the features of OS X was limited at first. More comprehensive support was brought "on-line" through maintenance releases going forward into 2004. Finale 2004 also continued to support PowerPC Macs running OS 9. This release shortened the development cycle for Finale 2005, which was released the following August. While the number of new features in Finale '05 were necessarily limited, this was the first release to have both Windows and Mac versions on the same distribution CD.

The lead programmer for Finale version 1.0 in 1988 was Phil Farrand, better known in some circles as an author of Nitpicker's Guides for Star Trek and The X-Files. He wrote the original version software for Coda Music Software, which was later sold to Net4Music and then became MakeMusic After Finale version 3.0, Finale's marketers made the switch to years as identifiers for each new release, starting with Finale 97.

[edit] Capabilities

Finale can notate anything from a textbook chorale to a cut-out score including new symbols invented by the composer. It is also capable of working with guitar tablature and includes a jazz font similar to that used in the Real Book. Virtually all score elements can be positioned or adjusted, either by dragging (with the appropriate tool selected) or by using dialog boxes with measurements in inches, centimeters or picas.

Music can be entered by playing on a MIDI instrument connected to the computer, typing pitches and durations on the computer keyboard, or by clicking with the mouse. Using the Hyperscribe tool, a piece may be played in tempo and Finale will attempt to transcribe it. It's also possible to play notes one at a time and use the computer keyboard to indicate durations. From Finale 2001 onward, the program included Mic Notator, a module able to notate pitches played on an acoustic instrument via a microphone connected to the computer. Although MIDI sequencing is not the program's primary purpose, newer versions can create MIDI files that take into account stylistic variances, such as Baroque dotted note interpretation.

Finale 2004 also introduced FinaleScript, a scripting language for the automation of tasks such as transcribing music for other instruments to use.

[edit] "Lite" versions

Several "lite" versions of Finale, each with a subset of Finale's features, are made.

Finale NotePad is a free version with extremely limited staff and notation capabilities. Finale NotePad Plus is the cheapest purchaseable version, adding the ability to save as a MIDI file. PrintMusic is a more expensive and somewhat more robust version, and Allegro is a further superset of PrintMusic.

Finale Guitar is a specialized version with Finale's full complement of tablature features, and Finale Songwriter has features needed by those writing scores with lyrics.

[edit] Prominent users

Finale is used by large publishers such as the Hal Leonard Corporation and by prestigious schools such the Juilliard School, Millikin University, and Berklee College of Music. Academy Award-winning movies such as Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Spider-Man 2, Sideways, Polar Express, The Village, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ and Finding Neverland were all scored with Finale.

[edit] Criticisms and known issues

Although giving great control over a score, the abundance of features and dialog boxes with measurements is a double-edged sword, as it can make Finale less than straightforward to use. This has led to Finale's reputation for having a "high learning curve". In the face of competition from the well-known program Sibelius, claimed by its supporters to be renowned for its ease of use, recent versions of Finale have attempted to address this difference. Many users of Finale believe it to be better oriented toward music and easier to use than Sibelius, while others criticize it as being more oriented toward music engravers and less toward composers.

These are some of the most common problems users run into when using Finale, which contribute to its less-than-inviting reputation:

Users sharing files between different versions of Finale will notice that it is not fully backwards-compatible. Newer versions of Finale can open older files, but a newer file cannot be converted to an older version. Finale 2006 added a feature to export files to MusicXML. Finale 2003 (for Windows) and later can read this format, partially solving the problem of backwards-compatibility. However, not all the "lite" versions of Finale have support for MusicXML.
The last measure of the piece often takes up a whole system, even if it only contains whole notes. This can be adjusted by moving the measure up to the previous line or adjusting the width of system, but is not fixed automatically.
Although Finale automatically avoids some collision of elements, it does not address this completely. Finale 2007 avoids vertical collision of lyrics and score.
The pick-up measure option takes care of notes, but sometimes not rests. The last measure of a piece does not automatically account for a pickup at the beginning. Only the full version of Finale has a proper way to fix the measure. Another option is to hide the rests that appear after the final note.
The lyric "Type into Score" option does not handle multiple fonts per syllable (this is an issue when using elision slurs)
The syllables can frequently get lost (or doubled) when using a combination of "Edit Lyrics," "Click Assignment," and "Type into Score." Often there is no quick fix.
The Text Search and Replace doesn't always find every occurrence [1]
Many users report that the scanning recognition software included with Finale to import scanned TIFF graphics offers unsatisfactory results. However, this is also reported to be the case with the scanning software packaged with Sibelius.
Finale does not generate first endings correctly. This has been a long standing bug. When first endings extend more than one system, the lines from the first ending bracket trail off of one system and off the page. MakeMusic has gotten around this by using a non-standard way of showing first endings; they just show the bracket for the first measure and the last measure before the repeat. The standard workaround is to use a smartshape line to attach the brackets.
When adding a new instrument to your score, Finale will not assign it its own channel. Instead, it will assign it to channel 1, so any new instruments you add will essentially be clones of the first instrument in the score (or whatever instrument happens to be assigned to channel 1). This issue was not solved in Finale 2007.