What is so different about 2008 and/or 2009?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Who's moved on to Finale 2009?
I'm still working in Finale 2007b and there are glitches that I've learned to live with. For example, when copying a chord change, it may or may not generate guitar fretboards within the chord tool for any given chord type. When copying the chord change, more of the fretboards multiply/generate within that particular chord type (for example a Dom7+5.) You can have literally dozens of fretboards multiplying themselves within one chord type, and when it has too many of them in there, and you attempt to paste that chord one more time, the file may (probably will) crash and become corrupt. Due to this glitch I've lost HOURS of work. I called Finale and it was a 'known issue' in '07, and they say it's been fixed in '08.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
I'm slowly scrunching up the courage to install 2008, having kept it in the box on my desk for 9 months. I've got a lot of writing to do in the next few months, and in a way prefer the devil I know; I've learned to go into the chord symbols and clear out those fretboard diagrams on a periodic basis; that's spared me the 2 disasters I had last year. Guess I'll install 2008 and keep my fingers crossed.
I'd like to test drive 2008 and 2009...does anyone have it on their computer? Perhaps we can meet cause I'd like to check it out. Feel free to call me at 917 570 6609
Hi: I just installed 2009 (MAC), and so far, so good (but not very far: first tune). As some already know, there no longer is a Mass Mover tool, but it seems to be combined in the Measure Tool. I've run into my first glitch of trying to Select Partial Measures (I can't find it). I searched in Help, but there's nothing for "Partial Measures." Anyone have any suggestions? And to the person that asked to see it (Leosix62), I have it on my laptop, and can bring it to the A reading session later this month, or the first B group (I'm in the B group), if they want to see it. Thanks, SL
Anybody here that has used both Finale and Sibelius? I was once an avid Finale user (bootleg of 2004), but haven't been doing much copyist work in the last few years. Now I'd like to get back into it and I'm wondering which one to buy. I realize Finale is probably still the industry standard, but I don't know much about Sibelius and wonder if it has developed to the point of being comparable. Would some of my dated Finale experience apply to current versions of either Finale or Sibelius?
Hi Ben,
Candace here...I'm on Finale and have been for years. It's much more dense and I hear more difficult than Sibelius. I know Rich Shemaria is a Sibelius guy and writes alot of big band charts. You might want to ask him. I've talked to alot of writers about this, and the consensus is that Sibelius is much more user friendly. Finale users seem to be loyal to the program for various reasons. For me, it's that I've spent so much time learning to use it, that I'm sticking with it..or maybe I like to suffer!. If you're starting off new again, you might save yourself the headaches and go with Sibelius. One thing I LOVE about Finale is the customer support. You have unlimited access via phone or email..and I've called many times for help. Of course you'll have to have a legit copy to get support. The best price I found was online at J&R. Good luck!
Thanks Candace. I have a couple friends who use Sibelius. I'll ask them about the customer support. I should catch up with Rich Shemaria too. If you have his email address, could you send it to me?
I'd really like to find somebody who made the switch from Finale to Sibelius. I want to make sure I wouldn't be sacrificing any of the core functions I've learned to use on Finale if I do end up switching to Sibelius. I haven't done much digging on the subject yet, so if anybody has links to other forums that address the Finale vs. Sibelius debate then please pass them along.
Ben, as you know, I'm a hard core Sibelius user who is always considering going back to Finale only because I have a hard time finding copy work on just Sibelius. It seems Finale is still the industry standard. Ideally, if one can afford it, I think our best bet is to be fluent in both.
Candace mentioned the great tech support for Finale; Sibelius also has great support. I usually post problems to their forum and almost always get a reply from either another user or monitor within an hour at the latest.
If you ever want to try out Sib. and play around with it just to see, let me know and we'll set up a play date! :)
Hi guys - Tom Goehring here - I see lots of trepidation here (understandably) about upgrading to Finale 2009.
What I've experienced at the hands of some software companies (Microsoft is the biggest culprit) is that often a new version of a package gets rolled out with bugs and these bugs are addressed and fixed with free service packs or upgrades 4 or 5 months later (as complaints come in - in Microsoft's case, I suspect they roll out software knowing that its flawed). Finale 2008 made just such an upgrade available on their website after 2008 - I haven't had any major problems with 2008 after downloading that upgrade and, given that I was on 2003 before that, love 2008. Still, I'm reluctant to upgrade to 2009 because of potential roll-out issues and may wait four or five months to see how things unfold.
What Jake said about 2009 (combining the Mass Mover and Measure tools) is something I find really frustrating about Finale, namely that they move tools and menu options seemingly every roll-out. Nothing burns time like having to hunt through menus and toolbars for an item who's location you've memorized from a previous version.
That said, I really like having the score and parts bundled as one file - once you get a score set up, you just start plugging things in with minimal formatting of parts. I got everything together for the last reading in a few hours.
I'm going to invite Darcy Argue (former workshop member) to join this blog - he's a Finale beta-tester (and a Garritan rep at one point) - if he has time, he would be able to provide lots of insight to some of the issues being raised here (Jim actually had him in to BMI to do a Finale demonstration one year).
Tom G.
Hi everyone!! Does anyone know how to write in the Triangle for a major chord in Finale 2008? I always type in "Maj" and it looks stupid and it takes up too much room when there are a lot of chords in a measure. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you. MG
Hi Matt - don't know if you figured out how to get the ∆ in your chord symbol (you posted last week), but in case you haven't, make sure "Manual input" is selected instead of "Type in score" under the "Chord" pull down menu (the Chord pull-down menu appears when you select the Chord tool on your main toolbar).
When you click on a note after this is done, you'll get the "Chord Definition" window - at the bottom left of this window you'll see "Suffix" and "Select" - click "Select" and you will see all sorts of chord extensions - the triangle should be among them. If it is not, you'll need to go to "File" "Load library" and load extra suffix libraries available in the "Chord Suffixes" folder (select the one for the font that you're using in the rest of your score, i.e., Jazz font, etc.). Those should have all the symbols you'll need.
Post again if this isn't working or you have other questions!
Regards,
Tom G.
Hi all,
I wanted to respond to the question about how to put a triangle into a major chord in Finale. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am a Sibelius user and since the issue of Finale vs. Sibelius has been raised before, I wanted to mention that to put a triangle into a chord is as simple as a right click on the mouse or a ctrl.6 on the keyboard. I bring this up only because I want people to be aware of just how user friendly Sibelius is. Personally, I would love to see an industry migration to Sibelius and have often wondered if people knew just how easy Sibelius is to navigate that that migration would become a possibility.
Hi Kelly - I've heard that a lot from people about Sibelius, how user-friendly it is, etc.
Having been on Finale since version 3, though, I have to say I'm going to stick with it - I'm pretty fast on it at this point and it is exceptionally flexible and powerful. You're right about it being un-user-friendly, though, but once you've worked with it regularly it's not so bad.
As far as a mass migration to one software package over the other, I don't know if that would be such a great thing - both companies competing for customers creates an incentive for them to get and keep their act together and that benefits us. You need only look as far as Microsoft to see what happens to a company's products when there's not enough competition in the marketplace.\
Tom G.
Hey Tom,
I completely understand that when you have been with a product for a long time it makes sense to stick with them. And you are right that when companies compete there are customer benefits.
I simply get frustrated with the dominance of Finale that exists. I often lose work because I run Sibelius, not Finale. I suppose "mass migration" was not the best choice of words. What I wish for is an increased acceptance of Sibelius with in the community.
Yeah I hear what you're saying, but from what I've heard Sibelius is making a serious run at Finale -Sibelius seems better organized and hungrier. And they're definitely gaining on Finale - I know a lot more people using Sibelius now than were using it three years ago.
I don't know why people would care what package you do their manuscripting in, unless they intend to edit it themselves - its a drag you lose work cause of that.
Hi people - yes I have moved onto Finale 09.. although not 09b! but original 09. There are many small improvements (as one would hope! – such as the availability of some really nice alternate music fonts – making scores less clinical looking – really worth exploring) but there seems to be a very annoying bug or glitch!!!! Mid-measure clef change... this has never been a problem in previous Finale versions but sure is now. It appears that it simple does not exist!!!! If you go to the online help, they explain how to do this - pretty much the same as previous editions but the box that appears when selecting clef change has not option for mid-measure or moveable clef as indicated the help site! Very frustrating to say the least - anyone has any ideas here????
Found a cool article about mutes...
http://www.bobbyshew.com/clinics/Mutes.htm
Post a Comment