Requests for enhancements should be sent to Coda tech support, as they do little good here other than occupy bit-space. That is not to say I disagree with the requests. (I am particularly in agreement with wanting the cancel button back on Too Many Beats.)
I hope you are using the latest round of plugins, esp. those from me and from Tobias Giesen. If not, you are spending hours doing what you could be doing in minutes. TGTools Staff List Manager and his staff list mover functions, in particular, will move all those optimizations around so you don't have to re-do them. My Mass Copy plugin will transfer your text expressions assignments (along with lots of other things you can choose) from one passage to another, so you don't have to find them in the list. Plus, I think TGTools has a sorting feature, at least in Windows. I cannot imagine working on a score of the complexity you describe without using these and other amazingly time-saving plugins. And using the plugins, I find that the urgency of my desire for some of the features you described is greatly diminished. -- Robert Patterson http://www.robertgpatterson.com On 04 Mar 2003, JD wrote: > I have been working on orchestrating an > enormous opera score in Finale 2002a, Mac > version. Act One is nearly 1700 measures long > and broken into 6 different files. Due to the > way the composer worked, we basically pieced > the score together. IOW, we started > orchestrating a middle section, and worked our > way jumping thru the score via different > sections, based on how he was motivated at the > moment. Because of this methodology, I had to > enter notes, articulations, slurs, lyrics, > etc., you name it, and then prepare score > pages in PDF to email him for proofing. The > orchestration at times was extremely dense and > complicated, forcing me to have multiple > staves of instruments for rhythmic clarity, > and to facilitate part extractions later on. > So, staff optimization was critical when doing > the page layout. > > All along the way, there were constant edits > to the framework of the score, dictated by the > composer and the opera company who will be > performing it. Massive rewrites created cuts > and inserts that were often more than a mere > few measures here and there. Weıre talking > 50-100 measures at times. Plus, he often > completed the back end of a section before the > front end. Once we were in the proofing stage, > I found that all the tedious, time-consuming > staff optimizations were toast. For example, > 46 measures from the beginning were cut > completely so an excerpt could be created for > rehearsal preparations. This meant all the > staff optimization was lost since what was > system 12, was now system 1. > > I would like to see Finale be able to lock in > staff optimizations, perhaps via system > number, much the same way weıre able to lock > staff systems currently. Then, when large cuts > or insertions are made, Finale would > automatically know what systems to lock in > optimizations for, and maintain them during > editing. > > Also, it would be quite useful to be able to > apply Staff System Spacing to only selected > staves in any system. As it stands now, Finale > will apply the variables from the Respace > Staves dialog box to the entire staff system > selected. I found myself using the percentage > variable over and over, but it always applied > it the all the staves in the current > system(s). I would like to be able to select > the bottom handle of certain staves, and have > Finale apply the spacing to only those > selected staves. > > Another issue Iıve been rankling about for > years is the Text Expression dialog box. > There is no real way to sort things other > than the move up and down buttons, which are > absurd for sorting. In each of these files I > have hundreds of various text and shape > expressions, and sometimes finding one > without a metatool assigned is a total > exercise in frustration. Plus, the dialog box > itself is not resizable. Almost all Mac > dialog boxes can be resized now. Can we > address that issue as well? > > On a final note (for now), could we please get > the Cancel button back into the Too Many Beats > In a Measure dialog box? I spoke to Randy > Stokes about this and he said it was a > complicated programming issue, arising from an > inconsistency in the GUI. I donıt remember > anything inconsistent when it was there. Not > having it is unconscionable IMO. After all, > how many dialog boxes in the Mac GUI donıt > have a cancel button? Not many. > > I logged more than 100 hours in Finale last > month, and that was an average month for me. > So I know my way around the program and > without it, I wouldnıt be earning a decent > living. Itıs a great, indispensable program. > It just needs some helpful tweaks. > > J.D. Thomas ThomaStudios > > *************************** > > J.D. Thomas ThomaStudios West Linn OR > > http://www.thomastudios.com > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > *************************** > > Someone who thinks logically provides a nice > contrast to the real world. > > > _____________________________________________- > __ > Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
