[Finale] 8vb

[Daniel Dorff]

On the topic of composers compromising on notation, I'm new to hands-on use of Finale, having worked only with the other programs until this month, and I'm wondering about the surprising standardization by Coda of the 8vb symbol.   Looking through all the music I own from all different style periods and countries prior to 1985 or so, 8----- is by far the most common notation for an octave below, and I also find a little bit of 8va, 8b, 8vaba, 8ba, and 8vb which was very uncommon prior to Finale.  So far I haven't found anything other than 8--- prior to 1945, though I realize it must be out there.  Clearly when engravers, composers, and copyists had the easy freedom to indicate the octave-down symbol however they wanted through hand copying or free typesetting or ordering metal tools, 8vb was almost unknown (with a few exceptions).  Now with the ease of the Smart Shape 8vb, it is automatic to use this Finale-standard.   So composers who urge for the more traditional 8--- (or 8ba which I personally like in my own music) instead need to slug their way through it.  How do I honor this composer preference?   I wonder what the rest of you have done about this?  Does everybody suddenly genuinely prefer 8vb (oddly taking the v from the middle of octava, unlike the logical va which ends the word), or are there workarounds I haven't discovered yet, and which apparently aren't creeping into use? Or is this 8vb something we just accept against our preference?   Thanks for any advice on this :-)