There has been some discussion about how slow Finale 2004 is on any platform. I find that it is slowish, but quite usable on my Mac (Powerbook 17", 1.3 GHz, OS 10.3.4).
The real problem is with the new system 9 version. This is really unusable. Here are some sample timings that I made comparing the new version with Finale 2003:
The orchestra file is 270K. My System 9.2.2 computer runs at 533 MHz with 768 MB Ram. Not the fastest machine out there, but respectable.
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Finale 2003a, 30 MB RAM disk for temporary files
Time it takes to get back the use of computer after hitting PRINT (1 page only, background printing on) This is not the time it takes to print, just how long you have to wait to do anything with the computer!
scroll view: 3 seconds page view: 4 seconds
There is no redrawing of the screen for this function. **************************************************** Finale 2004b, 30 MB RAM disk [no auto hyphens or extensions, no message bar]
Time it takes to get back the use of computer after hitting PRINT
scroll view: 1 min. 9 seconds page view: 3 min. **************************************************** Same as the above, but no RAM disk
scroll view: 1 min. 3 sec. page view: 2 min. 27 sec.
In Finale 2004b there is no option to interrupt page drawing. Clicking Print (or getting out of any dialog box) causes the screen to reprint very slowly. (This is why page view is so much slower.) The RAM disk does not speed things up for most functions.
The slowness of 2k4b is apparent every time you want to nudge something or drag an item after placing it. There is a half second to two second delay each time you enter an articulation or expression. Multiply this action by a few thousand times a day and you can quickly see how this delay is a deal breaker.
Maybe MakeMusic should have dropped development of a system 9 version, but now that they have, it is unconscionable to leave us with this mess. It would be reassuring for their customer base to know if the speed issue will be addressed and fixed. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
-Randolph Peters _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
