Improvements for engravers are attractive: Document Styles, improved Selection Tool, ScoreMerge (assuming these are without the usual birthing bugs). Other addition are ominous: import of audio files suggests Finale is trying to be even more of a sequencer.
Here is a cut and pasted list of 2008 features: Record a vocal track to a soprano aria. Add a trumpet solo to a jazz chart. Import a stereo mix of a rock band and add a horn arrangement. Import audio for transcription/take-down Create learning files for choir students with accompaniment and sung text. Import an audio recording of music, use the TempoTap feature to line-up notation barlines and times, then add additional orchestration. More than 250 world-class sounds from the creators of Garritan Personal Orchestra®. Free new sounds include saxophones, choirs, guitar, marching percussion, world instruments, and more. Multiple sound libraries now work together seamlessly in Finale 2008. Combine all the included sounds, including Finales Garritan Instruments, Row-Loff Marching Percussion, Jose Cortijos Latin Percussion, and the SmartMusic® SoundFont. Use intuitive keystrokes to select measures or partial measures horizontally and vertically. No need to visit a menu. Consistent clipboard- and drag-copying make it easy to copy all measure items, even between documents. Quickly drag and drop music, even over highlighted regions. Make small adjustments easily, like shifting music a beat or two right or left. Paste faster: no need to highlight the entire destination when clipboard-copying. Get improved visual feedback when pasting and inserting. A powerful new Selection Tool has inherited all the functionality of the former Mass Edit Tool. Adapted for selecting measure regions, the Selection Tool is now Finales universal editing utility. Choose from a wide variety of styles or create your own, then use them over and over again. With Document Styles in Finale 2008, you can instantly personalize the appearance of new documents, controlling text and music fonts, all libraries, text, graphics, and page layout. Simply select a Document Style on the first screen of the Set-up Wizard to get the visual results you want, and save time. Colored noteheads have multiple applications and are especially popular in elementary education. Easily merge multiple scores automatically using the ScoreMerger. Improved recognition and accuracy with XML Technology. Both Macintosh and Windows users can scan directly from SmartScore Lite from within Finale. Finale can import and export Music XML filesright from the File menu and the launch window. Unlike MIDI files, MusicXML allows you to transfer the sounds and graphical elements in your file to other applications. Human Playback enhancements include support for the following Garritan products: Stradivari Solo Violin 2.0, Gofriller Solo Cello, and Garritan Concert & Marching Band. When creating a full score, a worksheet, quiz or even a dissertation, the easiest way to start is simply to open a pre-created template from the launch window. Select from more than 60 pre-made templates (including SATB, Kodály, solfege, and more) then let Finales Setup Wizard do the rest, adding text (including title, composer, copyright, arranger and lyricist) as well as key/time signatures, pickup measures, tempo markings, and the number of measures. Finales documentation resources, including the User Manual, Tutorial Guide, and Context Help, have all been consolidated into a single, contextual, interactive, searchable environment. Record your live vocal or instrumental performance an exclusive Finale feature. Recording first and second endings with HyperScribe is now seamless Finale skips over the first ending on the second pass allowing for smooth transitions Specify a playback tempo before you record or Finale can record at the tempo you use when playing your MIDI keyboard. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
