As the second place finisher (and Finale user) in the competition I can say that there were many methodological problems with the contest despite attempts to minimize them.
The intent was to have engravers reproduce the samples as closely as possible. Length of time spent on the reproductions was not controlled. Judges received blinded submissions but seemed unsure in some cases what criteria they were to apply. I argued that, ANY graphics program, even the much denigrated Apple Paint!, could produce an exact reproduction of the digitized samples given sufficient time. The most significant differences are often ones of efficiency and so it is impossible to disentangle software from wetware. Richard Yates > -----Original Message----- > From: finale-boun...@shsu.edu > [mailto:finale-boun...@shsu.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara Touburg > Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 11:07 AM > To: finale@shsu.edu > Subject: Re: [Finale] Re: Comparing notation systems > > Daniel Wolf wrote: > > Some years ago another engraving-oriented list sponsored a > competition > > to see how well various notation programs handled the > reproduction of, > > I believe, two samples of music. If I recall correctly, > the organizer > > of the list - who had, it should be noted, a substantial > committment > > to Score - basically abandoned the competition, but not > until after it > > had become clear that several Finale users had achieved the > best results. > > That was something of a fiasco, and, given the importance of the > > individual engraver to high-end usage, was probably bound to be > > problematic when framed only in terms of comparing > software. However, > > I still think that a comparison of this sort could prove > very useful > > if framed less in terms of a competition than in trying to > show how various > > programs and users deal with specific engraving problems. > Would anyone > > else be interested in organizing such a comparison? > > I have kept the submissions to that study. Yes, I'd like a > new comparison! Problem is, people on this list mainly use Finale... > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
