Could you elaborate on what you find lacking in Finale's linked parts vs. Sib. (or even Dorico)? Some of that lack might be addressable with a plugin.
On Sat, Apr 21, 2018 at 9:02 AM, David H. Bailey < [email protected]> wrote: > There are professional engraving projects being done with Dorico. If you > want to see what it is capable of there are many youtube videos addressing > various aspects of Dorico, and I would say that it is indeed capable of > very elegant professional, publishable output. > > Yes, you read that one of the Dorico users exports to Finale for the > finished product -- I haven't read on the Dorico forum that there are > others who do that. I do know there are lots like me who are continuing to > work in our notation software of choice while learning the intricacies of > Dorico. I wonder if exporting to Finale simply makes things easier for > that person because of a workflow developed over many years of using > Finale, while he is learning the more intricate details of the workflow in > Dorico to get the same output. > > I would say that Dorico is as much a truly professional music engraving > tool as Sibelius was when it entered the Windows/Mac marketplace. Several > publishers, if I remember correctly, began using it at that time instead of > Finale, while some other publishers added Sibelius to their toolbox and > used both. > > A lot depends on how one defines "truly professional" -- it's certainly > much more professional than either Notion or Forte, two other recent > entries into the notation software marketplace, and despite major advances > with MuseScore, Dorico is capable of producing much more elegant printed > output. And it's capable of producing output as elegant as Finale's > output. I don't work in avant-garde notation so I can't speak to either > Dorico or Sibelius or Finale regarding the ability to accomplish such > projects. > > I hope I'm wrong about Finale and that your thoughts are more accurate, > but to be honest I don't see much advancement in Finale from Finale2014.5 > to Finale25. Linked score/parts didn't suddenly become superb and very > efficient. I still find Sibelius's linked score/parts to be much more > efficient and easier to use. > > But I know that you and Chuck Israel and many others are producing great > output with Finale, and I hope development continues, with some major > improvements coming soon. Not only do Finale users need and deserve this > sort of thing, but the marketplace does also. Finale used to lead, then > Sibelius hit the marketplace and suddenly Finale was playing catch-up with > Sibelius. Will it need to play catch-up with Dorico as well as Sibelius > now? Or will Finale leap ahead with the next version and force Sibelius > and Dorico to catch up to it? > > Of course what I'm saying about Finale is also true about Sibelius -- I > have heard nothing about Sibelius 8 or 8.5 to make me want to upgrade from > 7.1.3, and ever since the takeover by Avid I have been worried about future > development of Sibelius. > > And ultimately it all boils down to each of us finding and using the tools > which allow us to get the desired result with the minimum of effort for us > so that most of our effort can be put into the creative side of things. > > > > On 4/21/2018 8:33 AM, Robert Patterson wrote: > >> > And with the entry of Dorico at the truly professional music engraving >> level >> >> Wait. Is Dorico at the truly professional level? All I've heard is that >> it has the potential to be but isn't there yet. I mean, one of the Dorico >> users in this thread even said they export to Finale for the finished >> product. (Which surprised me.) >> >> Everything I've heard about the most recent owners of Finale is that they >> are quite interested in it. But I haven't heard much about it in recent >> months. I hope Michael Johnson's departure was for personal reasons rather >> than due to a direction the owners are taking. Meanwhile the rest of the >> team (as far as I can tell) seems really engaged and forward looking. >> >> >> >> >> On Sat, Apr 21, 2018 at 4:12 AM, David H. Bailey <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> On 4/20/2018 7:13 PM, Craig Parmerlee wrote: >> >> I take your point that they "could" do some of the abstraction >> that is >> inherent in the newer programs. I am not seeing anything that >> suggests >> to me they are at all interested in matching up to Dorico. >> Indeed, the >> only recent statements I could find were very much oriented to >> SmartMusic and not Finale. If they actually are making a >> significant >> investment in the program (which I question), I suggest it would >> be wise >> for them to take note of the major advances in the past 2 years >> in both >> Dorico and Sibelius, and communicate much more openly with the >> Finale >> user base. >> >> [snip] >> >> Back when Coda was the owner and Finale was the major product, they >> knew they had to keep communicating with users and work hard to keep >> the program growing in order to satisfy their user base and attract >> new users. But with virtually no competition in the Windows area at >> that time they were the program that any newcomer had to beat. >> >> With the various owners the product has had along the way, coupled >> with the development of a new cash-cow (smartmusic) Finale has been >> pushed aside somewhat, seemingly more with each new owner, and >> improved mainly so that it could create more and better smartmusic >> accompaniments in addition to producing publication-ready engraved >> music. To that end, whoever owned the program worked to improve the >> program in obvious ways again to keep the user base somewhat >> satisfied and also in an attempt to attract new users but mainly to >> benefit the SmartMusic marketplace. >> >> But the current owners are not musicians, they were not involved in >> the music field at all before the acquisition of Finale and >> SmartMusic. Their athletic-training background sees a good fit for >> SmartMusic since it's a training software, just for musicians >> instead of athletes. And so Finale tags along because without it >> there can't be any new SmartMusic accompaniments created. But >> Finale upgrades generate an unpredictable amount of income and then >> only when the new version comes out -- once it's out and those who >> will upgrade have done so, there's very little cash-flow in the >> product. Especially with the less-expensive (free) but very capable >> MuseScore attracting ever larger numbers of people who formerly >> would have had to purchase either Finale or Sibelius (i.e. music >> students and recent graduates of music schools/colleges), Finale's >> market share among notation software users is constantly shrinking. >> And with the entry of Dorico at the truly professional music >> engraving level the potential user base is diluted even further and >> the recent entry of Forte and Notion is attracting those potential >> users who don't want to spend a lot of money and who formerly would >> have purchased the cheaper versions of Finale. >> >> But SmartMusic remains the only product of its kind and it has major >> educational market music publishers sewn up. With the annual >> subscription the only business model and schools willing to budget >> for it so that teachers have clearly objective ways of measuring >> student ability (there's no disputing when SmartMusic records a >> student's performance and gives a concrete number of mistakes), it >> is a golden cash-cow. >> >> We have to remember that in the early days of Finale when Coda was >> run by musicians who cared about making a product that could serve >> them as well as the user base the thrust of the company was to make >> a product that filled a need. >> >> These days when the company is no longer run by musicians but >> instead by accountants and entrepreneurs for whom the bottom line is >> the most important attribute of a product, the product isn't being >> made to fulfill their dream of usefulness, only to fulfill their >> dream of larger profits. So as long as SmartMusic remains >> profitable and as long as Finale is the only way to create >> SmartMusic accompaniments, Finale will remain viable to the company >> but not a great income generator in and of itself. If it were a >> larger income generator it wouldn't be getting sold every few years. >> >> >> -- ***** >> >> David H. Bailey >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com >> <http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com> >> >> >> > > -- > David H. Bailey > [email protected] > http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: [email protected]
