Finale for Mac

User Reviews

• The most avanced notation program ib the market.

  ùùùùSeptember 29, 2010

  Pros

  Full of features.

  Cons

  Difficult learning curve.

  Summary

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• Disastrous 'update'

  jmsuijkerbuijk_dotmacFebruary 26, 2007

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  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Finale 2007c has a serious bug: part extraction doesn't create a single multmeasure rest! Even though the option to create multimeasure rests is selected in both document options and part extraction preferences, one has to manually create multimeasure rests after the extraction. Wonder whether MakeMsuic will fix this bug or will introduce creation of multimeasure rests as a new feature in Finale 2008?

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• Not much of a fix!

  musicMManJanuary 17, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />At least according to their documentation. Seems they only fixed one or two of MANY bugs in Finale 2007a. Surprising. Download was slow but not as bad as the previous reviewer experienced. Maybe 12 minutes for 100+ MB.

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• No help w/Finale 2007 bugs

  mwsalingerSeptember 18, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have been using Finale since v.1, meaning I'm not new at using the application. In the first four days of using Finale 2007 on an iMac Intel I've run into a few bugs - nothing debilitating, but irritating and time-wasting. Six e-mails to macsupport have resulted in no responses from them. (Nothing new with this organization.) I have just FedEx'd letters to the CEO and CTO of MakeMusic complaining about the non-support and also suggesting that they withhold upgrades until the software is actually ready to be used.

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• A Significant Advance

  zimbopJuly 28, 2005

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Finale 2006 is a significant advance, the implementation of Garritant Personal Orchestra is excellent, and many, many users will benefit from the excellent orchestral samples, I only wish this kind of thing was available when I was a student. As a professional engraver Finale continues to be the most powerful and versatile application for producing scores for publication, and it has been made significantly easier to use for new users over the last couple of editions.

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• Finale 2005 to 2005a upgrade

  garrickstoNovember 12, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Downloaded fine, installed fine, files open fine. Produces great scores. I've been using Finale since v2 and I'm as happy as I've ever been.

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• well?

  Donal BriardAugust 20, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />"I would add that if Sibelius is so great, why do I need to use Finale in addition to Sibelius to produce scores nowadays?" Well... Why do you? The Sibelius interface is better, the num pad/UI interaction is unbeatable and it has more MIDI channels than Finale. Also, interaction with third party orchestra samples like Garritan's are much easier to set-up in Sibelius. Finale is a good program, but it doesn't compare to Sibelius.

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• Finale works...

  musicMManApril 16, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />FWIW, I've used Finale since 1996 for extremely large scores, including a nearly 2 hour work with about 3000+ measures, TONS of elements (articulations, phrasings, cadenzas, special note heads...) In short, a rather cmplex contemporary score. Finale has no problem keeping up and keeping everything clearly organized. Printing is a breeze, the program zooms thru all processes quickly and it doesn't crash. So I am left wondering what people are complaining about. Even the Smart Score Playback sounds great. Granted I don't export EPS files and I see no real ESSENTIAL need to do so. It's a music program, not a graphics program. What you need to do is PRINT music, or save a PDF or record a demo of a work. Personally, i find it a very intuitive program. Maybe it helps that I've been composing for.. well, a long time... but next to a pencil and paper, Finale is the next best thing. Only better. :) Perhaps people are getting bogged down in the "feature vs. feature" mentality. Clearly, not everyone likes every program (like not everyone likes every piece of music.) But let's be fair: Finale is a highly polished program for notation of any sze.

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• Look elsewhere

  MCP01April 16, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Finale OS X only supports 4 midi channels (VS 8 on Windows). It cannot export audio (Sibelius can) and splitting staffs with DIV. parts is tougher and less practical than in the french shareware Melody Assistant X. The Finale interface is not as clean and easy to use as that of Sibelius (the latter's use of the num pad to switch between symbols is simply unbeatable). Sibelius: 9/10, Finale 2004: 5/10

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• Finale 2004

  ericdanoFebruary 13, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Finally, it works on OS X. Don't be fooled by these Sibelius guys. If you are serious about doing scores, Finale is the tool to use.

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