Finale (was: AMAZING, INCREDIBLE! (Sibelius))

> From: jpehrson2 <jpehrson@rcn.com>
> To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 7:50 AM
> Subject: [tuning] Re: AMAZING, INCREDIBLE! (Sibelius)
>
>
> --- In tuning@y..., "monz" <joemonz@y...> wrote:
> >
> > and BTW, yes, Finale *does* support pitch-bend in
> > playback of microtonal accidentals. you can create
> > your own symbols, and then define what effect they'll
> > have on the pitch in playback.
> >
> > ... but *everything* in Finale is very complicated,
> > and this is just one more thing that i've never learned
> > how to do, and so haven't tried it and can't report on
> > how well it works.
> >
>
> ***Thanks so much, Monz, for the tip. Supposedly, one
> can get Sibelius to do this too, so I will report back
> if I can get it to happen.
>
> The Sibelius interface seems *very* intuitive, for a
> notation program, so maybe *these* aspects of it are why
> it is highly recommended by a friend who knows *both*
> Finale and Sibelius well...

yes, well ... there's one word here that hits the nail
which is the Finale/Sibelius difference right on the head:
intuitive!

intuitive is the one thing which Finale, great as it is,
is *not*.

Finale's structure forces the user to navigate thru so
many sub-levels of menus that the printed documentation
is over 1,000 pages! (and that was for the 1997 version!).

this is the main reason why i only use Finale when i
absolutely have to, to get a high-quality hard-copy score
or web graphic. otherwise i do all my computer-music
work in Cakewalk, which gives rudimentary score output
which i later "fine-tune" in Finale when necessary.

if the people at Coda were able to revamp Finale's
interface so that it gives nice intuitive responses
to mouse actions (currently it gives essentially none),
it would be the music copyist's dream application. i
suppose that's the gap that the Sibelius people are
attempting to fill.

but when all is said and done, Finale can still do
just about anything. for power users who can nail down
and remember all the menu choices, it can't be beat.
the tough interface is the problem, and that problem
disappears with frequency of use.

-monz

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--- In tuning@y..., "monz" <joemonz@y...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_35549.html#35549

>
> but when all is said and done, Finale can still do
> just about anything. for power users who can nail down
> and remember all the menu choices, it can't be beat.
> the tough interface is the problem, and that problem
> disappears with frequency of use.
>

***Thanks, Monz, for the Finale update. Well, certainly I know
*lots* of composers who use it regularly...

However, it seems Sibelius has conquered the interface problem,
although it's still not entirely a "piece of cake(walk)."

Also, it appears, since it's a reasonably recent program, they're
willing to do additional "add-ons" and "plug-ins." Now whether they
will work the way they are "supposed" to do, is another question...
but maybe with enough "pestering."

Who knows, maybe they would even go so far as to have
entire "microtonal symbols" palette with HEWM?? Or an optional "plug
in" anyway...

jp