Your Basket: “Whether I’m using the variety of Finale’s well-crafted speed tools to keep up with my creative output, or using the latest advancements in Linked Parts to prepare my final printed scores and parts in a flash, I know that I can count on Finale.”
– David Shipps, Nashville-based arranger/orchestrator and composer
First thoughts on Finale 2012:
This year's update to the world renowned Finale notation program from Make Music has perplexed many. What does Finale 2012 offer that is genuinely new? Will it improve your work in meaningful ways? Does Finale represent good value as an upgrade from Finale 2011? And, perhaps most pertinently, why is it so very late this year? Nice as it would be to get to the heart of the issues and comment with authority, at the time of writing I, like many of our clients, am still awaiting the latest upgrade. From what can be gleaned, sublety is the order of the day. Finale starts out by making just about anything possibe, but this does imply that complexity will be an inevitable consequence. So, developments that simplify your work could add immeasurably to your productivity (and, it has to be said, your feeling of well being). Little things like auto-detecting and configuring for any MIDI keyboards, and Score Manager, will likely be the improvements that brighten your day. Now, if it would only auto-Authorise! More information available when I have had the chance to put the program properly through it's paces.
Focus on your art; leave the rest to your manager
Finale’s ScoreManager™ takes care of the details – controlling how your staves look and sound – so you don’t have to.
Easily change a flute staff to a clarinet staff. Switch between flute and clarinet on the same staff. The ScoreManager knows how a clarinet staff transposes, looks, and sounds, so it makes all the necessary arrangements. The ScoreManager also handles playback and sound setup, so you don’t have to navigate to various players or assign correct MIDI channels.
In one setting, the ScoreManager lets you change staff name, order, transposition, clef, and playback sounds. Let Finale’s new ScoreManager handle all the details, so you can focus on the music.
The highest-quality virtual instruments - with improved sound management.
Finale has long set the benchmark for sound amongst music notation software. But, naturally, we are always going to want more. With Finale 2012, you have access to a number of new Garritan instrument sounds, as listed below.
Based on user requests, new additions include:
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The compliment of Garritan Personal Orchestra sounds included has now grown to in excess of 400 instruments. Additionally, Finale 2012 also includes sounds from the makers of Virtual Drumline and more.
Sound setup.
With the updated Setup Wizard, you simply indicate what instrument you’re writing for. No need to specify a sound library first. Finale automatically associates the instruments you’ve selected with the sound libraries on your computer, even if you’ve added libraries not included with Finale. It even remembers which sound libraries you prefer.
More ways to communicate.
Unicode text support.
Easily write and share your music with Finale 2012’s Unicode font support. Now you can use all the characters in your fonts. Want to correctly type Dvořák’s name? Are you translating a hymn to Korean? Need to add a hard-to-find symbol? Today’s Finale can display any character you wish.
Create PDF files.
Now it’s simple to create PDF files within Finale, whether you use a Mac or a PC. Easily combine all your pages into a single document, share a single page, or any excerpt of a page.
Your files always play back.
Send a Finale file to someone who doesn’t have the same software libraries installed, and all your staves will play back the instruments you intended – even if they’re using a PC and you’re using a Mac. Finale uses the libraries you’ve specified whenever possible, and provides the best alternative when they’re not. No matter how you share your music, everyone gets the best possible playback – automatically.
Whats New?
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Finale 2012 brings you Unicode Support - allowing you to use characters from all alphabets in the font of your choosing.
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Finale 2012's ScoreManager™ intuitively changes the look and sound of a staff, while transposing between staves.
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Experience more Garritan sounds than ever before - in excess of 400 first-rate instrument sounds from the makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra.
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Finale 2012 will automatically detect and select any midi-input devices eliminating the need to manually configure your Midi keyboards.
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Send files to another PC (or even a Mac) that doesn't have the same software libraries preinstalled, and your staves will still play back the instruments you had intended.
Authorization
Finale 2012 requires that you authorize the software within 30 days after installation. You are allowed to install Finale on two operating systems (multiple licenses excluded).
File Compatibility
Finale family software can open files in the same or newer software version, but files created in a newer version cannot be opened in an older version unless converted via MusicXML.