Byline: Rob Shrock
Having experienced many years of unflagging popularity, Finale remains an industry standard in the realm of notation software. Not content simply to rest on its laurels, MakeMusic, Inc. (formerly Coda Music Technology) has continued to update Finale with new tools and refinements on an almost yearly basis.
EM reviewed Finale 2000 in the February 2000 issue, and since then, Finale 2001 and 2002 have introduced several new features. Finale 2003 continues the pattern with even more goodies. Any attempt to cover all the features of Finale 2003 would be overwhelming; however, a basic overview is in order.
SCORING BIG
Reshapable floating tool palettes provide access to various menus, submenus, and dialog boxes specific to each of Finale's dozens of tools (see Fig. 1). For instance, the Simple Entry tool lets you add notes with specific durations by clicking directly on a staff, the Mass Edit tool lets you edit sections of a score, and the Chord tool allows you to create, move, or delete chord symbols.
When you click on a tool, an information box under the title bar conveniently displays the name and function of the selected tool. That comes in handy if you're not good at quickly memorizing icons. As different tools are selected, the menus in the title bar change, offering related submenus and commands. You can view and edit your scores in Scroll view or Page view; measures and page numbers are displayed at the bottom of the screen, providing easy navigation.
A Finale score can have an unlimited number of staves. Each staff can have as many as four independent layers, and each layer can have two different voices. (Each layer and voice can have an unlimited number of notes.) Layers can be used to define independent lines sharing a staff with different stem directions, such as Flute I and Flute II. Piano music typically uses different layers and stem directions to indicate the proper separation of melodic and harmonic content within a single staff. Because specific colors can also be assigned to just about anything in Finale 2003, you can apply different colors to different layers for easier onscreen identification while working on a score (see Fig. 2). An unlimited Undo command lets you retrace your steps if you get into trouble.
The speed with which you can get notes into Finale has always been one of the program's strongest assets. Simple Note Entry mode lets you use the mouse to select note values and other symbols from palettes and insert them directly into the score. User-definable keystrokes called MetaTools speed up this technique by allowing you to use the computer's number keys to determine note values as you click in the score. (Although I find this technique a tedious way to work, one producer I know is a whiz with this method. He can bang out a whole piano/vocal/rhythm chart while sitting on a plane, and I'm not talking about Los Angeles to Sydney.)
Speedy Note Entry mode is my preferred method. It lets you use a MIDI instrument and the computer keyboard in tandem to input notes in step time, using the same MetaTools described above. A new MIDI Modifier feature even lets you assign a group of keys on your MIDI keyboard to set the durations when entering notes, navigate the score, tie notes, or perform various other functions.
An equally fast way to input notes is with the HyperScribe method. It allows real-time input with a metronome click or by tapping the tempo. With the tap-tempo approach, a designated note number (say, the lowest note on the keyboard) or a MIDI controller (such as the sustain pedal) is assigned to advance the beat by a user-defined note division. That lets you play a part more or less in time while tapping along with the beat. However, it also allows the added flexibility of speeding up or slowing down without losing the proper placement of notes within a measure, which is not possible when inputting notes in real time to a fixed click. The HyperScribe Tool also lets you rebar a rubato performance.
Finale can import music as a Standard MIDI File and generates the appropriate staves from the sequencer track list. Hard-copy scores can also be scanned and imported (as TIFF files) into Finale using the program's built-in SmartScore Lite software from Musitek. In addition to SmartScore files, Finale 2003 can open Musitek PianoScan files as well as older scores in Gvox (Passport) Encore format.
Finale's MicNotator feature lets you use a microphone for inputting notes. (MakeMusic offers an affordable mic that clips onto your shirt or a brass instrument.) MicNotator offers a possible alternative if you're not inclined toward using a MIDI keyboard for note entry. You can also use a MIDI guitar to enter notes directly into tablature; Finale recognizes which strings are being played and then assigns the notes appropriately.
Most Finale users quickly gravitate to a particular note-entry method, but it's also a good idea to become comfortable with the other techniques. Each method of note entry has its particular strengths; applying a combination of techniques is the best way to promote accuracy and speed in most notation situations.
Once the notes are in the score, Finale offers myriad parameters for adding expressions, articulations, chords, lyrics, and other graphic elements to the score. It also provides extensive parameters for part extraction and page layout, which have been covered in past reviews.
WHAT'S NEW
Finale's user interface continues to improve, and you can now choose from ten tool-palette "looks." (The traditional look is still available if you're not fond of change.) I especially like the Cool Black look.
With the Selection tool chosen, clicking on a clef, key signature, or time signature now automatically opens that tool's dialog box. The Mass Mover tool has become the Mass Edit tool, and the locations of various tools and commands throughout Finale have been changed to provide more logical function groupings.
Smart Shapes have been refined in Finale 2003. Symbols such as crescendos, slurs, and glissandi sport additional handles so that you can position them more precisely. Slurs are particularly improved with five handles for shaping the contour of the slur, and slurs now automatically adjust to accommodate changes to the notes in the phrase and to avoid stems.
A new feature called SmartFind and Paint lets you apply articulations (as well as expressions and hairpins) from one phrase to other phrases with similar rhythms. For example, you could apply the slurs, staccato marks, and trills in the First Trumpet part to all instances of the same rhythmic phrasing even if the actual notes are different. In other words, you could quickly add the First Trumpet's markings to the Second and Third Trumpet parts as well as to the Trombones where appropriate (see Fig. 3).
One of Finale's most powerful features is its collection of plug-ins. They're small applets or macros that allow you to automate complex or laborious operations. The number (and power) of Finale's plug-ins continues to grow at an exciting pace, and third-party developers are starting to get into the act.
Plug-ins allow you to create piano reductions from a group of staves, find occurrences of parallel motion in harmonies, apply common canonic techniques, change note heads, and add cautionary accidentals, and they provide a multitude of other extremely useful functions. Of note are the collection of Composer's Assistant plug-ins: among the 12 offered are Chord Morphing, Melodic Morphing, Rhythm Generator, and Virtual Fundamental Generator(see Fig. 4).
Finale's support for notating fretted instruments has been greatly refined and includes an extensive collection of score-setup wizards for guitar, banjo, lute, mandolin, dulcimer, ukulele, sitar, and other instruments. The program also supports various alternate tunings and tablature layouts. Changing notated strings and frets is now a simple operation, and it's easy to create hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, and double-bends.
Probably the most significant new plug-in is Band-in-a-Box Auto Harmonizer (see Fig. 5). The harmonization engine from PG Music's Band-in-a-Box is now included in Finale 2003. It creates anywhere from two- to six-part harmonies from the existing melody and chord symbols (or the key signature if there are no chords). Each type of harmony provides a number of harmonization styles based on the parameters defined in the plug-in. You can create a swingin' big-band sound or a barbershop quartet in record time.
