Finale 2009 Review

Some initial impressions of Finale 2009, after using it for several days. I must admit immediately that I skipped Finale 2008 (refused to pay $100 of annual dues…), so my impressions are based on the improvements from Finale 2007.

For Finale 2009, MakeMusic really worked much harder than previous updates on NOTATION instead of bells, whistles, and app-bloating audio tricks that professionals wouldn’t use. I’m truly thankful. Several of the new features are:

• A Multiple Page View that allows edits on anything visible (instead of only the first visible page being “active”). Very nice! (Wish it had been that way from the start).
• Selection Tool (combination of the Mass Edit tool used through 2007, and the selection tool introduced a few years ago) is efficient and powerful, since it allows all sorts of different edits to be made without switching tools. (Sibelius users have enjoyed this for quite some time now…!)
• Clicking on an object, or adding an expression, etc, shows dotted lines to where it’s attached (Once again, Sibelius had it this way long ago!); no more unexpected expressions, hairpins, etc, showing up in stray parts, or attached to the wrong measure! And, you can drag items around on the score, and automatically re-attach them wherever you want. (Again, thank you, Sibelius!)
• Drop down menus have been revamped, and are now more streamlined and intuitive. It takes a little while to get used to some new menus and shortcuts, but I think they’re worth learning.
• Expression assignment is MUCH more streamlined, customizable by category, and more intuitive. As a result, expressions can be entered with one command (instead of three dialogue boxes!).
• Along the same lines: you can now drag-apply expressions: click and drag over any number of staves, and then assign an expression to all those staves at once. (Much less need for tediously creating staff lists!)
• Nicely improved Setup Wizard, with more options for customizing and saving ensembles.
• Playback using any sound library in your computer, from within Finale, very easily. This is a huge step forward, as I was never really able to get my own virtual instruments to play within Finale even though they were supposed to be compatible. Now, they work just fine without any difficult setup.
• User Manual is in browser format instead of PDF, finally (although perhaps this happened in 2008?) (Again, thank you, Sibelius!)

There’s lots more that’s new, but these are the things that really stick out to me, for composition and notation.

I can’t help but think that Finale and Sibelius seem more and more like Windows and Mac- anytime the one comes out with something great, the other usually copies it pretty quickly (or, in the case of Finale copying Sibelius’s Dynamic Parts in 2007, not so quickly!). For those of us who are rather stuck with Finale, we can be thankful that it’s becoming more and more like Sibelius in the areas that Sibelius shines. Finale 2009 really makes some great strides forward for composers and people concerned with efficient, intuitive, and professional notation- it’s worth buying, for me.