Finale 2004 OS X Shipping on Jan 16th

[MacRumors]

MakeMusic.com has announced that Finale 2004 for Mac OS X is complete and expected to ship on January 16th, 2004.

The Mac OS X native version of the popular music notation software has been long anticipated, with an initial announcement of release back in October 2003, but was met with delays.

The new version will be Mac OS X only, with a version of OS 9 support coming in the future.

[trptdude]

my last classic app.....<tear>


death to os9!

[Fuchal]

Now there are virtually zero software reasons not to make the jump to OS X!

Whee!

[Grimace]

Finale is the worst music notation software!!!

Sibelius is far more powerful and 50x easy to use.

http://www.sibelius.com

[JohnGillilan]

it's about time -- that took way too long

[thepannist]

While I agree that Sibelius is incredibly easy to use, it has no where near the power of finale. As a professional copyist, my company has every version of Finale and Sibelius on hand, but the one we use 99% of the time is Finale (2002, cause 2003 sucked).

Maybe in the next release Sibelius will be up to Finale's power, but as of now it is just not there.

I will agree, though, that for 90% of the people who need a music notation software (students, churches), Sibelius is the better choice because it is so easy.

I am very excited for 2004. Now I can finally get rid of my Dual 867 and get a new powerbook.

[Grimace]

Sibelius 3 beats Finale. Maybe not the Original sibelius.

[sparkleytone]

its about damn time. i have been so upset with makemusic/finalemusic/codamusic/lateassmusic for their failure to meet deadlines. i use sibelius for my own projects more and more, but the fact is that most of the music i receive from people is .MUS, which Sibelius doesn't take to very well. even an ETF file from Finale gets all screwed up in Sibelius.

[dmazzoni]

I and many other musicians and composers I know have a love/hate relationship with Finale. We hate how much they charge for upgrades, we hate how they've gone back on so many promises (they promised an OS X version years ago), we hate how the file format is proprietary, we hate how you have to go to convoluted dialog boxes and fiddle with numbers in order to tweak everything to get it to look just right.

But we still love Finale, because it can do anything. If you're just composing a short folk song for piano or guitar, it doesn't matter what music notation software you use; they're all good. But when you are trying to arrange for an orchestra (20+ parts) or jazz big band (16+ parts), all of a sudden none of the other programs, including Sibelius, stack up. Finale might be really confusing and poorly organized, but it simply has hundreds of features that none of the other tools have.

It's kind of like Microsoft Office. Other programs are cheaper, easier to use, and better in other ways, but everyone else already uses Microsoft Office, you already know how to use it, and no single other program can replace all of its features that you use.

[Omad0n]

I'm quite happy to see Finale on OSX. Though I do agree it took too long. At least I won't have to use os9 anymore. it's certainly a program worth learning to use to its full potential. Particulalrly when you're composing something that requires many different instruments.

[kinless]

There's always another alternative, Encore 4.5.4. Yes, it is STILL around, contrary to a lot of people thinking the company went under.

Been using Encore for 10 years. Can't think of using anything else right now. Find it at www.gvox.com .

It's also Carbonized, so it'll work either OS9 or OSX.

[Squire]

Cool. I was reading about the upgrade a short while ago. It's nice to see that they're shipping.

So, assuming money isn't a problem, I'll try Garage Band, the check out Finale 2004, and then grab myself a copy of Logic Express.

Then get an agent.

Squire

[Rex44]

Originally posted by dmazzoni
It's kind of like Microsoft Office. Other programs are cheaper, easier to use, and better in other ways, but everyone else already uses Microsoft Office, you already know how to use it, and no single other program can replace all of its features that you use.

I think the Office analogy (and just about everything else you said) is spot on. Mind you I have a pretty old version of Finale, and am not terribly up to speed with exactly where all the current alternatives are at.

Does anybody know how Logic's notating capabilities compare with current versions of Finale, Sibelius and the others? I'm thinking of updating all my legacy music apps all at once this year, and today's announcement of the imminent Logic Pro integrated solution does sort of call out to me.

[macomposer]

I'll believe the Finale upgrade is actually ready when I see the box show up. They've BSed and jerked us around so much on this upgrade that I remain skeptical that it is actually on the way. It's interesting that for so many of us, Finale remains our last OS9/Classic app.

I've used Finale since 1991, but was getting ready to consider a switch to Sibelius. I've stuck with Finale because it does so well with the problems encountered in avant-garde notation, including flexible customizations and ability to import a broad variety of graphics.

Like most of you, I have a love-hate relationship with Finale.

[masterjedi73]

Will Sibelius 2.1 work on OS X?

[mbeard829]

I gave up on Finale last year after a long wait and bought Sibelius 3. It is a great program and I will not go back to Finale.

Michael

[ericdano]

Originally posted by trptdude
my last classic app.....<tear>


death to os9!

My last OS 9 app too. And about time. I hate having to deal with it in Classic mode.......

[ericdano]

Originally posted by carletonmusic
Finale is the worst music notation software!!!

Sibelius is far more powerful and 50x easy to use.

http://www.sibelius.com

Easy, perhaps, as powerful. Not even close. Finale is the program to notate music. Deal with it.

[ericdano]

Originally posted by thepannist
While I agree that Sibelius is incredibly easy to use, it has no where near the power of finale. As a professional copyist, my company has every version of Finale and Sibelius on hand, but the one we use 99% of the time is Finale (2002, cause 2003 sucked).

Maybe in the next release Sibelius will be up to Finale's power, but as of now it is just not there.

I will agree, though, that for 90% of the people who need a music notation software (students, churches), Sibelius is the better choice because it is so easy.

I am very excited for 2004. Now I can finally get rid of my Dual 867 and get a new powerbook.

Yeah, I haven't read a chart yet that looks good on Sibelius. They all have formatting problems, and things that just don't happen with Finale.

Selling your dual G4? Hmm, how much? ;-)

[thepannist]

Originally posted by ericdano
Yeah, I haven't read a chart yet that looks good on Sibelius. They all have formatting problems, and things that just don't happen with Finale.

Selling your dual G4? Hmm, how much? ;-)

I think they are going for about 1000 on ebay, but that is a topic for another thread and another day.

[mahermusic]

Originally posted by masterjedi73
Will Sibelius 2.1 work on OS X?

Sibelius 2.1 has been able to work on OS X for, a year and a half now? I forgot when I received my copies, but I've written at LEAST two of my shows on it.

[mahermusic]

Originally posted by ericdano
Easy, perhaps, as powerful. Not even close. Finale is the program to notate music. Deal with it.

Sorry.. not in a LONG SHOT. As a professional music arranger/orchestrator, SIBELIUS is the only acceptable application.

1- More powerful

2- Much easier to use

3- Has been carbonized for OS X for around TWO YEARS.

From someone in the business... There's Sibelius, and then there's nothing.

[mahermusic]

Originally posted by thepannist
While I agree that Sibelius is incredibly easy to use, it has no where near the power of finale. As a professional copyist, my company has every version of Finale and Sibelius on hand, but the one we use 99% of the time is Finale (2002, cause 2003 sucked).

Maybe in the next release Sibelius will be up to Finale's power, but as of now it is just not there.

Finale can't be THAT powerful, if their updates, as you say ... "sucked".

That's why I switched to Sibelius. Never looked back. No "sucking" either...

[masterjedi73]

Originally posted by mahermusic
Sibelius 2.1 has been able to work on OS X for, a year and a half now? I forgot when I received my copies, but I've written at LEAST two of my shows on it.

Nice. I have it for Windows right now, but want to upgrade to mac. Does it run well?

Also, what kind of shows do you write?

[Squire]

Originally posted by mahermusic
Sorry.. not in a LONG SHOT. As a professional music arranger/orchestrator, SIBELIUS is the only acceptable application.

1- More powerful

2- Much easier to use

3- Has been carbonized for OS X for around TWO YEARS.

From someone in the business... There's Sibelius, and then there's nothing.

Some guy named Wynton Marsalis seems to think otherwise. From the Finale site:
--------------------------
"We use Finale because it's the best. Enough said."

Wynton Marsalis
Musician, Composer, Band leader, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Winner

<edit: Just kidding. I'm sure Sibelius is a great program, too. I'll make sure I try them both before I make a decision. Thanks for the recommendation. By the way, I do know who Marsalis is.>