May be kind of a dumb question, but here goes

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lad_notorious
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Finale Version: Finale 2014.5
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Post by lad_notorious » Thu Nov 09, 2017 11:02 pm

I love Finale, in all of its iterations (save 25, which I can't give a spin because I only have 32-bit Windows). It's very user-friendly, and good for what I need to use it for. But everything good in my life has a catch to it (I think that's true of everyone's lives, if we're being honest with ourselves)...

I have received documents created in Sibelius that are great in terms of use of space. The margins, staff spacing, etc., are flawless, but after obtaining it, I realized that the program itself is for those more experienced in music theory, and probably those working with a keyboard (I am not so adept at piano or theory). So, rather than learn a new program, I'd just like to get the same, clean look I prefer and replicate those specs in Finale.

Thing is, I don't know exactly how to do it. I've checked the user manual, followed the instructions in the Page Layout tab and so forth, but it's still not spot-on. Can anyone help? (I'm using Finale 2014.5 on a Windows OS, since it says to include that.)


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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:37 pm

Welcome to the forum!

Your question is a little unclear.
In order to give you the best possible help I think that we need some more info from you:

You tell that you are trying to get a “clean look”.
We need a more specific description.

1) Is your Finale document a 1-staff document - like e. g. for solo flute?

2) Does your document include “outside staff” elements, like e. g. lyrics, or chord symbols?

The better we understand, the better we can help.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

lad_notorious
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Finale Version: Finale 2014.5
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Post by lad_notorious » Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:05 pm

Thanks so much for the welcome! As for the request for more info, fair enough.

At present, I'm cleaning up a piano/vocal score for an original musical. Generally there's a grand staff, and a vocal line (sometimes more than one vocal line, depending on the needs of a musical sequence). However, I also occasionally work on full orchestral scores as well. It may include lyrics or chord symbols at times, but whatever I'm working on, it's generally not a 1-staff document.

I basically want to replicate all the page size, staff size, margins, distances between staves, etc., all the layout/formatting minutiae of a standard-issue Sibelius template, in a Finale document.
Last edited by lad_notorious on Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:13 pm

“Received documents in Sibelius”

How? Do you have Sibelius? What version? Was it a MusicXML file?
Mike Halloran

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lad_notorious
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Post by lad_notorious » Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:15 pm

In PDF form, but I had knowledge that Sibelius was used in the creation. I do have Sibelius, 7.5 (again, the very last version that was made for 32-bit :lol: ). I was given MusicXML files of the same score (or used PDFtoMusic Pro as necessary to reverse-engineer it), and it always wound up entering Finale looking more or less like the default settings for Finale.

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:20 pm

lad_notorious wrote:… I basically want to replicate all the page size, staff size, margins, distances between staves, etc., all the layout/formatting minutiae of a standard-issue Sibelius template, in a Finale document.
As Far As I Know, there is more than one “standard-issue” Sibelius template.

Which means that we need more info.

If you attach a PDF file, just a single page, of the layout you are trying to replicate, then we might be able to suggest some Finale settings.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

lad_notorious
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Post by lad_notorious » Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:55 pm

Sounds about fair, though I think more perusing of the manual may have already solved my question. Should I pick one with just a grand staff, grand staff and single vocal line, grand staff and more than one vocal line - how much detail do you need?

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:26 pm

lad_notorious wrote:Sounds about fair, though I think more perusing of the manual may have already solved my question. Should I pick one with just a grand staff, grand staff and single vocal line, grand staff and more than one vocal line - how much detail do you need?
It may not matter.
But just to “play it safe” let us say {Grand Staff and two vocal staves}.

A single PDF page will do.

I do not recall whether the file name extension .PDF is allowed for attachments here.
If not, then compress the PDF file, e. g. as a .ZIP file.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

lad_notorious
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Post by lad_notorious » Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:54 pm

Hope this does the trick!
Attachments
sample page of score.zip
(25.38 KiB) Downloaded 172 times

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:14 pm

lad_notorious,

Since no one else has tried, here is my “shot at it”.

Try this template, and tell me what you think about it.
Attachments
Template.musx
(12.89 KiB) Downloaded 150 times
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

lad_notorious
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:26 pm
Finale Version: Finale 2014.5
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Post by lad_notorious » Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:40 am

Thank you for trying, Peter!

I loaded it in Finale 2014.5, and maybe I'm missing something, but where's the grand staff? I just see a treble clef line. Am I supposed to add elements and fine-tune accordingly? (I'm not asking out of disrespect, I genuinely wish to know.)

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:06 am

lad_notorious wrote:… I loaded it in Finale 2014.5, and maybe I'm missing something, but where's the grand staff? I just see a treble clef line. Am I supposed to add elements and fine-tune accordingly? …
Use the Staff Tool (or the ScoreManager’s chiclet Instrument List) to add as many staves/instruments as needed.

If playback is an issue, use the ScoreManager to choose the playback instruments.

Use the Staff Tool to create Staff Groups (with brackets) as needed (e. g. the staff group connecting the vocal staves).

See the two attached files where I have replicated the page layout from your attached sample page.
Attachments
SamplePage.pdf.zip
(21.66 KiB) Downloaded 153 times
SamplePage.musx
(16.57 KiB) Downloaded 144 times
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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