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half-diminished (ø) chord symbol

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:01 am
by waterfall
I must be missing something - not doing something or doing something wrong. This is way too much work. Finale 2010b must recognize and provide symbols for such a widely used chord as the half-diminished 7th. Using Finale 2010b, lead sheet template with handwritten (Broadway) font, I'm entering chord symbols manually. There is no half diminished chord symbol (ø) in the chord suffix selection screen - just diminished chord symbols (o). I had to add the (ø) as a chord suffix. On the font pages, option-o is the code for the half-diminished symbol in both Broadway Copyist and Maestro fonts. According to help files, when I type shift-5 or % sign, the (ø) diminished symbol should show up on the page - it doesn't - a diminished symbol (o) is there and the playback is a diminished chord. The symbol I added in the chord suffix editor is correct (ø). But (o) is what shows up on the screen. Substitute symbols is selected in the Chord menu checklist. When I deselect it using the Broadway font, the shift-5 combination is not recognized as a legitimate chord suffix. But, in the Broadway font, the shift-5 is mapped to the diminished symbol (o) not the half-diminished ø. For some reason, I'm not getting the proper Maestro font substitution to show up on the page. Any idea what I need to do or what is not happening here?

Finale help provides these tidbits -

Chord/Substitute Symbols- When selected, Finale substitutes the Maestro diminished (o) and half-diminished (ø) symbols when you type "o" (lower case letter o) or "%" (Shift-5), respectively. When not selected, Finale simply maps the keys directly, without substituting symbols. Deselect this command if you are using a font other than Maestro, and want to use the characters mapped to the o and Shift-5 slots in that font.

Note: This command is used for chord entry only. Choosing this command will not affect any characters on chords already entered in the document.

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:00 am
by waterfall
From the help file - Special Characters: You can type a “b” for flat and “#” (shift-3) for sharp. Finale also makes other common chord characters available at a keystroke, the diminished “” and half-diminished “” symbols. Since their key combinations may be difficult to remember, Finale offers easy to remember substitutes: the “o” (lower-case letter o) and “%” (shift-5) keys add diminished and half-diminished symbols respectively. You can turn off this automatic substitution by deselecting the Substitute Symbols command in the Chord menu. [ These special characters only work with the Arial, Times or JazzText chord libraries.]

There's the answer - they only work with arial, times and jazztext chord libraries. If you want them to work with other fonts - such as the Copyist font - you have to go through the tedious process of setting up your own suffixes with multiple font libraries. Why, after all these years, is there not a complete version of Finale with all the work already done by the seller and available to the buyer without having to spend hours of time customizing it?

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:03 am
by Warren Barnett
Open a case with Support and ask that if be forwarded as a requets to the development team. Can't hurt to try.

Warren

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:08 am
by michelp
I'm not sure that this will help :
I have created my own chord symbol library (it takes a couple of hours, but at least I get what I like, and I have loaded the library in all my templates), and, like you, I prefer to use ø. I thus have created that suffix, and I'm able to use it without any problem.
For your info, on my Azerty (French) keyboard, that symbol is available under opt-zero (opt is also alt on the Mac), but I have it in Maestro and you will have to find the correct slot for your set up.
If you cant' find the symbol in Broadway, you can create a chord suffix in which the ø is in another font (Maestro, etc...). Each element of a chord suffix can use a different font.

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:29 pm
by waterfall
Thanks for the replies. I've decided to have more patience and explore all the options. I should go to sleep before complaining about what I don't yet know how to do. The Document > Document Options > Font screen and Chord Menu > Change Chord Suffix Fonts allow some changes to be made. The Lead Sheet Template that defaults to Times New Roman has a lot more chord symbol options than Lead Sheet Handwritten (Broadway Copyist font) does. Since I can alter and save libraries, no doubt the power is there to do the job when I've learned how to do it. Finale provides some basic configurations through the templates, wizard and libraries and leaves it to the user to learn how to setup the software for their own use. :D

P.S. - I'm using the smiley only to remind myself to enjoy life!

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:40 pm
by Warren Barnett
[quote= Finale provides some basic configurations through the templates, wizard and libraries and leaves it to the user to learn how to setup the software for their own use. :D
[/quote]

Finale wouldn't want to spoil all your fun by doing EVERYTHING for you!