Upgrade from Finale 2012 to 25?

[ChrisW1950]

First of all, I'm glad I came across this forum with so many familiar names from the old MM Finale forum - so hello everyone.

A confession, I moved over to Sibelius several years ago but was never happy with certain aspects of the program. The Avid takeover and sacking of the development team, plus the outrageous price to upgrade and keep using it made me take another look at Finale. Love for the new Finale owners doesn't seem much better than love for Avid though, and some people seem to have doubts about the future of Finale.

For the past month I've being trialling Dorico and Finale 25, and it's interesting to compare the two. Dorico will probably be very good in due course, but there is a LOT missing at the moment, and I'm not in agreement with some of the philosophy behind it. It is a Steinberg product though and I've been a Cubase user for years, so have confidence that Dorico has got a future.

There is the comfort of knowing that you can do pretty much anything you want in Finale though, even if it can sometimes be a bit challenging. Also Finale 25 does seem a lot faster on my system and I can see Rewire being very useful.

I've ruled out Sibelius, Dorico is too incomplete at the moment, so is it worth upgrading to Finale 25 or sticking with Finale 2012 for the moment?

Any advice most welcome

Best regards

Chris

[BuonTempi]

You're on Mac, so you'll certainly have problems running 2012 if you're keeping your OS up-to-date. There are some nice features, bug fixes and improvements between 2012 and 25, though as usual, there may be some disadvantages.

If you're a big JW plug-in user, then these aren't updated for 25.

I find 25 much more responsive and speedy, though if you're on a Retina display, you may need to run Finale in "Low res mode" to avoid sluggishness. The consolidation of layer rests and awareness of layer accidentals that came in 2014 is a huge time saver for me.

As ever, you can download the demo. Check out the "What's new" sections of the Help pages, which will show you the new features.

[OCTO]

Do not update. Finale 2012 is the fastest Finale on OS X. You will just struggle...
If attaching hairpins is not a break-deal for you, don't do it.

[N Grossingink]

You say you have been trialling Finale 25. If your impressions are positive, you might want to seriously consider buying the upgrade and using it. It seems many have had differing experiences, ranging from bad to very good. You need to judge where you stand after trying the software out.

However, don't uninstall Finale 2012, "just in case". You can save a Finale 25 file in 2012 format, if need be.

N.

[michelp]

The answer also depends on the version of MacOs you are using. Please add that info in your Signature.
My experience on 10.11.6 :
• 2012 works ok if Human Playback is off.
But the program systematically quits when I want to change patches in the Score Manager. That's a serious problem unless you only use templates which don't need any modification of patches.
Thats' a good reason to use 2014.5.
• 2014.5 is ok, but has some "focus" problem. Menus become greyed out, an it takes an extra click on the active window to get them back.
• As has been said, until the JW plug-ins get updated for v.25 (Mac), I won't use it, although it is installed on my Mac.

[MikeHalloran]

Do not update. Finale 2012 is the fastest Finale on OS X. You will just struggle...
If attaching hairpins is not a break-deal for you, don't do it.

Unless you need some of the features that don't work in OS 10.10 or later. Not everyone has your problems.

Finale 25.2 works well for me once I figure out any of the changed features. I detest the online help files in lieu of a searchable .pdf file, last seen in 2012.

[ChrisW1950]

Thanks all. I don't use any of the plugin libraries and the upgrade price is reasonable, so I'll probably move to Finale 25 once I've tried a few more things in the trial. The lack of a proper manual is a pain though. I'll hang on to 2012 as well

[miker]

The answer also depends on the version of MacOs you are using. Please add that info in your Signature.
My experience on 10.11.6 :
• 2012 works ok if Human Playback is off.
But the program systematically quits when I want to change patches in the Score Manager. That's a serious problem unless you only use templates which don't need any modification of patches.
Thats' a good reason to use 2014.5.
• 2014.5 is ok, but has some "focus" problem. Menus become greyed out, an it takes an extra click on the active window to get them back.
• As has been said, until the JW plug-ins get updated for v.25 (Mac), I won't use it, although it is installed on my Mac.

Michelp,
I have found that a quick click in the menu bar returns focus.

[MikeHalloran]

Michelp,
I have found that a quick click in the menu bar returns focus.

...as it does in every Mac application.

[miker]

But most Mac applications don't lose focus.

[MikeHalloran]

But most Mac applications don't lose focus.

That's a new trick available to programmers. It's designed to let you know which windows are on the top layer. For all those complaining that it's a bug, I got some bad news...

[michelp]

I suspect that this loss of focus in 2014.5 was not intentional (I think it appears when you only work in Finale !), because at first sight, the problem is gone in 25.

[N Grossingink]

I thought the focus problem in Finale 2014.5 went away if you removed Finale Script from the plugin folder. It worked for me. But if you want to use Finale Script…

N.

[michelp]

N,

Thanks.

Another demonstration. Mac users can try the following in 2014.5 :
Selection Tool.
Cmd-0 to change the percentage of Zoom. Enter a value.
Suppose that the value is not ideal and that you want to enter a better value, you type Cmd-0 again, nothing happens, focus lost.
One has to click on the main window.
All these extra clicks represent a serious loss of time.
(v25 is out of the question until the JW plug-ins are updated).

UPDATED : N., I have tried your suggestion to get rid of the FinaleScript Folder in the Plug-ins folder, and it worked. I don't use Finalescript, so it is one excellent solution. Thanks !

[Peter Thomsen]

… focus lost.
One has to click on the main window.
All these extra clicks represent a serious loss of time …

The “focus lost” issue is well known - it also occurs in the Lyrics Tool.

Instead of clicking you can also use the keyboard shortcut ⌘` (= the Mac OS X shortcut for window switching).

[michelp]

...the keyboard shortcut ⌘` (= the Mac OS X shortcut for window switching).

Thanks, Peter. I have no idea where to find the "grave accent" key on my French Azerty keyboard (we have keys for è, à, ù). After some research, I finally found that Cmd < is the key combination that brings the window to the front in my setup.

[Peter Thomsen]

Michel,

I suspect that, no matter the keyboard layout, the Mac OS X {window switcher} shortcut always uses the key next to the left Shift key.
Obviously that key must be the < key on your Azerty keyboard layout.

By The Way:
You can change keyboard layout via the Mac OS X control panel Keyboard.

[michelp]

That's correct, Peter. It is "the key next to the left Shift key."

In the meantime, I have verified that N.'s solution (getting rid of the FinaleScript folder, which I don't use anyway) actually works.
Thanks to both of you.