Finale and Automation

[kbsaxlessons]

Hello,

I would like to create 15 Pdf's and 15 Mp3's for 15 different band instruments (Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, etc.) of "Row Row Row Your Boat" from one official version of sheet music. Has anyone had any luck with something like this? Which program would allow me to do this?

Thanks,
Kevin

[miker]

Since you’re on a Mac, your choice is very simple: Finale.

Neither PrintMusic nor NotePad work on the newest Mac OSs.

And Finale will work just fine, for what you want to do.

[kbsaxlessons]

Hey Miker,

I apologize, my question has to do with how to automatethis process. Which program will help me automatically create 15 Pdf's and Mp3's based off of one official version of the song in sheet music form. How can I automate this process so that I eventually don't have to click "change instrument" "Save as Row Row Row Your Boat Clarinet" "Print and save as pdf" "Export Audio" etc. Which program will help me automate these time consuming tasks?

Thanks,
Kevin

[miker]

Sorry, that’s way out of my pay grade. But I suspect someone will have an answer!

[BuonTempi]

Finale comes with FinaleScript, but this is little more than a 'macro' tool that sequences commands. There's no flow control or logic. So by the time you had typed in everything you wanted to do, you could have just ... done it. It's useful for saving and recalling sequences of commands or batch processing.

There is a third-party plug-in for Lua scripting, but by the time you've figured out how to use that and read all the objects and methods, you could have just ... done it.

However, once you've typed in the music, it's not a lengthy task. Assuming a very generous 2 minutes to change the instrument, Save As PDF and Export Audio, that's only half an hour. I often save mind-numbing tasks such as this to do while I'm watching something equally bland on TV.

[HaraldS]

Creating 15 PDFs is simple: set up a score with all your 15 instruments and copy the melody to all staves. Create all the linked parts and send them to a virtual PDF printer like PDFCreator. Prior to that, set your virtual printer to create PDF files in a specific folder without opening each file immediately. Start the printing process for all linked parts, and you'll have your 15 PDFs within seconds.

I can't really help with creating MP3s since I never used Finale's audio export function.

[kbsaxlessons]

Thanks guys! Right now I just need help with being able to export the Mp3’s all at once. I am eager to not have to sit down for another half an hour to execute on these simple steps. Thank you all so much!

-Kevin