New F26 announcement

[miker]

https://www.finalemusic.com/blog/new-ex ... 1521594175

[Vaughan]

Oh dear. A couple of additions to the expressions and articulations libraries plus improvements to their placement which should have been right from the start? These are things we’ve generally had to take care of ourselves anyway. If they’re touting them as ‘new features’, then I’m afraid they’re running out of the real improvements to the program which will keep it competing with the other contenders out there (and which already have the new features coming in v. 26). Let’s hope MM has a lot of bug fixes up its sleeve...

[ebiggs1]

Man, I totally agree. These few not impressive "upgrades" are not the entire package. Are they? These look like a JW plug-in.

[Vaughan]

Well said!

[John Ruggero]

I think that they are just teasing us. Big improvements to the text tool, expression and articulation designer windows, the shape designer, first and second endings, user-added control points for slurs, a SMuFL-compliant Maestro font, improved default settings all around, and many bug fixes will no doubt all be announced shortly. I can't wait!

[Anders Hedelin]

Or, they are just being modest. Don't want to brag about their new product.

[Vaughan]

... not to mention the big improvements to lyric placement, cross-staff accidentals and linked parts.

[Christopher Smith]

Hey, Vaughn!


Do you know something we don't about improvements to linked parts? Or were you being sarcastic?

[Vaughan]

I throw myself on the mercy of the court. Sarcasm is actually a low form of wit and I must admit to making myself guilty of it. It's just really hard sometimes when you see a more-or-less legacy program like Sibelius long since having dealt with the above-mentioned problems which are being touted as NEW improvements to version 26 of Finale. It's even more painful when a fledgeling program like Dorico already does all these things plus much more, and all in a very intelligent and well thought-out manner.

[Anders Hedelin]

..collisions between layers, document related Automatic Music Spacing, beat chart management, adequate beam options... You name it.

I can't believe they have saved all these improvements, including the features mentioned before, to a later information release. So, without any attempt at sarcasm, I'm simply very, very disappointed. And worried. I too am too old to really want to learn a new program.

[oldmkvi]

I can't help but notice that before Every Finale Update, the very same general complaints are voiced.
The other guys already have it, Make Music just doesn't care or get it.
And yet here we all are.

[Anders Hedelin]

I can't help but notice that before Every Finale Update, the very same general complaints are voiced.
The other guys already have it, Make Music just doesn't care or get it.
And yet here we all are.

Is that so strange?

What I meant by being worried, was that MM:s behavior suggests that Finale soon might be going out of market. I can't interpret it otherwise, and I'm sorry if I can't keep up the positivism some expect on this forum.

I'll keep reading the posts here, and possibly do some posting, as long as I'm not forced to abandon Finale. I guess that's a reason for still being here.

[John Ruggero]

MM:s behavior suggests that Finale soon might be going out of market.

I had hoped that the Dorico challenge would spur MM into action. If new version shows that it hasn't, the handwriting is indeed on the wall.

The other guys already have it, Make Music just doesn't care or get it.
And yet here we all are.

I'm here because Finale comes closer to meeting my needs than the others. That could change.

[Anders Hedelin]

I can't help but notice that some people on this forum regard criticism as something negative in itself. There is a number of us who have been critical in a decidedly constructive way, on the Feature Requests forum. I would think we deserved better, from MM, and from some members of this forum, who might not even have taken the trouble to read the posts of the Feature Requests forum.

[zuill]

The real issue is that bugs and deficiencies in the program that we have been reporting for over 20 years are still broken. It's hard to explain that.

Zuill

[Anders Hedelin]

The real issue is that bugs and deficiencies in the program that we have been reporting for over 20 years are still broken. It's hard to explain that.

Zuill

You put it very politely.

[ebiggs1]

The real issue is that bugs and deficiencies in the program that we have been reporting for over 20 years are still broken. It's hard to explain that.

Zuill

I am beginning to think they can't be fixed. Since I am no programmer, perhaps the engine, or whatever it's called, that runs Finale is just not capable of doing the things that we keep seeing as "broken". Even if that isn't the reason perhaps it is too costly to hire programers that can fix the broken stuff. Why else would this go on for so long as us old to very old timers complain about.

[zuill]

I would accept full disclosure. If MakeMusic at least admitted the problems, we would then not have people keep remarking about things which are longstanding, known bugs (or shortcomings). It is nice to know when it is not us, but the program. It makes users frustrated when they are trying to do something that the program either promises to do, or should do, and it doesn't. If MakeMusic just posts a list of the broken items, we would then be more at peace about how the program is running, and stop blaming ourselves, or coming here to rant about it.

Zuill

[motet]

...I am no programmer, perhaps the engine, or whatever it's called, that runs Finale is just not capable of doing the things that we keep seeing as "broken".

I am a programmer. You may be right that the design could make adding some features difficult, but the bugs are bound to be fixable. It is a mystery why both old and new management don't seem to put a priority on that in a product that people are paying a lot of money for.

I'm able to get Finale to do what I want it to do, and it's even mostly fun to use, now that I've learned all the work-arounds and gotchas over the years. But it sure as hell is unfriendly to the new user.

I would be delighted if they added some sort of "magnetic layout", which would make things go quicker. Since Jan appears to have done this with his JW Lua Perfect-Layout plug-in, MM should be able to do it in the program itself.

[Nick Mazuk]

...I am no programmer, perhaps the engine, or whatever it's called, that runs Finale is just not capable of doing the things that we keep seeing as "broken".

I am a programmer. You may be right that the design could make adding some features difficult, but the bugs are bound to be fixable. It is a mystery why both old and new management don't seem to put a priority on that in a product that people are paying a lot of money for.

I'm able to get Finale to do what I want it to do, and it's even mostly fun to use, now that I've learned all the work-arounds and gotchas over the years. But it sure as hell is unfriendly to the new user.

I would be delighted if they added some sort of "magnetic layout", which would make things go quicker. Since Jan appears to have done this with his JW Lua Perfect-Layout plug-in, MM should be able to do it in the program itself.

As a programmer, this is entirely possible. Finale is written in C++, which is one of the more fundamental languages for writing applications. Basically, if it can be done in an application, it can be done in C++.

And with the JW Lua, the plugin simply takes Lua code and transforms it into C++ for Finale to run. So the output code of Jan's Perfect Layout Plug-in is 100% usable for the Finale program.*

*If I'm understanding JW Lua correctly.

[John Ruggero]

I would accept full disclosure. If MakeMusic at least admitted the problems, we would then not have people keep remarking about things which are longstanding, known bugs (or shortcomings).

MM's striking lack of transparency and failure to communicate might be the ultimate cause of their difficulties, or a symptom of something deeper: the company may have long been teetering on the brink of failure and is now no longer viable. So the owners will milk it for as long as possible while limiting expenses to the bare minimum.

[N Grossingink]

…the company may have long been teetering on the brink of failure and is now no longer viable.

Don't forget Make Music is owned by Peaksware. They also own Alfred Publishing, which makes them a major player in US music publishing. As I understand, the other Make Music innovation Smart Music is a proven money maker. Presumably, they also own a big chunk of patents relating to Music XML.

What's happening with Finale, who knows? But I'm sure it will be around for some time.

N.

[Anders Hedelin]

…the company may have long been teetering on the brink of failure and is now no longer viable.

Don't forget Make Music is owned by Peaksware. They also own Alfred Publishing, which makes them a major player in US music publishing. As I understand, the other Make Music innovation Smart Music is a proven money maker. Presumably, they also own a big chunk of patents relating to Music XML.

What's happening with Finale, who knows? But I'm sure it will be around for some time.

N.

Possibly the company will survive. Who cares.

[ebiggs1]

...the output code of Jan's Perfect Layout Plug-in is 100% usable for the Finale program.*

Problem is that hasn't been released for general use as far as I can tell. It looks good but..................