Finale 27.4 is here

[BuonTempi]

https://www.finalemusic.com/blog/finale-v27-4-is-here/

Bug Fixes for Mac and Windows Devices:

• Copyable staff styles are now copied to parts when copy and pasting in the score.
• Back ending brackets and repeat text endings are now added to the score and parts properly.
• Music spacing is now correct when layers cross or overlap.
• Ties at the start of a system now draw correctly and do not disappear.
• Fixed an issue where removing staves from a linked part can create duplicate staves
• Augmentation dots are now placed correctly on notes with flipped stems.
• Measure numbers are now aligned correctly in measures with key signatures and time signatures.
• The All Channels option for Hyperscribe now remains selected.
• It is now possible to flip the stems of a beamed group with a shortcut while any note of that group is selected.
• Fixed an issue where deleting the first staff of a document can prevent Human Playback from playing back expressions.
• Ties on chords that have pairs of seconds no longer collide.

Mac-Only Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where grace notes can cause the screen to go blank.
• Tool palettes now retain their location when entering and exiting full screen mode and using a second monitor.
• The Times font no longer incorrectly populates font lists.
• Symbols can now more easily be inserted into the lyrics window.
• The Add Instrument button in the ScoreManager now works correctly on macOS Sonoma.
• Tuplet handles can now be moved without issue while in Page View.
• A print window option has been added to allow for printing in true black.
• A keyboard shortcut has been added for an elision in lyrics and text.
• Tooltips for palettes now work properly on macOS Sonoma when changing the palettes shape.

Windows-Only Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Edit System Margins and Edit Page Margins dialog boxes can display off screen.
• Playback controls no longer change settings after adding measures to a document.
• Fixed an issue where lyrics can disappear from the lyrics menu.
• When printing to PDF, the saved name of the document is retained in the export window and part names are automatically populated with each part.

It's a good list of fixes, that include some long-term bugs, often complained about.

I'd be interested to know what version ARIA Player is on Windows.

[mmike]

Same old thing ...
ARIA player 1.959, engine 1.977

[motet]

A more objective look:

https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/finale-version-27-4/

[miker]

And something else they STILL haven't fixed: In the Insert Symbol dialogue, pressing the enlargement button properly enlarges the SYMBOL, as well as the field it's in. However, pressing that same key in the Articulation, Expression, and Chord dialogue boxes enlarges only the field, leaving the articulation, expression, or chord, the same size. If I didn't need to see the symbols enlarged, why would I be pushing the damn button?

[mmike]

I'd be interested to know what version ARIA Player is on Windows.

Same old thing ...
ARIA player 1.959, engine 1.977

Not an evaluation, just a quick answer regarding a specific question.

[Bill Stevens]

Is anyone other than me having trouble installing 27.4?

::: Bill

[Peter Thomsen]

Is anyone other than me having trouble installing 27.4?

::: Bill

For What It Is Worth -

I did not have trouble installing 27.4 - perhaps I was just lucky?

[Bill Reed]

https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/finale-version-27-4/

[John Ruggero]

Better late than never for the font and triplet thingies. But unfortunately, they didn't fix the main reason I can't use Finale 27 for old files. The articulations (fingering mainly) are still moved out of position if one choses to retain the original manual positioning. And the finger substitutions are placed on top of each other if one chooses the new automatic articulation positioning. So now a calculation must be made, would it be easier to move old files to Finale 27 or to Dorico. Probably to Finale 27, but how much longer will there be a Finale?

[miker]

Is anyone other than me having trouble installing 27.4?

::: Bill

It went right in for me.

[motet]

I tried to install it using "Check for updates" in Finale 27.3. It eventually found it couldn't close Finale 27.3 and quit. I guess they didn't try that. I may eventually try to download it from their website instead. Or not. I'm in the middle of a project with 2014.5 and afraid they might break it.

[miker]

I brought it down from the website. Could that “check for updates” be corrupting the update, somehow?

[ebiggs1]

Is anyone other than me having trouble installing 27.4?

Completely without issue went as expected. Finale Check for updates found it and installed 27.4.

[Simon_Furey]

Hurray! AT LAST!! You can insert elisions into lyrics without faffing about. MM have implemented exactly what I suggested more years ago than I can remember.

[Bill Stevens]

Here are the steps when I try to install 27.4.

New In Finale page > Install Update
Update downloads > Ready to Install
Install and Relaunch
Autoupdate — password
Installing Update
Finale Quits and Reopens — no update

I have 27.3 and Sonoma 14.1.1.

Am I missing a step?

::: Bill

[Bill Stevens]

Mike,

Did you get the updater from the website, or the entire app?

::: Bill

[miker]

The update is the entire app, as far as I know. But I got it from the website, in my account.

[dtoub]

I only knew about the update because I have MacUpdater installed but it required a manual update via Finale. So I did go into F27.3 and it did not automatically update. I had to hit Check for Updates and then the dialogue box loaded and it installed without issues.

[dtoub]

Oddly, it removed any files from the Open Recent dialogue.

It also seems to have fixed the odd bug I had where the first page of a score, if a SMuFL font was used, was blank until I zoomed in. That's good!

But I'm finding that some scores where i used large time signatures with the Engraver Time font are generating question marks:

[Bill Stevens]

Thanks Mike, and all.

I don't know why the updater from within the Finale app fails for me, but now that I realize that the update is the full app, I will just download from the Finale website.

Thanks.

::: Bill

[Bill Stevens]

Okay, I give up. I downloaded 27.4 from my Finale account and still it doesn't update. Oddly, when I try to open it, I get:

This file "Finale Maestro Font Default.musx" was created in a newer version of Finale (Finale v27.4).

So my default file appears to be updated but my app is not.

I can deal with this as I still us 26 for my work, but I am curious as to why this fails for me. Is it something personal?

::: Bill

[BuonTempi]

It went right in for me.

Ooh errr, Missus.

[Bill Stevens]

Okay, silly me.

27.4 is listed in the Apps folder as "Finale" while the old version is listed as "Finale 27". I assumed "Finale" was v. 26 and "Finale 27" was new, thus my confusion. Also, the Finale on the Dock was linked to the old version.

::: Bill

[motet]

As reported elsewhere, on Windows, print to PDF no longer works with 27.4. Instead of sending it to the PDF pseudo-printer (e.g. CutePDF), it creates a disk file which cannot be opened by Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is a deal-breaker for me, and I was forced to use Windows system restore to back out the update.

Also, at the end of the update process, it asked if I wanted to read the release notes. I said yes, which triggered Microsoft Office update, which I had to kill. The release notes appear to be in RTF format. Why they didn't use PDF, which is much more universal, I don't know.

[ttw]

Everything went fine for me. No problems on the two computers.

Later, the HP Omen Desktop decided to update the Bios (twice.) Afterwards, Finale couldn't play nor could Chrome update. A restart of the entire computer fixed all that.

As I have been criticizing most commercial (and academically taught) programming practices over the last 55 years or so, I have learned to power-cycle computers regularly as well as close all programs weekly; also always dump cookies and cache.

Many of the "received practices" in computing lead to memory leaks; it's a problem with small blocks getting lost during various garbage collection and memory recovery practices. Much of the low-level stuff has machine-dependent code that fails in NP-Hard ways.