MakeMusic at the NAMM trade show

[motet]

https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/namm- ... ason-wick/

[dtoub]

I just read this and honestly, it depressed the hell out of me. And also annoyed me.

Here's the comment I just posted:

"As a multi-decade Finale user, this is perhaps one of the most depressing things I've read about Finale in a long while. It doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that Finale will continue to be a priority for development at MM; the focus seems to be on music education and publishing, not notation. If all that can be mentioned is a recent bug fix related to macOS (which related to the Score Manager and new staves) and there is no sense of forthcoming features or enhancements, then I'm of the mind that Finale is essentially stagnant from a feature perspective. It might get maintained for critical fixes, but not much more than that.

No software is perfect. All can benefit from incremental improvements, both from a bug perspective as well as functionality. The MIDI tool is not markedly different from what was around in the 90's. The Shape Designer is on par with the stuff that could be done with Word 5 on the Mac, ca 1993 or so. There are so many things that could be updated, made better, etc, along with potential new features. And yet, Finale has become a mere afterthought for MakeMusic, something that is not driving significant revenue.

I'm not a young student. I'm a composer, and I need tools to enable me to notate what I create. For thirty years or so, that's always been Finale. I'm not in a position to switch at this point in my life, but were I much younger, with fewer .musx files and lots more music to create, I'd be very much hard-pressed to rationalize why I would continue with Finale over Dorico. And it was interesting to even see Garritan mentioned, since Garritan Personal Orchestra hasn't even been updated since around 2018 (all my samples literally date from 4/1/18).

Like I said-this is majorly depressing."

[dtoub]

It also occurred to me that we have not seen anything regarding Finale 28. Nor have I been part of any beta testing for a long time. This is not a good prognostic sign, folks.

[miker]

I completely agree with David’s outlook. Finale is quickly becoming the red-headed stepchild of MakeMusic, or whatever they’re calling themselves now.

Depressing, indeed.

[motet]

I somehow found this depressing:

I asked Jason about Finale and what the future is for a product that is still so powerful — and complex — that it must be “conquered” by the user. Jason called it “a love letter to our longtime users, which were bug fixes that were really some of the frictions that we see a lot of our support cases. We really tried to be mindful of choosing some really significantly impactful defects that we could, that we could fix and, and make sure that Mac OS is, is still working okay with Finale. And we just continue to evaluate that philosophy.”

As if fixing bugs were a gift, not a necessity.

MakeMusic in the Cloud, or whatever it's called, doesn't bother me--it's keeping the company afloat!

[ebiggs1]

I also listened to the NAMM You Tube. I am and have always had the thought that the basic engine that drives Finale can not be messed with for fear of screwing up other things. Unwanted and unexpected consequences. At least to the point of a major remake and even perhaps a completely new core. And that brings us to the fact of not enough money to do it and/or not enough understanding or ability to do it, or both.

If certain bug fixes were easy any rational person would say lets do it. In my personal case Finale works perfectly fine so I basically have no complaints. As long as we have plug-in and script writhers like Jacob Winkler and Jan Angermüller, plus Wallander Instruments everything is good. IMHO, as always.

[dtoub]

Respectfully, I think you're missing the point. It doesn't work perfectly for everyone (and you may indeed be an n of 1 here). And what about enhancements, new features, etc? Finale seems to have stagnated. It works, but that's hardly a great statement. The user base seems to be dwindling, there is little or no communication from MM on the future direction of Finale, and now this underwhelming interview at NAMM in which a macOS bug fix is a "gift" to us?

[ebiggs1]

Honestly if I had as many complaints and gripes as you do I would certainly be one of the "dwindling" Finale user base. I am still amazed how may forum users, and you seem to be the first every time, get upset when someone actually has few to no issue with how Finale works for them. Yes, it does depend on the additional plug-ins but the bottom line is, Finale works very well for me. I will probably be the last Finale user on the planet I guess.

Life is too short to be so unhappy when there are several other platforms like Sibelius, Dorico, MuseScore, and more to choose form. But I will almost 100% guarantee you will not be 100% happy with any of them either. And I suspect, you too, know that.

[dtoub]

Glad Finale is flawless or nearly so for you!

It must be hard for you to read the many comments here by people looking for help whenever Finale doesn’t work for them. As you have pointed out many times, it’s likely their own fault and/or a consequence of their lack of knowledge, not the software. And the few bugs or issues Finale still has could be fixed, except that MM’s software developers are either not skilled enough to do so or just don’t want to. You’ve said that on several occasions.

I don’t know how you soldier on, returning to this forum all the time to defend Finale from criticism by novices and miscreants. Kudos, sir.

[miker]

Dtoub,

Please refrain from such sarcastic criticism. EB is indeed fortunate to have the program working so well for him.

[dtoub]

He made it too irresistible, IMO.

[miker]

Regardless, please refrain.

Thanks.

[motet]

Maybe ebiggs1 can refrain as well from jumping to Finale's defense every time someone criticizes it.

[ebiggs1]

Do neither of you not think it is important or at least good to know that Finale can run well? And, I fully believe the major reason some folks have issues is,

... it’s likely their own fault and/or a consequence of their lack of knowledge

And that, my friends, is why we are here. There is no high end software that is bug free. To keep pointing out Finale is crap is a good way to make sure MM is not worthy and in the end destroy this forum. Finale may not be perfect, no software is, but it is extremely capable and can work extremely well.

You know the old expression, actions speak louder than words? You both complain about Finale yet you still use it.

Maybe ebiggs1 can refrain as well from jumping to Finale's defense

So no motet, I will still promote Finale as the best music notation software around because I believe it is. I will still help users as much as I can.

[miker]

EB, please, let it drop.

And the same to all of you. Let's continue to point out our personal experience, without it getting personal.