User library, drawing tool, notation effects.

Post your wishes for future features in Finale here.

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riohoule
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2023 4:52 am
Finale Version: 27
Operating System: Windows

Post by riohoule » Fri Feb 10, 2023 6:08 am

Hello everyone,

Here are some dreams I have as a composer with processing issues who uses finale and works extensively in electronic music studios.

I am of the opinion that working within a score notation software would ideally be like working within a DAW, and in my ideal dreamland, recording and manipulating musical material within notation would be as easy as it is with audio or midi, (wouldn't it be great if we had technology which could just allow us to do that).

I dream of a user library on either the left or right side of the interface, along the lines of Ableton Live or Adobe Illustrator. Users could view and organize materials that they make in finale, including lines, graphics, text objects etc. which makes no assumptions about what users would want to put in them. Most importantly, users could save their notations (the graphic as well as the midi data) into these folders which could be viewed in small icons and perhaps even edited in separate files. Similarly, this wouldn't make assumptions about what users would use it for, meaning they could save multiple measures of material, partial measures/beats, solo lines, ensemble sections, or full pieces into their library as individual objects or groups, and drag and drop them throughout the score at will.

I also imagine this would come with options as to how composers would want to place/manipulate material, this could be hotkeyed or prompted, but allow composers to fit material within a measure, within a duration or group of measures, or be inserted, overlayed or superimposed.

This also brings up the idea of having a set of tools which allow warping of notated material beyond simple operations such as transposition, inversion, etc. by clicking and dragging ends of them, stretching/compressing their duration or expanding them intervallically by a set degree (sort of like warping a waveform) shuffling/retuning durations or pitches in particular ways, cutting notations into smaller movable chunks, generating harmonies, etc. if things get too complex for the notation to express, they could be quantized or simplified to fit the measure, or have notations re barred around them.

Perhaps what I'm dreaming for is something that implements a more user friendly version of bach/cage for max or OM, and allows people to explore notated material more creatively rather than trying to get their music to work within the bounds of notation a software's capabilities.

also, the option to move up and down through microtonal accidentals the same way one would apply normal accidentals would be so helpful.

Thank you for listening to my pipe dream.

and a free hand drawing/shape tool that works on the score would be awesome lol, I shouldn't have to use illustrator multiple times to make a wavy line.


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