Even though I've been using Finale since it first appeared on the scene (and love it), I could be proven wrong with the 2 points I'm about to make.
I'm not a computer wizard and there are many aspects of Finale that I've never had to use.
If I'm right about these 2 "bugs" it is quite possible that the Finale programming team has found them impossible to solve.
1. Rehearsal Mark (letter/number) Positioning
The only way I find, to insert rehearsal marks (RMs) into my music, with the LEAST amount of manual adjustment is to use the "Left Barline" horizontal setting in the Expression Category Designer and a small additional vertical offset (Above Staff Baseline) to make the marks appear just above the top of the (treble) clef and left aligned with the system margins.
This way the RMs that finish up at the beginning of the part system don't need to be touched and the ones that land anywhere else in the system are mostly placed OK just left aligned with its bar line.
I could be pedantic and say that the "not at the beginning of a system" RMs are placed a bit high above the staff due to the others having to be kept out of the way of the clef.
If I use any other horizontal setting (like: "Start of Time Signature" or "Start of Music" etc.), all the RMs at the beginning of the staff can be placed in my preferred position but any that finish up somewhere along the system have to be manually moved because they also have wandered to the right of their bar line.
Isn't it possible to have separate settings for RMs that are at the start of a system and any others?
The ones at the start just need a Vertical & Horizontal offset box from a base spot above the staff so I can place them anywhere I like.
Any RMs that are not at the start of the system should be centered above the double bar line they are attached to.
I know I could duplicate the RM category and have 1 for the left edge and 1 for any other place but the problem with that is that when I insert them into the score it is impossible to know where they will finish up on the parts. I try and have them on the left edge because it looks neat and makes the parts easier to overview, understand and read.
The "not knowing where they'll turn up" is probably the reason why (as far as I know) this has not been solved.
I mean some of the clever RMs "know" which measure number they are, so why is it not possible to teach them to recognize either a beginning of staff position and a center attachment to a barline?
2. Measure Widths in Systems with Music and Multi Measure Rests
This 2nd little "beef" I have concerns the unreliable way Finale decides to place measures of music in systems that also have multimeasure rests.
I don't know about you, but if I have a 2 multimeasure rest and 2 bars of music in one system, the music bars, with very few exceptions, come out too wide. This happens with many other combinations of music bars and multirest bars.
Because there are 100's of possible combinations this may be too difficult to tackle for the Finale designers (Why can't the 2 multirest bars take up the same width as the 2 music bars and split the system in half?) I admit, this seems impossible with so many variables.
But what I think is possible is this:
If I have to manually shorten (or widen) measures in these situations could it not include the following time savers:
- a) Any measure width changes I make while formatting say trumpet 1 (of 4) (they all play at the same time and place and I have the 4 parts selected in the "Fit Measures" "Change Selected Parts/Score") should automatically be reflected in the other 3 parts.
- b) Once I've made measure width changes in one or more parts, it should be possible to "lock" them. Too many times I've made a thoughtless music spacing and destroyed minutes of fiddly work.
Well, like I said at the beginning, I might be shot down by somebody who will have a way out of all these admittedly minor problems and then I'll have to eat humble pie.
But if you agree, then add your comments and we might help to make a pretty cool piece of software even better.
George B [/b]