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FlashGordon
Registered Member

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Total Posts : 5
 
   Posted 3/25/2013 5:45 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I'm new to this forum but I'm hoping a few of you out there will help me with your opinions on this important decision. My lady and I are part time musicians. She plays piano and I flute (and saxophone). We play only original music that we compose or co-write with others. Often we each come up with parts that it would be helpful to have sheet music for to give to other members of the group (that read). I had a bootleg Finale program years ago and loved the fact that with the Micnotator I could usually have a decent record of the notes I played. I still use a Cakewalk program for recording MIDI piano that she plays but I want a program that does both, easily. Am I looking for Finale 2012 or (for someone who is not trying to make scores for orchestras) is Finale Print Music going to suffice. Please help as I don't want to spend unnecessary funds at this point of my musical career.
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tbmartin
Yuba-Meister



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Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 1684
 
   Posted 3/25/2013 7:03 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
First of all, don't expect to get a warm welcome for having used a bootleg version of Finale. This is, after all, a forum hosted by the company that sells the product.

But under the assumption that you're going to go the legit route now, here's a link to the site that compares what is possible with each of the products so you can find the product that balances the functionality you want with the price you're willing to pay.


http://www.finalemusic.com/products/compare-finale-products/


Terence
Saxophone Quartet Arranger
Using Finale 2003a, Windows XP Pro and Vista

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FlashGordon
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   Posted 3/25/2013 9:16 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
For the record the Finale program wasn't on my computer. I was shown how the program worked by this person after discussing my Cakewalk with him and the wish that I could notate my flute notes. This was several years ago and I hadn't really thought about a notating program again until my lady and I just got together with new musicians. That's why I am shopping for a program, for my computer, in my studio.
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Amsel
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Total Posts : 308
 
   Posted 3/25/2013 11:51 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Sometimes it is possible to buy a legitimate older version on ebay or Amazon at a greatly reduced price. Then after you have become a legal owner and found your way around a bit, you can decide if you want to spend the money to get current.


Fifty-one per cent of smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

Die Weisheit der Weiber ist weiser als die Weisheit der Weisen.

Finale 3.5; 2008; 2011
XP Pro
San Diego, CA

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Zuill
"The Troll"



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Total Posts : 29077
 
   Posted 3/26/2013 1:11 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
You can download the trial version of any of the Finale products. Or, download the free Finale Notepad.

Zuill


"When all is said and done, more is said than done."
 
Finale 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005b, Win XP SP3, 2011b Win 7 64bit, 2012a Bought and Paid For (Hopefully soon 2012b with some of the MAJOR BUGS fixed--well, now with 2012b and some of the bugs are fixed) 2012c, with some bug fixes
Favorite Forum quote: "Please, everybody, IGNORE THE TROLL!"

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Amsel
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   Posted 3/26/2013 1:40 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
But that's only good for 30-days.


Fifty-one per cent of smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

Die Weisheit der Weiber ist weiser als die Weisheit der Weisen.

Finale 3.5; 2008; 2011
XP Pro
San Diego, CA

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Ron.
Composer



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Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 8828
 
   Posted 3/26/2013 3:49 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Amsel said...
But that's only good for 30-days.


30 days should be plenty of time to decide if the product works for you or not.


Finale 2012c with Garritan Personal Orchestra 4.0.
JABB 3 and Concert & Marching Band 2.
Steinway: basic. Garritan's Instant Orchestra.
Garritan World Instruments. TGTools Pro
Windows 7 Home Edition, AMD FX-8100 8-Core Processor, 10 GB RAM
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Fritz Meissner
Choir Addict



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Total Posts : 3238
 
   Posted 3/28/2013 6:30 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
FlashGordon said...
Am I looking for Finale 2012 or (for someone who is not trying to make scores for orchestras) is Finale Print Music going to suffice. Please help as I don't want to spend unnecessary funds at this point of my musical career.


AFAIK Micnotator has exactly the same features in PrintMusic and Finale, and likewise for recording notes from a midi piano (Hyperscribe). So in that respect you won't benefit from the more advanced program. Finale has more advanced notation features and some of those might make it easier to clean up the transcription (e.g. moving piano notes from one hand to the other when they cross the set split point and wind up on the wrong staff).

Fritz


PrintMusic 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010 Windows 7 Home Premium, Pentium i5 750 quad core + 4 GB; Cakewalk UA-101
2nd Tenor Cape Town Male Voice Choir.
Use the Finale Knowledgebase first ! :-)

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Zoots
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   Posted 3/28/2013 8:27 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

If you find PrintMusic too limiting you can always upgrade to full Finale from PM at a reduced cost. In fact, this link says the retail for full is $600 and for an upgrade from PrintMusic $400. If I'm right, it is cheaper to buy PM then upgrade for a total cost of $520 instead of $600.

https://store.makemusic.com/Store/Default.aspx

 


Finale PrintMusic 2011
JABB3/Aria
MuseScore interest
Smartscore Pro X
Windows 8

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Bob Stiffler
Registered Member

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Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 269
 
   Posted 4/20/2013 8:43 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Flash:
I may be the oldest man addressing your question. Over the last 15 years or so I have been using Finale numerous times a week. I have experienced your needs numerous times over the years. I have done everything from lead sheets to full symphony scores. I can say that I never had a notation problem that I could not somehow handle with Finale. (Except the Finale folks still do not know how to handle ukulele fret boards after 15 years.) I still play a couple of keyboard gigs each week, and symphony clarinet.

I got my first copy of Finale as a student and got it for probably less that $150. (I am a retired electrical engineer who took some night classes in music at my local university, so I had the proper student I.D. card to get the student version of Finale) If you are a teacher or employed as a religious leader you can get Finale today for less than $250 on the net.
It sounds like you are young enough to spend the time learning Finale. l suggest you bite the bullet and get the product that will serve your notation needs for the rest of your musical career.

P.S. I don't work for Make Music

Bob Stiffler
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Ron.
Composer



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Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 8828
 
   Posted 4/21/2013 8:16 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Like Bob, I went back to school as I was approaching retirement age and so was able to buy full Finale for the academic price. All you need is a legitimate student card. Given the many problems and questions I've tried to help folks with here over the years I'd advise anyone against buying anything less than Finale. You will just run into limitations and the frustration of being told over and over "You need full Finale to do what you are trying to do."


Finale 2012c with Garritan Personal Orchestra 4.0.
JABB 3 and Concert & Marching Band 2.
Steinway: basic. Garritan's Instant Orchestra.
Garritan World Instruments. TGTools Pro
Windows 7 Home Edition, AMD FX-8100 8-Core Processor, 10 GB RAM
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Dr. Wiggy
Early music: modern methods



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Total Posts : 12628
 
   Posted 4/21/2013 8:31 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
If your music has any degree of complexity, you will need the full Finale app.


"This is me helping."

Finale 2012c, 2.6Ghz 2012 MacMini 16Gb RAM (10.8.3)
Edirol FA-66; M-Audio Oxygen 61; Yamaha PSR-410, HP Laserjet 5200 DTN
Ancient Groove Music www.ancientgroove.co.uk

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