Re: Future of notation software
Posted: 29 Feb 2020, 19:57
Den, I will take the liberty of answering your question to OCTO as it applies to me:
Finale can do almost everything, but some things are unforgivably laborious or require awkward workarounds. And finale requires a high level of user expertise to get good results. However, there are two things that Finale absolutely cannot do: change the length of ledger lines on a case-by-case basis and create longer unusually-shaped slurs without piecing several together. Ironically, Dorico can do both of those things quite easily, but can't do some things that Finale can do just as easily such as multiple alternate fingerings for single notes or changing the thickness of beams. As well, while Dorico does more things automatically, such as certain kinds of spacing,this sometimes makes the program less flexible and laborious for engravers who like to do a lot of fine-tuning by eye.
So at this point there is no clear winner between Finale and Dorico for me, but I stay with Finale because Dorico cannot do several essential things. But Dorico has an unusually active and responsive development team, and Finale does not. So the (music) "writing is on the wall" although Finale seems to be oblivious of this.
As far as simple notation, this represents no problem in either program. It is the less common, complex things that can be problematic in both.
Finale can do almost everything, but some things are unforgivably laborious or require awkward workarounds. And finale requires a high level of user expertise to get good results. However, there are two things that Finale absolutely cannot do: change the length of ledger lines on a case-by-case basis and create longer unusually-shaped slurs without piecing several together. Ironically, Dorico can do both of those things quite easily, but can't do some things that Finale can do just as easily such as multiple alternate fingerings for single notes or changing the thickness of beams. As well, while Dorico does more things automatically, such as certain kinds of spacing,this sometimes makes the program less flexible and laborious for engravers who like to do a lot of fine-tuning by eye.
So at this point there is no clear winner between Finale and Dorico for me, but I stay with Finale because Dorico cannot do several essential things. But Dorico has an unusually active and responsive development team, and Finale does not. So the (music) "writing is on the wall" although Finale seems to be oblivious of this.
As far as simple notation, this represents no problem in either program. It is the less common, complex things that can be problematic in both.