Finale's finale (software being phased out)

[Brian]

https://www.finalemusic.com/blog/end-of-finale-new-journey-dorico-letter-from-president/

I saw this posted by a friend who runs a local chorale and frequently arranges works for his forces. He much prefers Dorico, which Finale has made an arrangement with for users to make an affordable switch.

[lunar22]

in the weeks that have passed, the Dorico forums have been clogged with Finale refugees trying to get to grips with a very different sort of programme. Quite a few have complained about the "lack of intuitiveness" of Dorico which in a sense I would agree with but on the other hand, you have to expect to invest some time with a piece of software that complex and try to understand the mindset which created it. Others are pleasantly surprised by how much more efficiently they can work than before. But if there are any Finale users here who remain somewhat confused, there are at least a multitude of transition videos out now and most queries and difficulties are quickly sorted by the very active forum (I can no longer keep up with the posts -- there are so many these days) 

[(poco) Sforzando]

I started a thread on this topic close to a month ago:

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,33429.0.html

As someone who uses notation software only sporadically, I found many problems with Finale and the latest release 27 just appeared to compound some of the bugs. But I had been using Finale for close to 30 years, and it was something like an old but at times very annoying friend.

Right now I am going through various Dorico tutorials and exercises as I have time, and it's plain that this is a very sophisticated and serious piece of software. But while certain aspects of the software are very logical and intuitive, it can also be very difficult to get the results you want. As a test case, I am starting by inputting Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces, op. 19. Number 2 in the set went through very easily; however, with number 1 it has sometimes taken me fifteen minutes or more just to input a single measure, and I still can't always get all of them correct. But there's no going back. Finale is on its deathbed and the best thing is to make funeral arrangements.

[Karl Henning]

Quite a few have complained about the "lack of intuitiveness" of Dorico

I haven't tried Dorico, so perhaps the Finale users are right. The non-consolatory irony being that long-time users of Finale who have taken the program's design for granted for so long have therefore forgotten how user-unfriendly Finale was. As to Dorico, I sympathize, because any steepness to the learning curve is bothersome on the raw merits, but especially obnoxious if you're a composer trying to chop a score out.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I haven't tried Dorico, so perhaps the Finale users are right. The non-consolatory irony being that long-time users of Finale who have taken the program's design for granted for so long have therefore forgotten how user-unfriendly Finale was. As to Dorico, I sympathize, because any steepness to the learning curve is bothersome on the raw merits, but especially obnoxious if you're a composer trying to chop a score out.

People still have a full year before Finale shuts down, and even afterwards the software will be usable so long as you have an operating system that supports it. Mac Sequoia users are out of luck already, however, as Finale is not compatible and MakeMusic will not be making upgrades for it.

[krummholz]

I can't speak to the Finale -> Dorico transition, but I'm still in the process of learning Dorico as I transition away from Sibelius. I can vouch for the steepness of the learning curve, but will also say that the process has been rewarding and I've been made aware of Sibelius bugs that I never really noticed before - e.g., a particular rallentando in my symphony never reached the slow tempo I ask for at the end when played back under Sibelius. Dorico plays that passage back so perfectly that I had forgotten that I had always just been "accepting" the way Sibelius was playing it.

Then again, there are mysteries in Dorico that I haven't begun to crack. For example, why does editing a dynamic level (like mp) sometimes result in the new dynamic being placed under the old one, instead of just replacing it? Inquiring minds and all...