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He wrote the original version software for Coda Music Software, which was later sold to Net4Music and then became MakeMusic. Phil Farrand made the first version of Finale. From Finale 2001 onward, the program included MicNotator, a module able to notate melodic pitches played on a single-pitch acoustic instrument via a microphone connected to the computer.įinale 2004 introduced FinaleScript, a scripting language for the automation of repetitive tasks. It also includes a function for optically recognising printed music from a scan. Music can be entered using a keyboard or using the software itself. Nearly all elements in the score can be adjusted and moved. It has built-in working guitar tablature system and includes a jazz font similar to that used in the Real Book. In other situations, without careful advance user customization, the program makes what can be described as good guesses, especially in the area of enharmonic spelling of newly entered data generated from a MIDI keyboard, while respecting the current key signature.įinale is capable of notating various music such as chorale or a cut-out score including new symbols invented by the composer.
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This tool also provides the ability to reposition several classes of score object directly, and more recent versions of the software have implemented extensive contextual menuing via this tool.įinale automatically manages many of the basic rules of harmony and music notation, such as correct beaming, stem direction, vertical alignment of multiple rhythmic values, and established rules for positioning note heads on chords. A more generalized selection tool is also available to select large measure regions for editing key and time signatures, or transposing, among other uses. With the corresponding tool selected, fine adjustment of each set of objects in a score are possible either by clicking and dragging or by entering measurements in a dialog box. On the screen, Finale provides the ability to color code several elements of the score as a visual aid on the print-out all score elements are black (unless color print-out is explicitly chosen). In general, operation of Finale bears at least some surface similarities to Adobe Photoshop. Several of Finale's tools provide an associated menu just to the left of the Help menu, available only when that particular tool is selected. Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Swedishįinale is a proprietary music notation software developed and released by MakeMusic for Microsoft Windows and macOS since 1988.įinale's tools are organized into multiple hierarchically organized palettes, and the corresponding tool must be selected to add or edit any particular class of score element.
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