Finale 2011 from MakeMusic is powerful music notation software that lets you compose, arrange, notate, and print engraver-quality sheet music. Entering notes can be achieved in multiple ways, from MIDI to mouse, from scanning to Finale's exclusive MicNotator.
SmartMusic support provides over 300 customizable Music Education Worksheets, and Finale's Exercise Wizard are just a few of the many reasons Finale remains the first choice of music educators. Additionally, Finale includes many time-saving tools like Linked Parts, Multiple Page Editing, Band-in-a-Box Auto-harmonizing, ScoreMerger, SmartFind and Paint, and more.
Many areas of Finale have been redesigned for 2011, including Percussion Notation and Chord Entry, Rehearsal Marks and Measure Numbering, and common tasks have been automated and simplified to save you time and to easily make your music perfect. Lyric entry and spacing have been improved, as the staff layout.
More than 375 instrument sounds from the makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra, over 100 sounds from Tapspace Virtual Drumline, and the ability to add any VST/Audio Units instrument or effect plug-in, means the software offers the very best in playback. Record and import a mono or stereo audio file to enhance playback and to give arrangements authenticity and life with a real vocal or instrumental track.
Finale is a top choice for music professionals working in the film and television industry. The integrated video support allows the writer to set frame rates, write time code into a score, and send SMPTE/MTC to external devices. A "Fit to Time" feature greatly speeds up productivity.
New in Finale 2011
- Improved Lyric Entry and Spacing - lyrics are more easily entered, instantly appear exactly as they'll print out, and are automatically spaced with engraver precision
- Garritan Sounds - now includes more than 375 world-class instrument sounds from the makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra. Free new sounds include bass trombone, brass section, children's choir ahs, flute section, electronic drum kit and more
- New Fonts - hundreds of new font characters are included for percussion, mallet and handbell graphics
- Expanded Percussion Playback - makes it easy to switch between pitched and non-pitched percussion anywhere in your score
- Instant Capo Chords - automatically add capo chords to your music with the freedom to control whether they replace or appear in addition to non-capo chords
- Easier Staff Layout - staff layout capabilities make it simple and intuitive to hide, move, and edit staves, groups, and brackets. Work in any order you wish, and never lose a note
- Music Education Worksheets - includes more than 800 ready-made, customizable music education worksheets and flashcards. New jazz improvisation worksheets and more than 100 titles of classroom repertoire
- Finale AlphaNotes Font - created for use with beginning music students, the Finale AlphaNotes font places note names or solfège syllables inside noteheads
- Updated Aria Player - the Garritan Aria Player simplifies the process of changing MIDI channel assignments. Updated for Finale 2011, the Garritan Aria Player has an integrated Ambience reverb and the ability to save Ensembles
- Improved Pickup Measures and More - automatically insert the correct rests when you start your score, improved file support for multiple-user environments, and a new Quick Reference Guide that shows you how to complete common tasks quickly and easily in Finale
Getting Started
- Finale's Launch Window saves you time by putting all of Finale's power at your fingertips. Choose to create exercises, scan existing sheet music, or work from provided templates. You can also create a score with an unlimited number of staves from scratch with Finale's Setup Wizard - which configures things like instrument transpositions
- Finale includes a variety of engraved, hand-written and specialty fonts and supports third-party fonts
- New in Finale 2011 are 3 new fonts - Finale Percussion Font, Finale Mallets Font and an AlphaNotes Font for use with beginning music students
- Finale gives you complete control over the fonts used for notation and text in your music
- The software is easy to use, but sometimes you might want to know more about the variety of ways to enter notes or how to indicate a nonstandard time signature - new Quick Reference Guide shows you how to complete common tasks quickly and easily
- When creating a full score, a worksheet, quiz or even a dissertation, the easiest way to start is simply to open a pre-created template from the Launch Window. Select from more than 60 pre-made templates (including SATB, orchestral and band scores, solfege, and more) then let Finale's Setup Wizard do the rest
- Finale's Setup Wizard helps you get up and running quickly. Just answer a few questions. What instruments or voices do you want? You can even select from pre-defined ensembles or create your own. What key? Time signature? Music font? Tempo?
- Finale will set up your score, complete with staves in correct order, instrument transpositions, tempo marking, staff groupings, intelligent page layout that automatically adjusts system position, size, and space between staves to reduce white space on the page
- You can also choose from a wide variety of personal document styles, specify the number of measures in your score, and insert text for the title, composer, arranger, lyricist, copyright and a sub-title
Entering Notes
- Enter notes with your computer keyboard and/or mouse
- Use your MIDI keyboard (or any other MIDI device) in combination with your computer keyboard and mouse to enter notes and chords
- Play a MIDI keyboard and watch your music appear on-screen in real time
- Use Finale's exclusive MicNotator to play notes into your microphone with a brass or woodwind instrument
- Scan existing sheet music
- Import MIDI, MusicXML, Smartscore, or Finale family notation files
- Using Simple or Speedy Note Entry, click notes onto the staff or use MIDI to indicate pitch. Or enter notes with the numeric pad and keys A, B, C, D, E, F and G. You can also:
- Change octaves
- Enter rests
- Add accidentals
- Create triplets
- Add grace notes
- Add notes in a chord to an existing note
- Enter articulations on the fly or 'lock in' an articulation to place on several notes
- Change the key or time signature simply with key commands
- Add expressions like dynamics or tempos
- Enter a rhythmic pattern using a single note and then re-pitch the repeated notes using your MIDI or computer keyboard
- Keystrokes are intuitive and a special key map for laptop users is provided. If you prefer certain key commands, change the defaults in Finale to whatever you like
Adding Markings, Lyrics and More
- Finale allows an unlimited number of lyric verses and automatically spaces the lyrics to match the notes they're attached to
- Makes entering, creating, copying and moving dynamics, tempo indications, and other text and markings intuitive and powerful
- Enter chord symbols by typing in their names or playing them with a MIDI keyboard. Change or delete notes without changing your chords
- Default positioning looks great, even when the tuplet begins with rests, and tuplets automatically reposition when notes are raised or lowered on the staff
- Tuplet brackets avoid rests and staff lines
- Brackets follow the angle of the stems when on stem side and follow the angle of notes when on the note side
- Expression markings include dynamics, tempo markings, rehearsal marks, technique text like arco and pizzicato, and expressive text
- Selection, entry and placement of expressions or articulation markings is quick and intuitive
- Once in your score, they are easily moved - now with transparent selection handles, so they never obscure the object you're editing
- You can instantly change the appearance of an entire category of expressions or articulations
- Drag and drop expressions
- Simply drag the text anywhere in your score. Now you simply drag text items anywhere
- Clear visual feedback instantly shows you what each selected expression is attached to, which changes dynamically as you drag - even across pages
- Drag expressions and rest assured they'll always change playback - and appear in linked parts - just the way you want them to
- You can now drag-apply expressions to multiple staves at once
- No matter how you enter these markings, Finale continues to apply the same collision avoidance rules so you don't have to think about it
Editing Tools
- Intuitive cut/copy/paste enhancements ensure that you always get the results you seek - the first time
- Selection Tool takes the guesswork out of editing nearly anything on the page
- With the selection tool you can:
- Cut, copy or paste music
- Change time and key signatures and clefs
- Transpose
- Add repeats
- Adjust expressions, change bar lines, and more
- Multiple Page Editing lets you place as many pages on your screen as you wish and edit anything you want
- Copy and paste measures from one page to the next
- Drag slurs from the end of one page to the beginning of another, and much more
- Choose from multiple viewing options including single pages, facing pages, and tiled pages
- Click to the next page, next pair of pages, or choose to scroll continuously - horizontally or vertically
- View your entire piece on screen at once with a tiled view.
- SmartFind and Paint copies articulations, dynamics, and expressions to the same rhythmic motif across your score
- Quick Change makes it easy to change expressions and articulations with simple keystrokes
- Multiple Undo lets you reverse any number of changes you made in the current session (even past the point you saved your score)
Hearing Your Music
- Integrated sound libraries
- More than 375 world-class sounds from the makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra
- More than 100 sounds from Tapspace Virtual Drumline
- Latin Percussion instruments and rhythms
- Marching percussion from Row-Loff
- A general MIDI set with minimal system requirements (compatible with nearly any computer) which offers consistent playback when your Finale files are heard in SmartMusic, Finale NotePad and other MakeMusic products
- All of Finale's sound libraries work together seamlessly so that you can mix and match sounds in your score
- Lets you record or import an audio file for even more realism
- The Garritan Aria Player is included and is fully integrated into Finale to simplify the process of changing MIDI channel assignments
- Updated for Finale 2011, the Garritan Aria Player has an integrated Ambience reverb and the ability to save Ensembles
- Supports all third-party VST/Audio Units instruments and effects, providing users with unlimited sonic possibilities
- Offers more features to fine-tune music playback, including:
- The ability to edit MIDI files
- TempoTap to control tempo nuances
- A mixer with integrated sequencer controls
- Human Playback makes even notes entered with a mouse play back with the nuance of live performers
Sharing Your Music
- You can share your music by creating MP3 or WAV audio files
- Exporting MIDI or MusicXML files
- Creating textbooks, worksheets, or quizzes by exporting music as a graphics file into a word processing program
- Creating SmartMusic accompaniments
- Sharing your Finale files with anyone who downloads the free Finale Reader to view, print and play your music
- Collaborate with others by sharing your Finale files with users of Finale family notation software like
- Finale PrintMusic, Finale SongWriter and Finale NotePad
- Posting your music at the Finale Showcase, a free site hosted by MakeMusic where people can see, play and print your music
Educator Tools
- Easy to use, time-saving features help you customize music curriculum to meet the individual needs of all your students
- Creates accompaniments for SmartMusic, the acclaimed interactive music software for band, orchestra, and voice that is transforming the way students practice
- Hundreds of ready-made, educator-approved, customizable worksheets are included
- Print them out or distribute them via e-mail to be opened and printed with the free Finale Reader
- Also included are hundreds of individual and classroom flash cards and 30 ear-training worksheets
- Exercise Wizard helps you create custom exercises or lessons - for your entire ensemble - in minutes
- Full compatibility with downloadable MakeMusic software lets your students - at home or on school computers - complete tests or assignments created in Finale
- Studio View is perfect for teaching and practicing composition and arranging using the language of music notation
- Video support to sync your marching band show with your score
- Create worksheets or quizzes by exporting music into a word processing program
- Colored note heads and Boomwhackers sounds
- Improved support of music labs where multiple users can have their own preferences and templates
- Logging into a network to use Finale, allows you to see your documents - the next person to login only sees their documents
Composing and Arranging Timesavers
- Linked Parts mean you no longer have to make edits to your parts and score separately
- Handles instrument transpositions, offers range checking, and provides instant arrangements and piano reductions
- ScoreMerger consolidates multiple movements into a single score or a collection of parts into a conductor's score
- Automatic rehearsal marks dynamically update when you delete, insert, or move measures in your score
- Seamlessly integrated video support for writing for video or film
- Offers composers and arrangers several idea-generating tools, perfect for saving time and suggesting creative options
- Generate up to 6-part harmony with Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing
- Create custom drum parts with DrumGroove
- Choose from a variety of authentic Latin Percussion rhythms
- Transform your score with Canonic Utilities which apply inversion, retrograde, transposition, or any combination of these to a selected region or use the Composer's Assistant to realize chords, create common-tone transpositions, transition from one melody to another with melodic morphing or one chord to another with chord morphing
- Chord Analysis generates chord names from your harmony and creates chord symbols automatically
- Resize note heads automatically to notate harmonization within a specified region
- FinaleScript is an exclusive, easy-to-use scripting language that saves you time whether you create your own scripts or simply use those provided
- Automatic Note Spacing, Smart Page Turns, automatically generate a "Handbells Used" chart, and more
Production and Sequencing Tools
- Give arrangements authenticity and life with a real vocal or instrumental track
- Record or import a mono or stereo audio file to enhance playback
- Audio support allows you to:
- Record a vocal track to a soprano aria
- Add a trumpet solo to a jazz chart
- Import a stereo mix of a rock band and add a horn arrangement
- Import audio for transcription/take-down
- Create learning files for choir students with accompaniment and sung text
- Import an audio recording of music, use the TempoTap feature to line-up notation bar lines and times, then add additional orchestration
- Create Tempo Nuances Effortlessly with TempoTap
- Provides complete control over rubati, accelerandi, and ritardandi
- Simple Input - just tap your tempo changes and Finale captures every nuance
- Total Control - define appropriate subdivisions on the TempoTap staff to accurately control ritardandi and other changes
- Hear your music play as you tap - your playback nuances are automatically retained for future performances
- Software mixer provides integrated sequencer controls for each staff that enable you to set volume, panning, and patch as well as choose to mute, solo, or record
- Adjust parameters for all staves in real-time
- Mid-Measure Playback Controls offer more detailed feedback and the ability to resume your playback right where you stopped or anywhere you want
- Playback controls also indicate elapsed time, time code and repeat pass information
- Import digital video and Finale automatically synchronizes it with your music
- View the resizable Movie Window as you compose, edit, and play back your score, enjoying new video features like "Fit to Time"
- Video support allows you to set frame rates, write time code into your score, and send SMPTE/MTC to external devices
- Finale can open MIDI files and display notation
- Finale recognizes the time and key signatures from MIDI information, and plots the pitches on the staff lines for you
- Skip right to the editing stages and prepare the song for your next rehearsal
- Save notation as MIDI and save time sequencing - you've notated your film score with hundreds of time changes and twice as many tempo changes. Now it's time to create a background track in your sequencing program, before your soloist arrives to record - save your Finale file as a MIDI file, and open it into your sequencer - your time and tempo changes will be written with MIDI information
Finishing Touches
- Offers ultimate control of the printed page, making it the first choice for engravers, publishers and others who seek perfection
- Equally important, Finale also speeds up and simplifies the process
- Staff Layout capabilities make it simple and intuitive to hide, move, and edit staves, groups and brackets
- Work in any order you wish, change your mind whenever you want, and never lose a note
- Choose from a variety of included music fonts or use a third-party font
- Document Styles let you control the appearance of your documents and make creating your own styles instantaneous
- Customize your workspace with textured paper backgrounds, display colors, views, and palettes
- Choose from over a dozen different paper textures and colors so the on-screen page is easy on the eyes and aesthetically pleasing when entering notes or editing
- Add graphics to your score like pictures or logos
- Vertical Collision Remover - easily adjust white space between staves, systems and instrument groups
- includes over 50 time-saving plug-ins for specialized notation tasks like applying Patterson Beams, cross-staff beaming, creating tremolos, or specifying different split points for selected regions using TGTools, and more
- Creating cross-staff beaming is a snap - just select the notes you want to move to the bass staff