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Finale

Finale, the world standard for music notation software, lets you compose, arrange, notate, and print engraver-quality sheet music.

Finale

Finale Reviews and Details

This page is designed to help you find out whether Finale is good and if it is the right choice for you.

Screenshots and images

  • Finale Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-29

Features & Specs

  1. Comprehensive Features

    Finale is known for its wide array of features, including advanced notation tools, playback options, and support for MIDI devices, making it suitable for professional composers and arrangers.

  2. Customizability

    Users can customize many aspects of the software to suit their individual needs, including notation styles, page layout, and playback settings.

  3. Printing Quality

    Finale offers high-quality printing and engraving options, ensuring that the sheet music looks professional and is ready for publication.

  4. Comprehensive Libraries

    Comes with extensive music libraries and templates which can help speed up the process of creating complex scores.

  5. Cross-Platform Support

    Finale is available on both Windows and macOS platforms, offering flexibility regardless of the operating system.

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Videos

Finale 26: Review & What's New

Finale PrintMusic 2014: Distributed by Alfred Music

Insecure Season Finale Review | The Joe Budden Podcast

Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about Finale and what they use it for.
  • About free (not pirate) software to start composing
    When you're ready to upgrade, Finale full version has fully sampled sound for hundreds of instruments. Retail $299. finalemusic.com. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • โ€˜Jean Sibeliusโ€™ Review: An Early Finale
    Since Sibelius and Finale are two industry-leading (and very much competing) music notation software systems, this headline made me do a quadruple-take! https://www.avid.com/sibelius https://finalemusic.com For those interested in (extremely entertaining) breakdowns of the Sibelius software and other offerings in this space from a UI/UX design perspective, I highly recommend Tantacrul's videos, which propelled him... - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
  • An odd request: what is the music/ theme song that is used during Blue Jays Central on SportsNet?
    I too would want the sheet music so I can transcribe it on music notation software like Finale. Source: about 4 years ago

Summary of the public mentions of Finale

Finale, offered by MakeMusic, has established itself as a quintessential tool within the music notation software domain, competing with well-known alternatives such as Sibelius, MuseScore, and LilyPond. Public opinion about Finale reflects its esteemed position in the market while highlighting specific features that appeal to a broad spectrum of users, from budding musicians to seasoned composers.

Key Strengths

Finale is notably recognized for its "Human Playback" feature, which provides users with instrumental playbacks that closely mimic real orchestral sounds. This particular aspect is highly valued for its realism, especially concerning strings, percussion, and horns, offering composers an almost authentic auditory preview of their compositions.

The softwareโ€™s intuitive workflow and user-friendly interface are consistently praised in user reviews and professional assessments alike. With an impressive set of note entry tools and editing palettes, Finale facilitates a streamlined and efficient music composition experience. Users find these tools not only easy to locate but also simple to navigate, making the composition process more accessible and enjoyable.

Moreover, Finaleโ€™s sampling capabilities, with fully sampled sounds for hundreds of instruments, provide composers with an extensive arsenal to create rich and diverse musical pieces. This feature is especially beneficial for composers seeking to upgrade from simpler software solutions as they refine their compositions and require more sophisticated sound libraries.

Comparisons and Competitors

In the competitive landscape, Finale often gets compared with Sibelius, its primary rival. Both are regarded as the industry standard for music notation, spurring a considerable amount of discussion among users. Commentators often point toward Tantacrul's videos, which provide entertaining and insightful breakdowns of user interface and user experience design in music notation software, including Finale. These analyses serve as valuable resources for understanding the complexities and design philosophies behind these industry-leading tools, making them essential viewing for developers focused on UX design.

While competitors like MuseScore offer free alternatives, which may be attractive to budget-conscious users, Finale is positioned as a professional-grade tool, reflected in its pricing strategy. The product aims to appeal to professional composers willing to invest for high-quality outcomes.

Community Usage

In real-world applications, users frequently turn to Finale for specific tasks, such as transcribing music scores or composing music for various projects. The software's ability to translate musical ideas into precisely notated scores makes it an indispensable tool for professionals needing reliable and robust notation capabilities.

Conclusion

Overall, public opinion celebrates Finale as a powerful, reliable music notation software that strikes a balance between advanced functionalities and user accessibility. While it competes head-to-head with other industry staples like Sibelius, its features such as "Human Playback" and extensive instrument sampling capabilities often make it the preferred choice for many composers who demand realistic playback and comprehensive editing tools in their work.

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Finale discussion

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Is Finale good? This is an informative page that will help you find out. Moreover, you can review and discuss Finale here. The primary details have not been verified within the last quarter, and they might be outdated. If you think we are missing something, please use the means on this page to comment or suggest changes. All reviews and comments are highly encouranged and appreciated as they help everyone in the community to make an informed choice. Please always be kind and objective when evaluating a product and sharing your opinion.