Good day all,

Is there anyone who is familiar with Finale NotePad 2006? I thought I would download a free trial of it but now that I've done so I'm not having the best of times with it.

For example, is there any way to 'customise' the width of a bar/measure? I was typing a melody as a trial and the last bar with only 4 quavers takes up the entire staff!!!

Also, I have seen that I cant insert the sort of double bar line to indicate where another section begins...

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

Cheerio mates

Get Sibelius 3

Yeah, Sibelius is better (or Finale), but some people (like me!) can't afford to buy such an expensive software...

Or have a look at Music Publisher 5.
Not too badly priced, totally self formatting, quick to learn and great customer service.

Well, in the full edition of Finale you select the page layout tool, then drag the selection square at the bottom right of the last staff system towards the left. More resources here ; I recommend the Finale IRC chat board link there for pretty instant support.

THanks for all your help. Seems that the version I have is rather limited, then again it's free so what do I expect eh
Oh well

Notepad is completely free, so has certain limitations - but is nonetheless very good value for money!

You can see details of the Finale series features at

http://downloads.makemusic.com/forms/product_comparisons.pdf

and the costs can be seen at the UK distributor's website at

http://www.etcetera.co.uk/products/finalenotepad.shtml

Hope that helps. I have the full Finale, and enjoy it immensely.

That's a matter of opinion, and depends on how you want to use the software. I've been using Finale for over 10 years and have no intention of changing.

For anyone who already uses Finale or is thinking of getting it (I think there's still a good educational discount available) I strongly recommend linking up with the Finale list, which is an emailing list for users. There are lots of very experienced and helpful US users (it's an American product) who are amazingly generous with their time and knowledge.

Oh no, I didn't mean that Sibelius is better than Finale or vise versa - I meant that either would be better than Finale Notepad, as the features aren't limited (though depending on your purpose, Finale Notepad may be sufficient). My school uses Sibelius and my piano teacher uses Finale, so I know a bit of both.

Could you give me the details of how to get on this Finale list?

I've always emailed Finale support so far, who've helped me well, but I'd be interested in having the details.

Many thanks

DomRUK

I use the lower Finale 'PrintMusic' version which does all the things I want it to do and is somewhat cheaper. I'm very pleased with it and have no plans to change.
W

A quote from a recent Finale Digest:

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
finale-request@shsu.edu

You can reach the person managing the list at
finale-owner@shsu.edu

There's also a real-time chat channel for all Finale family products on IRC at
Server: irc.chatspike.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #finale

Your browser may be able to lauch your chat app by clicking this URL: irc://irc.chatspike.net:6667#finale

More background on this at http://www.finaleirc.com/index.php

Umm what is IRC?

*Slinks off to corner with the pointy dumbo hat*

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, it allows individuals or groups to type messages to each other in real time.

More info here: http://www.irchelp.org/

The most popular IRC client is probably Gaim: http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ go to Downloads.

More on instant messaging in general here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messenger

Have you used it? I must say, it looks very good value. What interests me is the scanning software. With children playing piano, trumpet, guitar, and me clarinet, there are times when I'd like to scan in some music, change the key, and print it.

I use Notepad and this problem with formatting the last bar is really irritating - though it was free, so shouldn't complain.

I also bought Noteworthy a few years ago, but I never liked the interface, though I must admit it prints well.

Steve

Many thanks.