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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 21 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Finale rocks Nov 27, 2010
By Music Hack
I got Finale 2011 Academic on Amazon for my son, a college student. He loves it. He quickly got it registered online and started using it for his music classes. I used it for writing a couple songs and found it slow going until I found the Quick Start Videos under the help Menu. Made a huge difference. Once you get going, it's pretty straightforward. My son's theory prof says he told students to get Finale because it 'does everything.' I'm looking forward to doing more with it when he berings his laptop home for Christmas.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
The 21st Century Orchestrion Aug 08, 2011
By Mitch S. Meador
Last year I was struck by the realization that there are two ways of notating music in Finale 2011. One is for print, the other for audio. If I want other musicians to have a clean score to read, I take the first approach. But more and more, I'm going the other route because of the high quality of the digitally sampled sounds in Garritan Instruments.
For those who don't recognize the word, the orchestrion was essentially a player piano, but with more bells and whistles. There were many different types. I have seen one with eight functioning instruments that played off a giant piano roll on which 12 numbers were punched.
I view Finale 2011 as an extension of the player piano technology. It can be used as an orchestrion, but its possibilities are so much more than any orchestrion I have ever heard.
The program itself is mind-boggling. You could spend a lifetime with it and still not know everything it has to offer. It's really open to whatever the user can conceive. It's flexible and forgiving, and it's amazing what it can do.
As with any software program this elaborate, there are a few things that could be improved. Hopefully, the software designers will remedy these in upgrades to come. Personally, I would like for the cornet staffs to have the actual sound of cornets rather than trumpets, because the cornet is essentially the viola of the brass section, and its mellow tone was meant to handle the inner voices. Also, the sand block staff currently defaults to a maracas sound (sorry, not even close). If the tempo of a piece has to be changed, the first measure stays in the old tempo, and the only way around the problem is to insert a blank measure at the beginning of the score. Another problem is with the triplet tool -- if the triplets are in 16ths and you want to use an eighth note at the beginning, you have to delete a 16th rest in the middle and go back and retype an eighth note over the first 16th note. But you can only do this for the first three triplets in a 2/4 measure. It won't work on the fourth one unless you type in two 16th notes and tie them together.
These are minor quibbles. Overall, the product is outstanding, and I love, love, love using it.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Finale does it the capital-R "Right" way! Aug 06, 2011
By Robert Parker
I have been using Finale ever since it hit the market (let's not talk about how many years ago) and I couldn't imagine moving to another music-creation platform. Its MIDI nuances are not as easy to control than my multitrack sequencer, but its notational power leaves those sequencers in the dust. And, my publishers tell me that they prefer Finale to "other packages"; in some packages, slurs and ties are just curved lines, but in Finale, everything that goes on the page has its own identity and its own function. I've written soundtrack music, concert-band scores, oratorios for symphony orchestra and chorus, and songs for high-school choirs. It does EVERYTHING, and I love it! And every year, it gets easier to use, not because I'm better at IT, but because IT'S better in dealing with ME--what's not to ESPECIALLY love about THAT?
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Buy it now! Aug 08, 2011
By Mike Henebry
From the time I was 12 years old, I wanted to be a film composer. Because of practical considerations (life, etc.), I put off composing and spent most of my musical time performing, arranging and transcribing. I am now one of the world's (if not the number one) most prolific transcribers of 1920s-1940s big band recordings. Until last year, it was all done the old-fashioned way: by hand. About a year ago, at the tender age of 66, I bought Finale... it has changed my life! Not only are my transcriptions and arrangements now very professional-looking and of commercial quality, but I am making up for lost time as a composer. Writing music that no one ever hears is like a tree falling in the forest... who cares? But with Finale, you can write something and have a symphony orchestra, or a jazz band, or an ethnic ensemble play it back immediately. You can perfect an idea as you write. Without playback, you'd have to be Beethoven, but with playback, all you have to be is a good listener. The Garritan sounds (that come with Finale) and Finale's Human Playback features are so good these days that many listeners will think it is a live performance. I may be a little too old to catch the likes of John Williams and Hans Zimmer, but I am writing things at that level now for the first time in my life. Talents like Williams and Zimmer might be able to compose music without Finale (although, more than likely, they still use it), but with Finale's help, I can compose in that league. Being able to do that is incredibly rewarding! If you love music, and of course you do, your life will change, too, when you can completely express yourself musically. For the first time in my life, and entirely because of Finale, I am finally pursuing my ambition as a film composer! Finale primarily promotes itself as a notation software. At that, of course, it is superb. But, I think they are missing the boat promotionally because, as a compositional tool, it can be life changing! Finale's support is as good as it gets. I am in no way connected to Finale or MakeMusic or have any reason to exaggerate. I just plainly love Finale and am a major supporter! If you are thinking about it, stop thinking... just buy it!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Intricate, comprehensive, intuitive Aug 06, 2011
By J. Ripley
Knowing that Finale "does it all" allows me to feel free to write whatever is needed to make an effective musical statement. Customer service and tech help has been there when I needed it, but over the years the systems have grown within their basic intuitive framework to be almost foolproof.
I'm not one to purchase all the upgrades, but have found 2011 to really have it all.
See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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