Sibelius 4 has been announced, and one aspect which we have clamored for
on this list for years is in their list of added features: Dynamic
linking of parts to the score. Apparently you only have to change
things in the score, and the changes are reflected in the parts. I know
no more about it, but thought I would let you folks know about it and
give you this link. But it does allow the user to tweak certain things
in the parts which don't show up in the score, so nudging of items for
better legibility won't affect the score but can make the parts more
legible. It sounds like a glorified Special Parts Extraction, where
each part is maintained in its own layout, unlike Finale, where whatever
layout changes are made in special parts extraction affect the score as
well. There is a flash movie which supposedly shows how it all works:
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius/4/dynamicparts.html
If Finale doesn't start listening to its core users and stop dicking
around with fancy playback issues, it's going to lose the entire
educational and professional market, plain and simple.
Let's hope that Finale2006 has this feature, too! Wait, I just checked,
and it's nowhere to be seen. But they're making it easy to use GPO --
wow! Incredible, just what every engraver needs! And wait a minute
more, there's a new MIXER panel, something I've seen every engraver
clamor for time and again.
I am beginning to fear for Finale's continued well-being -- those of us
on this list who care about GPO probably already have it! And those of
us who don't have it probably don't really care about it. So why
integrate it with Finale (and add the cost to the product when many
don't want/need it) when something which would truly make getting the
music onto paper (oh, let's not forget, TEXTURED paper on-screen! Will
it print like that, I wonder?) like linked score/parts isn't included.
On the more realistic side of things, the jury will be out on Sibelius'
linked parts/score for a while, since it, too, may just be another
marketing ploy which won't work very well. I kind of doubt that, though
-- Sibelius' developpers seem to be a lot more on the ball these days in
meeting users' needs/wishes than Finale's developpers are.
But Sibelius is taking a large leap forward while all the new stuff I
read about Finale2006 is just so much fluff and nonsense aimed at
turning a notation product into a sequencer. I see very little which is
actually new in Finale2006, especially given that half the new stuff is
done with plug-ins that third-parties have written. It'll be
interesting to see how the new mid-measure repeats business works and
whether or not it will adjust the measure numbers appropriately.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
