David W. Fenton wrote:
On 14 Oct 2007 at 7:59, Richard Smith wrote:
Sorry. Try this one.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sibelius-list/message/33713.
Sorry, but for a thread to begin with this:
Sibelius' keyboard entry routines are what Finale has been
trying
to copy for several years.
This just by no stretch of the imagination a true statement. Simple
Entry existed before Sibelius existed. Yes, it has been significantly
changed, but in ways that are organic to the evolution of GUIs and
increased processing power in the computers funning Finale. That the
solutions to some of those problems may be nearly identical is due to
the fact that the task is pretty much identical.
Yes, Simple Entry existed before Sibelius, but it has been curious
watching MakeMusic morph Simple Entry to match what Sibelius had already
introduced, once it brought out a Windows/Mac version. I wonder what
sort of changes would have been implemented in the Simple Entry tool had
Sibelius not appeared on the horizon. My bet is that it would be the
Speedy Entry tool which would be getting the improvements and Simple
Entry would have stagnated rather than the other way around. Remember
when MakeMusic used to actually push Speedy Entry as the preferred entry
tool? Nowadays they are working to dismantle it. Hardly the "organic
evolution of GUIs" I would think.
And the advice to "loose [sic] the Speedy Entry habit" is going to be
very off-putting to those like me who are very fluent in it.
I will agree with you on this point, David. And I would also back it up
by saying that not all Finale users are going to like Sibelius, so
anybody consider changing or investigating Sibelius should do so at
their own risk and should download the demo and experiment a lot before
taking the plunge. Of course at the currently available $80 cross-grade
through audiomidi.com it is a great way to actually test the entire
program complete with ability to print and save with a much smaller risk
than before.
But I will go out on a limb and say that Sibelius' entry methods are not
as limited as they might appear and while there is no direct crossover
for computer-keyboard-only Speedy users who use the cursor keys for
pitch placement (as I do) the transition is far easier than you might think.
The point is that Sibelius is not as versatile as Finale in terms of
providing options for music entry. Bad-mouthing Finale doesn't change
the fact that Sibelius is more limiting, and enforces a single way of
working, whereas Finale offers choice.
Sibelius offers more than one entry method.
Finale has acknowledged that it is getting rid of the Speedy Entry tool,
incorporating aspects of it into other tools.
This long-time Speedy Entry user, using computer keyboard only, found
the transition to Sibelius quite easy to make.
and Sibelius has a user-configurable keyboard shortcut setup that makes
it quite easy to configure Sibelius to duplicate much of Finale's entry
method.
Sibelius does allow computer-keyboard-only entry, it allows for
computer-keyboard-and-mouse entry, it allows for
midi-computer-combined-with-computer-keyboard entry, and it allows for
midi-keyboard-only entry.
The one aspect of Finale's Speedy entry methods that Sibelius lacks is
the ability to use the up/down cursor keys to move to where you want to
place the next pitch.
Yes, the two programs are different. But trying to say that
Sibelius's limited methods are just better than Finale's is not going
to win converts to Sibelius. It's going to make Finale users
defensive and suspicious of the rest of the advice.
Personally, I would never say one program is better than the other in
such user-specific tastes and techniques.
They're different, but not as different as many people think, nor as
different as they have been in the past.
I'm still waiting for Finale to "fix" it's "improved" Fin2k8 speedy
entry tool so that ctrl-3 (top-row number key) initiates triplets again.
Why they would change that escapes my ability to understand. But with
the professed aim of doing away with the Speedy Entry tool as a separate
tool and incorporating it into other tools (I would guess mostly into
the Simple Entry tool) they may not fix it at all as it stands now.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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