Does anyone here use FINALE?
  • Francesca
    Posts: 51
    I'm a neophyte at computer publishing musical scores. Over at Corpus Christi Watershed, (that great gift of the Church!) Jeff is trying to post music for the new translation, and I'm stuck at the part where I can send my FINALE scores to him as PFD files.

    Can anyone here help? Please bear in mind that I have few computer skills, so those who are kind enough to respond, I beg you keep it simple.

    I'm a published composer of church music,(most out of print by now, as I've been in the field for 30 years, and what I used to write (motets, anthems, etc.) is considered too hard for modern choirs. My own choirs have always been able to do the stuff if I had the voices - go figure. It's the terrible decline of music in my lifetime.). I spent last summer's vacation composing, then in the blazing heat of August, some wonderful seminarians who liked it actually offered to record it, added their voices to our Schola and making a professional quality recording with an MP3 that Jeff has. Everything was painstakingly put into FINALE and now this snag.

    FYI, The music is not plainsong, but it is modal, a Unison with Organ setting for Congregation, very conservative and created to be beautiful, lasting in weekly use, limited in range and crafted to be easy to learn, trying hard to stay within the guidelines the Holy Father's put down. I'd like to get it out there as an alternative to what's being presented by OCP, etc. soon, not only for the sake of my own church, but others who use Unison with Organ settings.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    You need a separate software program for converting to PDF.
    Many cheap and free ones will convert .doc and similar files (MS Word documents), but some of them have a problem reading Finale (I once had a small-town print shop waste 100 pages of score because they were using some off-label PDF reader that didn't interpret the music fonts correctly).
    You may need bite the bullet and buy Adobe Acrobat.
    Alternatively, you may be able to find a kind soul who will convert a few files for you. I would, but I don't have a very current version of Finale.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Foxit PDF Creator is very reliable and costs only $30.
  • Franco
    Posts: 16
    Cute pdf is free and works great. You just go to print the document and it converts it to a pdf.


    www.cutepdf.com
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Send me the finale files and I will try to convert them for you.

    noeljones@usit.net
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    I believe Finale comes with its own PDF writer, but Cute PDF writer is the best I've found. It installs like a printer and you just select it. The PDFs look great.
  • Francesca
    Posts: 51
    Thank you so much to everyone who helped me, especially Frogman Noel Jones. Only the Kyrie is left to upload on ccwatershed.

    I was overwhelmed by the generosity and skill offered to a stranger on your site. You can view and hear the score, if you like, at http://www.ccwatershed.org/Glory_To_God/.

    We' ll be exploring some of the freeware and other suggestions offered, also. Again, thank you so much!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    Linda, I just stumbled across this (being a newcomer myself). I just viewed and listened to your Glory to God and think it is a very serviceable and appealing. Thanks for making it available!
  • JoshuaMAbramson
    Posts: 10
    Yes, I use Finale.
  • JoshuaMAbramson
    Posts: 10
    Actually, if you have microsft onenote, you can go to Print>Setup>OneNote Document Writer and open it, and from onenote File>Publish as PDF.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,985
    Rumor has it that an elderly Orthodox monk in a remote region of Russia actually understands Finale. The rest of us merely plunk around with it, with mixed degrees of success. ;-)
  • JoshuaMAbramson
    Posts: 10
    I must meet this man... :P
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,985
    LOL. If I didn't have so much invested in Finale, I would try Sibelius.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Try this:

    How to Convert Any File to a PDF in 3 Steps
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,985
    I have used dopdf for some years, and it's simple, but good.
  • JoshuaMAbramson
    Posts: 10
    @CharlesW: Agreed on that. The soundfront on Finale is awful. It made my requiem completion sound utterly unprofessional (the midi)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    The latest versino of Finale has some better sound fonts packaged with it.
    But midi will almost always sound bad unless you're willing to drop mad bucks on on a good synth.

    Also- Finale isn't much of a sequencer.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    MIDI files are only sequences, and the result of playback depends entirely upon the synthesizer used for playback, so even if you like the result you obtain (and that's a big if), there is no way to ensure that it will sound that way when somebody else plays back your MIDI file on a different computer.

    On the other hand, the Garritan Personal Orchestra and Aria Player included in Finale 2011 (and some earlier versions, too) produces much better much better sound than MIDI (including the Finale Soft Synth), especially when you tweak the Garritan Ambience settings. But you can only save the result as a .WAV file and then convert it to an MP3 using third-party software such as the Switch File Converter. The results are much more satisfying (MP3 lnks here, PDFs attached):

    Giffen - In manus tuas, Domine

    Giffen - Non vos relinquam orphanos

    Giffen - O magnum mysterium
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    Oops, here are the PDFs.
    Giffen-O magnum mysterium.pdf
    228K
    Non vos relinquam orphanos.pdf
    84K
    Giffen-In manus tuas, Domine-SATB-General.pdf
    116K
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    One thing that annoys me a little about composers/arrangers and MIDI:

    We aren't listening to your synthesized approximation of music because of your production capabilities, and we are not fooled into thinking that's a real human voice.
    SO...
    Stop with the muddled-sounding, hard to follow voicings.

    The reason we are listening to your midi file is that (in connection with a score) it helps us (especially those of us with poorly-trained "internal ears") to figure out what your piece might actually sound like.

    Sometimes, the nice Grand Piano (Channel 1) makes that a whole heck of a lot easier.
    If you must have the sustain- consider putting each part (SATB) on a different instrument (Flute, Oboe, Trumpet, String Bass) or something, so we can hear the individual parts. If you want to focus on the blended harmony (not the part writing), try all four on strings.

    The fake "Choir Oohs" are hard to follow.
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