All user reviews for the MakeMusic Finale 2014

Well here we are again, Finale. I don't know why I expected better of you because you never deliver. Too be honest I only even have this software so that I can still look at work I did in University, where Finale was the program we all had to use in class. I'm pretty sure most of the professors had been using it since version 1 and simply were too stubborn to change. Perhaps that's also a testament to how long it takes to work with this well enough to not feel like giving up anymore.

Occasionally I have a job where the client uses Finale and therefore I keep the updated version handy. I find myself generally spending more time online searching forums to figure out how the hell to do something simple than actually using the program. It's a really buggy program and I can't even count anymore how many times it has crashed on me.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

It works but not well. I struggle constantly to enter music into the score with any other function than the single note entry and that simply takes ages when you're talking about scoring orchestra or big band. The playback functions don't work very well. Human playback is very buggy and often ends up with strange and unwanted tempo fluctuations and the audio/visual gets out of sync. Bouncing down your score to parts is still a very time-consuming and soul-draining process. That mixed with these constant crashes that occur at least once or twice every time I am working with it....

OVERALL OPINION

I've used Finale since 2007 and I've almost never met a person who had been working with Finale less than 10 years who enjoyed working with this program. From what I've seen and heard, this update is actually a step back from the previous version. So, if you already have Finale and were thinking of updating, I'd wait it out and see if they can fix things first. If you're looking for new music notation software, I would recommend Sibelius. It's simply a nicer working experience. It also doesn't leave you crying and ripping your hair out just to do some simple scoring procedure.