@BlueStateBabe (and for the record, I still believe that the idea that it's possible to write music down on paper is an elaborate hoax, and commend you on your commitment to the bit)

😜

@BlueStateBabe (My DW and both daughters are all musicians, and this is a position I adopt in order to spin them all up.

But seriously--anything I can't do must be a hoax.)

@rpardee Hahahaha.

My handwriting is illegibile. Apply that to a teeny tiny set of 5 lines, and even I can't figure out what I wrote - lol!

Seriously, I kept a stack of maximally enlarged staff paper while a student, so that I could do the tests in a way which produced something both the teacher and myself could decipher.

@rpardee @BenA

Ooooo...maybe Musescore IS the way to go, if I can import all my old files.

The last remake of Finale wasn't fully compatible with its previous versions, and when I opened up a score, the articulations and other items were scattered in huge enlargements all around the page. So I asked for a refund and got it.

I think I will research Musescore some more. THank you!

@BlueStateBabe @rpardee @BenA
Wondering if @voltronic might have any experience??
Or anyone else?

@InvaderGzim @BlueStateBabe @rpardee @BenA
So, I am heavily invested in this situation. I have made myself point person on evaluating a notation software replacement for my district music department, which has been subscribing to Finale for a long time. Personally, I moved on to Sibelius many years ago, and then when they fired the original developers who got picked up by Steinberg, I jumped over to Dorico and have been solidly there ever since.

@InvaderGzim @BlueStateBabe @rpardee @BenA
I absolutely love Dorico, and it is a clean slate design. But even though it is massively better than the competition imo, it does things very differently than Finale or Sibelius There is a definite learning curve, though their YouTube channel is outstanding in walking you through things. They've even made a video series focused on people switching from Finale.

@InvaderGzim @BlueStateBabe @rpardee @BenA

All that said, there's no way you're running a portable version of this app. It's pretty massive, and that's before you even get into the sample instrument libraries which are another 20 GB at least.

Musescore on the other hand is really impressive for a free notation app. It's never going to replace Dorico for me, but I use it at school, and I'm seriously evaluating it for our district to replace Finale.

@rpardee
I just read the post you linked on the Finale compatibility mode being worked on in MuseScore. I had not heard of this, and that's a really cool idea. I'm going to pass this on to my department. Thanks!

@InvaderGzim @BlueStateBabe @BenA

@BlueStateBabe
No matter where you wind up, here's what I would do right now:

Export all of your Finale files as MusicXML 4.0, and also as PDFs.

@rpardee @InvaderGzim @BenA

@BlueStateBabe
The XML files can be imported into any of the other notation apps, but there will always be a few things that don't carry over perfectly, so the PDFs are if you quickly need to print a score and don't have time to import and tweak an XML file in a new app.

To save time, you can do bulk MusicXML conversion in Finale (if you have v.27). See the attached screenshot I grabbed from a forum. If you have an old Finale version, you may need the Dolet plugin.

@rpardee @InvaderGzim @BenA

@voltronic @rpardee @InvaderGzim @BenA

I have the older version. Is the Dolet plugin something I need to download?

@BlueStateBabe
How old is older? I don't think you need the latest release for this but probably one of the more recent versions.

Dolet is a plug-in that's been around for many years, and yes you just install it into finale.

@rpardee @InvaderGzim @BenA

@voltronic @InvaderGzim @rpardee @BenA I also liked to generate demos with Garritan and I have the upgraded orchestra sounds. I have no idea how to (or if I even can) integrate this into MuseScore or Dorico.

@BlueStateBabe
Well if you like Garritan sounds, you should be able to use them in any of the other scoring apps provided that they are VST sounds (I believe that is the case). In your playback options of whatever app you land on, you can typically specify a directory where other virtual instruments are stored. Or you can use the sample libraries that come with these other apps.

@InvaderGzim @rpardee @BenA

@BlueStateBabe
If you are looking for a great sampled orchestra library, this one is free and sounds better than a lot of paid ones I've heard. They of course me paid versions of this with more functionality, but the free one does everything I need.

www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover

@InvaderGzim @rpardee @BenA

@voltronic @InvaderGzim @rpardee @BenA

Thanks!

@voltronic @InvaderGzim @rpardee @BenA

The personal orchestra sounds are far better than the ones that come free with Finale. But they aren't as good as some of the ones that were at the college midi lab.

@voltronic @InvaderGzim @BlueStateBabe @rpardee

Sorry, but I know absolutely NOTHING about music software (other than the DJ mixing software I used at the turn of the millennium). Hopefully someone else can point you in the right direction.