Grand Finale Blog

Some users have seen issues where they have been getting Blank Pages when priting from Finale.  MakeMusic seems to be aware of an issue with Brother MFC model printer drivers/printers that causes Finale to output blank pages when printing. This can even happen when printing documents as a PDF files or creating a Preview if the Brother printer or printer driver is the only one installed.  I have also heard of this happening with Adobe Acrobat 8 and its Distiller.

There does seem to be a work-around that will allow you to create a PDF file of your document after setting up a “dummy printer.”

1. Add a new “dummy” printer that can be used as the default printer. 
2. 1. Open your Macintosh computer’s System Preferences (via the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen).
   2. Click the Print & Fax icon in your System Preferences.
   3. Click the + sign in the bottom left corner to add a printer.
   4. Click on the IP icon at the top and then make sure it reads “Line Printer Daemon - LPD”.
   5. In the Address section, type in the number 11.1.1.11, and then you will see “Generic Postscript Printer” at the bottom.
   6. Click the Add button.
   7. This should now show up in the list as the Default Printer
3. Once you are done setting up the ”dummy printer”, open Finale.
4. Go to the File menu >> Print.
5. Select the Preview option in the Print window to open Macintosh’s Preview application. 
6. When Preview opens, you will see your music. Go to the File menu >> Print in the Preview application. 
7. Choose your Brother Printer and click Print to print your document.

Hope you guys find this helpful.  Happy belated Birthday to Finale!!

I am usually a pretty big fan of Human Playback.  It really does add some great nuance for very little work, percussion playback not withstanding.  One area that needs some clarification on the part of the programmer is how HP handles fermatas.  The real issue arises in a document that has fermatas that are not placed on the cadence.   There are a series of settings that affect Human Playback, but are not contained in the Human Playback Settins Window.  And there is one setting in particular that affects how Human Playback performs, or doesn’t perform, fermatas.

That setting is called Interpret Harmonic Cadences and it is only found in the Human Playback Custom Style Window.

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If you are working with a document like a lead sheet that has a voice staff, lyrics, and chords, but would like the chords on this staff to playback with a piano sound, there is an easy way to accomplish this using the Instrument List.

Go up to the Window Menu and choose Instrument List - this will open the Instrument List Window.

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Man oh man what a weeeek!

I am not one to complain about extra work (or extra paydays!) but I need a break!

We should be back to normal posting by the end of the week.

Until then here is the latest financial news about  MakeMusic!

See you in the score….soon.

If you are trying to enter in chords such as Cb or Fb in Cmajor, Finale will automatically respell the chords to the enharmonic equivalent, B and E due to the Simplify Spelling Option under the Chord Menu.

I run into clients who struggle with this automation all of the time.

To turn it off just go up to your Chord Menu and un-check Simplify Spelling!

See you in the score!

Finale, being the amazingly flexible program that it is, gives the user three different ways to create time signatures that are over-sized. The first option utilizes a staff that is already in the score for the time signature. The second option adds a new hidden staff and the third option creates shape expressions.

I have posted a video that walks through the steps for the first option, utilizing a staff the is presently in the score.

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I am often surprised how many times I have run across a client that either does not know about, or just doesn’t use the main tool palette context menus.  These are the menus that you can get to by right-clicking (ctrl-click on Mac) on a highlighted measure.

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The hardcopy of the Finale User Manual is an unwieldy beast of a document. Weighing in at just over 5 pounds, it is 982 pages of 2up printing totaling 1,964 pages of Finale documentation.  What a monster!

I know that there are many of you whom, like myself, prefer to have a hardcopy of manuals so that we may read them as we would read a great novel. Unfortunately, the mammoth size of this manual relegates it to the bedside table. This is one peripheral that you won’t be whipping out on the plane during that overnight to Bangladesh!

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