Finale® 2008 is the ultimate music notation program giving you complete control over every aspect of the printed page while providing full MIDI capabilities and unparalleled audio output.
New In Finale 2008 :
Record Yourself
Give arrangements authenticity and life with a real vocal or instrumental track. Record or import a mono or stereo audio file to enhance playback. No other notation software offers this capability.
Finale’s audio support opens up a new world of possibilities.
* Record a vocal track to a soprano aria.
* Add a trumpet solo to a jazz chart.
* Import a stereo mix of a rock band and add a horn arrangement.
* Import audio for transcription/take-down
* Create learning files for choir students with accompaniment and sung text.
* Import an audio recording of music, use the TempoTap feature to line-up notation barlines and times, then add additional orchestration.
Garritan™ Sounds
* More than 250 world-class sounds from the creators of Garritan Personal Orchestra®. Free new sounds include saxophones, choirs, guitar, marching percussion, world instruments, and more.
* Multiple sound libraries now work together seamlessly in Finale 2008. Combine all the included sounds, including Finale’s Garritan Instruments, Row-Loff™ Marching Percussion, Jose Cortijo’s Latin Percussion, and the SmartMusic® SoundFont.
INTEGRATED KONTAKT™ Player 2
The most respected name in playback technology now comes included with Finale — absolutely free! Listen to your music played with stunning realism thanks to the integrated KONTAKT® Player 2 — now updated to run natively on Intel Based Macs. The KONTAKT® Player 2 is automatically configured and loaded by Finale's Setup Wizard. Simply click and play! Human Playback further enhances the integration of Garritan Instruments in Finale by including customized legato and a variety of instrument techniques. One simple process authorizes both Finale 2008 and the KONTAKT Player 2. more.
EXPANDABLE
Exciting libraries of additional instruments are available from Garritan and Native Instruments.® More
1GB RAM or more recommended for optimal use of Garritan sounds.
Finale’s streamlined, easy-to-use interface lets you focus on the music with less switching tools and more universal menu commands specifically designed to help you finish projects faster.
The most intuitive cut/copy/paste/insert for more efficient workflow
Cut/Copy/Paste/Insert Improvements — New in Finale 2008
* Use intuitive keystrokes to select measures or partial measures horizontally and vertically. No need to visit a menu.
* Consistent clipboard- and drag-copying make it easy to copy all measure items, even between documents.
* Quickly drag and drop music, even over highlighted regions. Make small adjustments easily, like shifting music a beat or two right or left.
* Paste faster: no need to highlight the entire destination when clipboard-copying.
* Get improved visual feedback when pasting and inserting.
New Selection Tool
New Selection Tool A powerful new Selection Tool has inherited all the functionality of the former Mass Edit Tool. Adapted for selecting measure regions, the Selection Tool is now Finale’s universal editing utility.
Accomplish more without changing tools
All this control from one context menu
* Copy music, adjust expressions, transpose, add repeats, and much more – all with one tool.
* Get what you need faster from streamlined menus.
* Keep your momentum going with more powerful contextual menus and intuitive new keystrokes.
* Get it done using the Selection Tool or other tools that support copy/paste, measure additional, transposition, measure layout, auto-orchestration, and much more.
Playback brings it all together with fully integrated sound libraries
Multiple sound libraries now work together seamlessly in Finale 2008. Combine all the included sounds, including Finale’s Garritan Instruments, Row-Loff marching percussion, Jose Cortijo’s Latin Percussion, and the SmartMusic® SoundFont.
Add your choice of additional Native Instruments-supported libraries (available separately). Choose your own sounds, hear them all in playback, and save the results in an audio file.
Document Style
Finale’s 2008’s enhanced Setup Wizard offers more options and control. Make your choices and get up and running quickly.
* Personal Document Styles — Choose from a wide variety of styles or create your own.
* New and expanded text inserts. Now you can specify the arranger, lyricist and a sub-title in addition to the composer, title and copyright.
* Expanded spacing control — Just click the "Add Vertical Space" button for more space between staves.
* Intelligent page layout that automatically adjusts system position, size, and space between staves to reduce white space on the page.
* Specify the number of measure in your score.
Just answer a few questions: What instruments or voices do you want? You can even select from pre-defined ensembles or create your own. What key? Time signature? Music font? Tempo? Finale will set up your score, complete with staves in correct order, tempo marking, staff groupings, et al. Nowhere else will you get a setup so complete or so quickly.
New useful colored noteheads
Colored noteheads have multiple applications and are especially popular in elementary education.
* Use them to notate Boomwhackers® tuned percussion tubes and other instruments that use the Chroma-Notes™ colored music system.
* Assign colors to specific pitches as an aid to composition or proofing.
* Color all noteheads a single bright color for beginning readers who need help distinguishing noteheads from stems.
Colored Notes
Colored noteheads can be applied regionally within a piece, offer two notehead styles (with or without a “border”), and allow for user customization of colors.
Boomwhackers® Tube Sounds
Finale 2008 even includes integrated Boomwhackers sound samples. These sounds and colors are configured automatically when you select Boomwhackers from the Setup Wizard.
ScoreMerger™
Easily merge multiple scores automatically using the ScoreMerger™.
* Consolidate multiple movements into a single document — even if they don't contain the same number of staves, or have different instrumentation (a Finale exclusive).
* Merge a collection of parts into a full conductor’s score.
Scanning
No other notation program offers scanning as accurate as Finale, with its included SmartScore® Lite by Musitek®.
* Improved recognition and accuracy with XML Technology.
* Easier Scanning - Both Macintosh and Windows users can scan directly from SmartScore Lite from within Finale. With a compatible scanner, Finale 2008 provides an auto-preview and automatically chooses resolution and contrast settings. * All you have to do is click "Final Scan".
Finale’s SmartScore Lite Scanning includes:
* Secondary voice recognition - counterpoint
* Correct transposed instrument recognition
* Multiple page scans
* Correct page formatting including system and staff sizes
* Up to 32nd note resolution
* Finale's SmartScore® Lite scanning utility has been updated to run natively on Intel-based Macs.**
* Recognition of grayscale images to simplify the use of scanners, including HP models, that save in this format
Scanning is brought right to your fingertips in the Launch Window. What's more, Windows and Mac users can now scan directly from Finale, and Finale determines the ideal resolution and color depth.
Finale now imports scanned SmartScore 5.5 and SharpEye files, capturing notes, text, lyrics, chord symbols and more. (While SharpEye is Windows only software, the Music XML files it creates can be read by Finale on Macintosh and Windows computers)
Import and Export MusicXML Files
Finale can import and export MusicXML files—right from the File menu and the launch window. Unlike MIDI files, MusicXML allows you to transfer the sounds and graphical elements in your file to other applications.
* Export of MusicXML 1.1 files
* Import of MusicXML 2.0 files –both uncompressed (.xml) and compressed (.mxl)
* Fretboard import
* Improved import of stem direction and Engraver slurs
* Improved metronome marking support
* Import of piano pedal lines
* Improved import of accidentals and ties
* Composite time signature import
* Nested tuplet import
* Import of linked page- and measure-attached graphics
* Drag and drop functionality
Backwards Compatibility
MusicXML Export allows you to save your music so it can be imported by anyone with newer versions of Finale for Macintosh or Windows.
Want more options? Recordare.com offers plug-ins (sold separately) that allow you to open these files into Finale for Mac OS X (back to 2004), and Finale for Windows (back to Finale 2000). You can even read MusicXML files created in other music notation programs.
Human Playback®
Playback with the nuance of live performers – that's what you get with Finale's Human Playback®, now enhanced and improved for 2008.
New in Finale 2008
Human Playback enhancements include support for the following Garritan products: Stradivari Solo Violin 2.0, Gofriller Solo Cello, and Garritan Concert & Marching Band.
Your music sounds better with Human Playback
Beyond adding feeling and natural nuances automatically, Human Playback also interprets any kind of musical elements right from the notation, including: crescendo/diminuendo and sforzandi (even on held long notes), accelerando / rallentando, fermatas, trills, tremolos, baroque and jazz ornaments, guitar bends, slurs, rolled chords (guitar, harp, harpsichord, ...), glissandi (piano, harp, strings, ...), piano pedaling, harmonics, pizzicato, mute, and others.
Templates — Improved in Finale 2008
When creating a full score, a worksheet, quiz or even a dissertation, the easiest way to start is simply to open a pre-created template from the launch window. Select from more than 60 pre-made templates (including SATB, Kodály, solfege, and more) then let Finale’s Setup Wizard do the rest, adding text (including title, composer, copyright, arranger and lyricist) as well as key/time signatures, pickup measures, tempo markings, and the number of measures.
New and Expanded Documentation
Finale’s documentation resources, including the User Manual, Tutorial Guide, and Context Help, have all been consolidated into a single, contextual, interactive, searchable environment.
* Updated documentation provides the information you need quickly and easily.
* Improved navigation and the ability to search all of Finale’s documented resources simultaneously.
* Improved knowledge base available on-line
* The Finale Reference lets you look up Finale items and learn how they’re used
* The Finale Encyclopedia lets you look up musical terms and learn how they’re accomplished in Finale
* The Visual Index lets you click on any item in a music notation example to learn how it was created
* Adobe Acrobat is no longer required
HyperScribe®
Notate as you play a MIDI keyboard — even record continuous data including the sustain pedal.
* Record your live vocal or instrumental performance — an exclusive Finale feature.
* Recording first and second endings with HyperScribe is now seamless — Finale skips over the first ending on the second pass allowing for smooth transitions
* Specify a playback tempo before you record or Finale can record at the tempo you use when playing your MIDI keyboard.
Finale 2008 for Windows®
* Windows XP/Vista 32-bit.
* CD or DVD-ROM drive.
* 800x600 minimum monitor resolution.
* Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB or more recommended for optional use of Garritan sounds/Kontakt Player: more RAM = more available sounds).
* 400MB hard drive space required for software and user manual. An additional 1.6GB hard drive space is required for all Garritan sounds.
Finale 2008 for Macintosh®
* G4 or higher recommended. OS 10.4 or higher (Mac-Intel or Power PC).
* CD or DVD-ROM drive.
* 800x600 minimum monitor resolution.
* Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB or more recommended for optional use of Garritan sounds/Kontakt Player: more RAM = more available sounds).
* 400MB hard drive space required for software and user manual. An additional 1.6GB hard drive space is required for all Garritan sounds.
Optional
* MIDI interface
* MIDI input and/or playback device
* Printer
* Scanner
* Microphone required for use of MicNotator®
* A soundcard (including a DirectSound driver) is required for playing the Garritan sounds in Windows.
Please note that the Rhythm Section Generator is not available for Macintosh.
System requirements vary for additional products by Garritan and Native Instruments
