Let’s get up to speed on some recent developments in the music notation software industry, like software updates, Michael Good’s retirement, the next W3C group meeting, Sibelius team licensing, and more.
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Score system divider plug-in in Finale
The Score System Divider plug-in, included with Finale, inserts or removes system separation marks between staff systems on the same page. Here’s how it works, along with a little history of this useful creation.
Finale to include and support eight JW plug-ins in next update
The next update to Finale, v.27.3, will for the first time include a set of powerful plug-ins from developer Jari Williamsson, without requiring you to separately download and install them.
Dolet 8.1 MusicXML plug-in for Sibelius is released
MakeMusic has released Dolet 8.1 for Sibelius, its latest version of the free plug-in that writes MusicXML files that can then be read and used in more than 200 applications that support the interchange format.
Finale version 27.2 adds new jazz template, native Apple silicon support
Finale version 27.2 runs natively on Apple silicon Macs for the first time. All default documents and document styles in v27.2 are now SMuFL-based, and, in a welcome surprise, there is a fully revamped SMuFL-compliant jazz default file and document style.
Dolet 8 for Sibelius adds MusicXML 4.0 support and much more
MakeMusic has released Dolet 8 for Sibelius, its latest version of the free plug-in that writes MusicXML files that can then be read and used in more than 200 applications that support the interchange format.
A brief history of music notation on computers
Music engraving dates back well before the computer age, but it’s easy to forget that the computer-aided portion of the history spans back a good long time. We summarize that history and explore a few key moments leading up to the present.
Black Friday 2021 deals for music notation software and related tech [updated]
All the 2021 Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers in music notation software and related tech products that we know about, all in one place!
Finale version 27.1: SMuFL burrows deeper
The Finale v27.1 update brings deeper SMuFL integration into Finale. It is now possible to convert legacy non-SMuFL-based documents to SMuFL-compliant documents, and to import font metadata directly into Finale’s document settings. Plug-ins and libraries are also updated to use SMuFL.
Music notation software, macOS Monterey, and Apple Silicon M1 Macs [updated]
A summary of desktop notation software compatibility with macOS Monterey (macOS 12) and M1-powered Macs: How Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, MuseScore, and Notion are faring on Apple’s latest operating system and hardware.