By Dale Farris, Vice-President
Golden Triangle PC Club
March 2005

Overview

PrintMusic! is another fine music notation software application from the leader in this special music software business, MakeMusic!, known for their high-end, powerful Finale 2005. PrintMusic! is powerful enough for professionals, yet affordable enough for everyone.

PrintMusic! provides everything you need to create, hear, and print your music.

In PrintMusic! you can write songs up to 24 staves, and the program is perfect for those beginning to work with music notation. PrintMusic! will let you create lead sheets with lyrics, chord symbols, and guitar fretboards, create scores and print out parts, and scan sheet music for transposing or rearranging.

PrintMusic! makes it very easy to get started with your music project. The Setup Wizard helps you select instruments/voices, key/time signatures, pick-up measures, and more, and then automatically sets up your score.

It is also easy to put your notes on the page. You can play your MIDI keyboard and watch the exclusive HyperScribe feature notate as you play!. You can scan your music directly into PrintMusic! with the included FREE SmartScore Lite 3 technology. You can click your notes into place while you hear them, with Simple Note Entry. You can accurately enter notes when you play your acoustic instrument into a microphone using the program's exclusive MicNotator. You can also click in notes from your computer or MIDI keyboard with Speedy Note Entry.

Then, it is just as easy to hear your music. Just click the PLAY button and hear your music with all the feeling, phrasing, and nuance you intended.

You will find PrintMusic! makes it also easy to print, e-mail, or save your music as a SmartMusic Accompaniment. You can even print in color or post your score on the Internet.

All PrintMusic! files are compatible and interchangeable with the same and later versions of Finale, MakeMusic!'s premier music notation program. Your PrintMusic! files work with SmartMusic. (A SmartMusic subscription is required.)

Share and connect using Finale NotePad. Trade PrintMusic files with anyone using this free, downloadable software, www.finalenotepad.com.

What's New in 2004?

Here's some of what's new in PrintMusic!:

Playback Perfection
Human Playback
SmartMusic SoundFont
Faster Note Entry
Scanning
Simple Note Entry
Improved MicNotator
Save As SmartMusic Accompaniment Lyrics & Other Improvements
Automatic Word Extensions
Smart Hyphens
Smart Expressions Mac OS X

Features

Scanning
Scan your music right into PrintMusic!

MicNotator
Play the melody from an acoustic instrument directly into your score.

Multiple Undo
Everyone makes mistakes. This makes it easy to change them.

QuickStart Videos
"How-to" demonstrations right on your screen

SmartMusic Accompaniments
Save your files and play along with a SmartMusic subscription

Complete Documentation
At the click of the mouse

Simple Note Entry
Just pick a note and "click" it on the staff. That's all it takes.

Flexible
Orchestrations up to 24 staves

Human Playback
Choose from a variety of musical styles

Message Bar
Makes it easy to see all of your tools and what they do for you

Smart Shapes Slurs and crescendos expand or contract to fit your music

Auto Score Resizing
Your music automatically fits perfectly on any page size you choose

Connecting to Finale NotePad
Open PrintMusic! files with Finale NotePad for FREE!

Import & Export MIDI files

Importance of Finale

MakeMusic! Inc. has recently announced that Finale, its popular music notation software, was used to create the sheet music for the recording sessions of Oscar-winning movies.

The award-winning movies that were recorded with Finale music scores included:

Finding Neverland for Best Music Score

Million Dollar Baby for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Ray for Best Actor and Best Sound Mixing

The Aviator for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing

The Incredibles for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Sound Editing

Other movies recorded with Finale music scores that were either nominated for or received Oscars include Spider-Man 2, Sideways, The Passion, Polar Express, Harry Potter 3, and The Village.

"Recording the music for movies is an extraordinarily difficult and expensive endeavor, often requiring eighty musicians, a dozen technicians and a staff of music notation experts working with Finale," stated MakeMusic! President John Paulson. "The composer and director often want changes made to the music during the session. That puts tremendous pressure on the music engravers to get those changes made quickly and reliably on their computers with Finale, printed out and distributed to the musicians for the next take. Delays cannot be tolerated because they cost too much. We are very proud that expert engraving houses like JoAnne Kane Music Service and Disney Music Library in Los Angeles and Dakota Music in London trust Finale in these challenging circumstances."

Also, MakeMusic! has announced that the December 2004 issue of Musical Merchandise Review Magazine (MMR) named MakeMusic! as "Software Line of The Year" as part of MMR's 11th Annual Dealer's Choice Awards. The winners were determined though voting by music product dealers across North America.

"It’s very gratifying to have music dealers across North America recognize the combination of SmartMusic and the Finale family of notation products as the Software Line of the Year," stated Anne Donnelly, Director of Marketing. "We are committed to creating software products that provide integrated solutions, whether our customers are creating SmartMusic Accompaniment files in Finale, or opening, editing and printing Finale files in our free, downloadable Finale Notepad. I believe this award is further recognition of the value of this integration to our customers and our commitment to serving music makers."

Musical Merchandise Review can be found on-line at www.mmrmagazine.com

Click here for a review of Finale 2005.

Finale Family

Finale, Finale Guitar, Allegro, PrintMusic!, NotePad Plus, and NotePad offer a full range of power and price to suit your notation needs. And best of all, you'll never outgrow the Finale family.

Files created using products of the same version number can all be shared. For example, users of NotePad, NotePad Plus, PrintMusic!, Allegro, Finale Guitar and Finale can all share files with each other. Files are interchangeable with same and later versions.

So when you're ready to move up to Finale Guitar or Finale for more power and flexibility, everything you've learned and created is instantly usable. No data is lost, and you don't have to learn a new program.

Finale 2005 is the ultimate music notation program giving you complete control over every aspect of the printed page while providing powerful control over MIDI input and output.

Short History of Finale

Until 1988, writing music was largely a pen and paper proposition. It was slow to write, tough to edit, and transpositions meant a re-write. Writing out individual parts meant hours of work.

In the fall of that year, a company called Coda Music Software released a program named Finale and revolutionized the way musicians worked. Over the past 15 years Coda, now known as MakeMusic!, has continued to enhance and transform the experience of making music, teaching music and learning music.

In 1991 special pricing was introduced enabling schools, churches, teachers, and worship ministers to purchase Finale at a substantial discount.

Finale introduced the first notation lab pack and site license program.

In 1994 MakeMusic! launched a revolution in practicing music: the Vivace Intelligent Accompanist. More than slightly ahead of its time, this acclaimed interactive music practice system lives on as SmartMusic — pioneering innovative practice technologies and content.

Not everyone needs a professional grade notation program. So in 1998 came PrintMusic!, a less powerful alternative to Finale and an extraordinary value. Best of all Finale files can be opened in PrintMusic! and vice-versa.

In 2000 Finale blazed the way for students to create music both at school and at home with Finale NotePad, a free basic notation program that could make, open, play, and edit Finale files. Today it’s published in six languages and used worldwide by over a million composers of all ages.

MakeMusic! continues to deliver the very best, most useful tools for music makers. These efforts have been rewarded, as Finale is the world standard in music notation. Published in seven languages, with customers in over 200 countries, Finale truly is the international language of music.

System Requirements

Finale PrintMusic! for Windows

Windows 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP
(Some audio features not supported in NT 4.0.)
256MB RAM recommended
(128MB RAM may be sufficient in older Windows operating systems.)
200MB free hard disk space required for software and user manual
Monitor with 800 X 600 resolution
CD-ROM drive

Finale PrintMusic! for Macintosh

G4 and OS X recommended
OS 10.2 and higher or 9.0.4 - 9.2.2 (9.2 recommended)
256MB RAM recommended
(128 MB may be sufficient in OS 9)
200MB free hard disk space required for software and user manual
Monitor with 800 X 600 resolution
CD-ROM drive

Optional

MIDI interface
MIDI input and/or playback device
Printer
Scanner
Microphone required for use of MicNotator

Price

$69.95 retail edition
$19.95 upgrade edition
$59.95 trade up from Finale Notpad

Accessories

Finale Instrumental Microphone - $10
Instrumental microphone for use with Finale's MicNotatorT feature. This high-quality microphone clips on to your instrument or clothing.

Finale Macintosh Microphone Pre-Amp Adaptor - $10
For Macintosh users who have an older Mac that has a PlainTalk port. Visit Apple's website for specifications about your Macintosh.

Finale Macintosh USB Microphone Adaptor - $35
For Macintosh users that have USB ports. Visit Apple's website for specifications about your Macintosh.

About MakeMusic! Inc.

MakeMusic! Inc. is the world leader in software and systems for music educators and musicians. Among their leading products are Finale, the world's best-selling music notation software and SmartMusic Studio, the complete music practice system that features Intelligent Accompaniment and the world's largest interactive accompaniment library.

The market for MakeMusic! includes music educators and music makers worldwide. In the USA alone there are more than 100,000 music educators and more than 60 million active music makers (playing an instrument or singing at least once a month).

The mission of the company is to enhance and transform the making of music, the teaching of music, and the learning of music.

Their strategy:  MakeMusic! is the only company that creates, owns, and licenses the most advanced and patented technologies and solutions that support the composition, arranging, teaching, learning, and playing of music. This creates a major barrier to entry for competitors. MakeMusic!'s solutions independently are already established as market leaders, and collectively they create a huge advantage for music educators, music makers, and the professionals serving them such as music publishers.

Finale, the industry leader in music notation and the entire notation family that includes Allegro, PrintMusic! and Finale NotePad, are already found in concert halls, publishing houses, colleges, schools, and homes around the world. MakeMusic! is investing in the enhancement of the award-winning SmartMusic Studio through the deployment of an online subscription model that will establish it as the leading practice system for musicians.

Contact

MakeMusic! Inc.
6210 Bury Drive
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55346-1718
952-937-9611
FAX 952-937-9760
www.makemusic.com