A lot of people have written about the Finale news this past week. It’s going to be a little bit before I can cover the topic on the podcast but I did want to link some resources for Finale users who might be trying to figure out their best path forward.

Darcy James Argue has a really great Facebook post with solid advise for you if Finale is mission critical software.

The latest episode of the Scoring Notes Podcast goes in depth on the topic, offering all of the facts, detailed advise on moving forward, and industry insights.

As I said in my earlier post, if you are at all curious about the Dorico deal, go for it! It has become my preferred notation editor. It’s powerful, modern, and fast.

Music notation software and macOS Sonoma [updated] – Scoring Notes:

Sure enough, last week’s downloadpalooza included iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, and watchOS 10, so if you haven’t stretched your bandwidth with all of those updates, by all means go grab them and treat your devices to the latest and greatest.

With all that in mind, however, the music notation software we primarily discuss here on Scoring Notes is still anchored to the desktop — albeit with healthy outposts on iPad and, to a lesser extent, iPhone — so this article will focus on what Mac users need to know about their favorite music notation software that runs on Mac, and its newest OS.

Keep reading here…

NotePerformer 4 is out. I’ve always enjoyed NotePerformer because it adds better sounding samples to my notation software without lots of fiddling and plug-in management.

NP4 supports Apple Silicon and now can integrate third party sample libraries to a notation app. David MacDonald has a great review over at Scoring Notes, complete with video comparisons of the sounds offered in NotePerformer compared to the ones that come prepackaged with some of the industry standard notation apps.

NotePerformer 4 connects your favorite notation software to your favorite sample libraries – Scoring Notes:

Sample libraries have been capable of producing realistic performances of orchestral music for over a decade, but the time, effort, and expense of creating a convincing digital performance with them is very high. For producing final audio for film and media, this cost is worth it, and specialists have gotten very good at leveraging these tools.

However, for many composers and orchestrators who simply need a good-enough demo to share with collaborators, the effort — transferring their work from scoring software to digital audio workstation (DAW), spending hours massaging MIDI data, and still more hours tweaking the mix — is simply not worth it.

That’s where NotePerformer shines. It is light-years ahead of the built-in sounds that ship with Sibelius, Dorico, and Finale, and it requires no additional effort beyond the initial installation. As I’ve said and written many times on Scoring Notes, the quality-to-effort ratio of NotePerformer is untouched by anything in its category. Keep reading here…

Apple brings Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to iPad – Apple:

Apple today unveiled Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad. Video and music creators can now unleash their creativity in new ways that are only possible on iPad. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad bring all-new touch interfaces that allow users to enhance their workflows with the immediacy and intuitiveness of Multi-Touch. Final Cut Pro for iPad introduces a powerful set of tools for video creators to record, edit, finish, and share, all from one portable device. Logic Pro for iPad puts the power of professional music creation in the hands of the creator — no matter where they are — with a complete collection of sophisticated tools for songwriting, beat making, recording, editing, and mixing. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad will be available on the App Store as subscriptions starting Tuesday, May 23. Keep reading here…

Whoa! This is a big deal and I definitely did not see it coming. I was starting to lose hope that Apple would ever bring these apps to the iPad.

Prior to 2020, when I was doing a lot of professional work on my iPad, I was dying to have these apps. Now that I have mostly returned to the Mac for most things that don’t require a stylus, it is hard to get as excited.

I am happy to see Apple deliver it’s “pro” apps to a device that has gone by the name “pro” for the better part of the last decade. Apple must have been working on this for a very long time. iPadOS is still a very basic operating system. Apple says this custom build of Final Cut and Logic has iPad has hardware-specific features like Apple Pencil and camera support. Designing these apps for the strengths of iPadOS certainly speaks to me that Apple is doubling down on the iPad and Mac being two very distinct things.

History shows that this means the iPad may just inch closer and closer to the power of the Mac and never really get there all the way. That said, putting these apps out could be signaling that there are system improvements to come. For example, I would love to see Apple announce support for managing multiple audio ins and outs on the iPad at their developer conference next month.

Speaking of that conference, Apple must have a lot to say about their rumored virtual reality headset if they are getting this announcement out now. I would otherwise not be surprised to see lengthy demos of these new apps on stage.