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Dolet® 5 for Finale Release Notes

Version 5.2 for Windows

January 2010

Installation - Using Dolet for Finale - What's New - Translation Limits - Reporting Problems - Thank You!

Installation

The Dolet 5 for Finale plug-in is not compatible with with earlier versions of the Dolet for Finale plug-in. Please uninstall any older versions of the Dolet for Finale plug-in before using the Dolet 5 for Finale plug-in. To uninstall:

  • Go to the Start Menu and select the Control Panel.
  • Choose Add or Remove Programs (Windows 2000 or XP) or Uninstall a program (Windows Vista or 7) and wait for the program list to appear.
  • If Dolet 4 for Finale is listed, click on it and then click Remove (on Windows 2000 or XP), or double click on it (Windows Vista or 7). Follow the instructions to uninstall. Do the same for Dolet 3 for Finale and Dolet for Finale if they are listed. If you have Finale 2006 installed, keep Dolet Light for Finale 2006 installed rather than removing it.

During the installation, you will be asked for the directory where most of the Dolet files go, including the MusicXML language definitions. By default, this will be in the Program Files directory on the drive with the most space available (for example, C:\Program Files\Dolet 5 for Finale). Do not move or copy these files after installation.

The actual Finale plug-in file (Dolet5.fxt) will be installed into the MusicXML folder of your Finale plug-ins directory. The plug-in will automatically install into your default version of Finale. If you have multiple versions of Finale installed on your machine, the plug-in will also be installed automatically into your installations of Finale 2003 and later. To install into Finale 2000, 2001, or 2002, copy the Dolet4 plug-in file from the default plug-ins directory to the plug-ins directories for these versions of Finale. You do not need to copy any of the other Dolet files.

Dolet 5 for Finale is supported on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 for the versions of Finale that are supported on each of these operating systems. Dolet 5 for Finale also requires that either Java 1.4, 5.0, or 6.0 be installed on your machine. You may install Sun’s Java 6.0 software from http://java.com.

Using Dolet for Finale

Dolet software serves as a translator between music programs. These translations are done using the MusicXML file format. Dolet can read and write MusicXML files, allowing you to exchange music between Finale and any other program that can read or write MusicXML.

To bring MusicXML files into Finale, first create a new Finale document. Go to the Plug-ins menu and select the MusicXML submenu. Then select the "Import MusicXML..." item. If you have an empty Finale document open, Dolet 5 for Finale will import the MusicXML file into this empty document, making use of your document settings wherever possible. Otherwise, Dolet 5 will create a new default Finale file and import into that.

To bring files from other programs such as Sibelius and PDFtoMusic Pro into Finale, first save the files in these programs in MusicXML format. Then use the Import MusicXML feature to read the file into Finale.

To save a Finale document as a MusicXML file, go to the Plug-ins menu, the MusicXML submenu, and then select the "Export MusicXML..." item. You can choose to save files in MusicXML 2.0, Compressed MusicXML 2.0, MusicXML 1.1, and MusicXML 1.0 formats. The earlier versions are useful when sharing files with programs that do not yet support the newer versions of the MusicXML format.

If you want to read a Finale file in an earlier version of Finale, first save a MusicXML file in the newer version of Finale using Export MusicXML. Then read this MusicXML file in the older version of Finale using Import MusicXML.

You may translate an entire folder of Finale files to MusicXML format or vice versa. These batch routines will overwrite any files with the same name that are currently in that directory. Use the "Translate Folder of MusicXML Files..." menu item to save Finale files from your MusicXML files (batch import). Use the "Translate Folder of Finale Files..." menu item to save MusicXML files from your Finale files (batch export). Batch translation requires Finale 2004 or later, and is not available during the 10-day free trial period.

Dolet 5 for Finale supports Finale 2000 through 2010 on Windows. It will read and write files in MusicXML 1.0, MusicXML 1.1, and MusicXML 2.0 formats. When you do a batch export, the format used is based on the last MusicXML file you exported (MusicXML 2.0 by default).

When using Dolet 5 for Finale, please be sure to just use the full version from the plug-ins menu. Going back and forth between the MusicXML functions in the Plug-ins and File menus may confuse Finale and produce error messages. If this happens accidentally, just restart Finale to get things working correctly again.

What's New

Version 5.2 adds the following fixes:

  • Files with unusual structures of locked systems no longer hang Finale during file export.
  • Hidden system breaks within multimeasure rests no longer cause the file export to fail.
  • Direction offsets are no longer omitted during import into Finale 2008 and earlier when a default-x attribute is present.

Version 5.1 added the following new features and fixes:

  • Importing MusicXML files from Sibelius sets the option to have group brackets display on a single staff, better matching Sibelius's default settings.
  • Importing MusicXML files from Sibelius sets the option to allow primary beams within a space, for easier post-processing with Patterson Beams.
  • All lyrics on a single note that share the same lyric type and number are exported.
  • Lyric elisions created with the EngraverFontSet font export when EngraverFontSet is also the default music font.
  • Single-staff instruments within a group can be optimized correctly after a MusicXML import.
  • The correct generic font type is exported when Chaconne or Kousaku is the default music font.
  • Staves that are hidden for the entire score no longer create extra vertical space during export.
  • MusicXML files with many custom-formatted syllables no longer assign some lyrics to the wrong notes during import.
  • Invalid MusicXML files with slur numbers greater than 6 no longer cause the entire file import to fail.
  • Finale 2010 percussion instruments with different maps on different layers no longer cause the export to fail.
  • Larger MusicXML files can be imported.
  • Error messages have been improved for installation and out of memory errors.

Dolet 5 for Finale adds support for Finale 2010, including the following features:

  • Finale 2010 percussion maps.
  • Finale 2010 chord symbols.
  • Export of Finale 2010 auto-sequenced rehearsal marks.
  • PNG, JPEG, GIF, and BMP graphics formats.
  • Broadway Copyist font family.

Dolet 5 for Finale also improves import of MusicXML files exported from Sibelius with the Dolet 5 for Sibelius plug-in, including the following new features:

  • Improved import of optimized systems that use default staff spacing.
  • Import of text in glissando lines.
  • Improved import of jazz articulations.
  • Improved import of arpeggios.
  • Import of feathered beams.
  • Import of German and Scandinavian chord styles.
  • Credits on blank pages, with an approximate location based on the center of the page.
  • Import and export of more notehead styles, including arrow up, arrow down, slashed, back slashed, and shape notes.

Dolet 5 for Finale also improves support for MusicXML 2.0 and Open Score Format features:

  • Per-system, per-measure, or no measure numbers displaying per part, using MusicXML 2.0's measure-numbering element.
  • Accidentals in part and group names and abbreviations, using MusicXML 2.0's name-display elements.
  • Open Score Format support is updated to Version 1.0. For more information on Open Score Format, see http://openscoreformat.sourceforge.net/.

Other new features include:

  • Specifying both a named and generic (engraved vs. handwritten) default music font.
  • Improved export and import of trills and glissandos.
  • Improved import of:
    • Stems in percussion staves.
    • Transposed instruments without key signatures.
    • Cutaway staves.
    • A4 and other metric page sizes.
    • Nested tuplets.
    • Unknown fonts as text fonts for lyrics and words.
    • Percussion clefs in documents using the Jazz font.
    • Major seventh and half diminished chords in documents using the JazzCord font.
  • Improved export of
    • Non-printing key signatures.
    • Endings over empty measures.
    • Total pages text insert.
    • Number of instruments per part.
  • Support for the Kousaku Percussion font.
  • Non-TIFF graphics now import into Finale 2009 as well as Finale 2010.

Translation Limits

Any type of translation has limits. Things expressed in one language sometimes cannot be expressed the same way in another language. Sometimes the translator does not yet understand all the idioms and vocabulary in both languages. The Dolet software and MusicXML format provide much greater music notation accuracy than MIDI translations, but both types of limits apply to this software.

The Dolet for Finale plug-in supports most of the musical features that are shared between Finale and MusicXML. However, this Version 5 release does not support the following Finale features:

  • Figured bass
  • Beam extensions
  • Graphical Finale shape expressions
  • Many MIDI tool performance details
  • Exact articulations, expressions, and chord symbols in symbol fonts other than those provided with Finale or selected third parties (GoldenAgeMusic, Sonata, November, NovemberExtra, Toccata, Bill Duncan's ChordSuf)
  • Importing guitar bends
  • Importing tablature into Finale 2000 to 2002
  • Exact positioning for articulations
  • Importing measure widths, beat charts, and exact note positions

Reporting Problems

Given Finale's great flexibility, you may find problems in how we handle scores set up in your particular format. Please contact us at support@recordare.com if you encounter problems with our software.

If you do find a problem, please give us a description of what the Dolet plug-in is doing, compared to what you expect it to do. Attaching a .mus or .etf file that shows the problem will help us to find and fix the problem more quickly. Please let us know which versions of Finale and Windows you are using. Should you see a message box reporting an error, please be sure to include the text of the message.

Thank You!

Thank you very much for your interest in Recordare® and MusicXML™ software. We greatly appreciate your support of an open, Internet-friendly format for representing musical scores.

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Last updated February 3, 2010.