Long-time Finale User Musescore Testimonial

I am a long-time Finale user who started using it in the early 90s. I've logged many, many hours as a user from simple lead sheets to full orchestra. I've haven't switched to another notation software simply for the reason that "nothing is easier than what you already know"!

In order to find a common platform to share files on a project, I decided to try Musescore. I started by hand-entering one of my existing scores and it wasn't bad. I am now using it exclusively on a large project.

I have to say that if you know no notation software at all, Musescore is hands-down more intuitive to learn than Finale. If you're a long-time Finale user the learning curve is not bad. My first test score for strings, I could enter in an evening including all markings. Musescore takes care of a lot of layout things automatically that you'd need to hand-tweak in Finale. For example, how Musescore handles lyrics is so much more straightforward and simple. Finale, IMO, requires so much more futzing with things and how to do things you often cannot figure out just by clicking around.

Okay, Musescore, crashes more, but it loads and recovers quickly, so much so that it makes it bearable when you factor in its benefits. Just having everything be fast like load time and conveniences like autosave and the ease of picking up where you left off before you crashed really keeps you moving forward even in the face of software failure. Of course, this will get better over time.

There are a few things that Finale does better like real-time transcription of MIDI performance, but I don't use that feature that often. I think Finale at its best still edges out Musescore on the fine details of layout, but I'm not a music typesetter. I've never had a musician complain about the aesthetics of which music notation font I use!

When I factor everything in, there is much to gain and little to lose in switching from Musescore. I will use Musescore for the foreseeable future.

Paul