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Dolet for Finale Version 2.0 Release Notes

For Macintosh OS X

August 26, 2004

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

Installation

Welcome to Dolet for Finale 2.0! To install the plug-in, first quit out of Finale. Then simply drag the MusicXML folder containing the Dolet2.bundle file into your Finale 2004 or 2005 plug-ins folder. If you have both Finale 2004 and 2005 on your computer, just make a copy of the MusicXML folder and place it in the second Finale plug-ins folder. When you restart Finale, the plug-ins will be available. Keep these release notes and the license files wherever you like.

Note that Dolet for Finale requires Java 1.4. If your Java for OS X is still at Java 1.3, you will need to download and install Java 1.4 from OS X Software Update.

Using Dolet

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 (look for the plug icon on Macintosh) and select the MusicXML submenu. Then select the "Import MusicXML..." item. You will only be able to import MusicXML into an empty Finale document. If your current document is not empty, this item will be grayed out. If there are no documents open, Dolet will create a new default document and import the MusicXML into this new file.

To bring files from other programs such as Sibelius and SharpEye Music Reader into Finale, first save the files in these programs in MusicXML format. Then use the Import MusicXML feature in Finale 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. If your current Finale document is empty, this item will be grayed out.

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.

Dolet for Finale Version 2.0 supports Finale 2004 and 2005 on Macintosh OS X, using MusicXML version 1.0.

You may find Dolet to be slow to export large scores. This is due to Finale being slow in computing accurate stem directions for plug-ins on Macintosh OS X. If you are willing to sacrifice accuracy for speed, display your score in concert pitch before exporting.

What's New

Dolet for Finale Version 2 has been completely rewritten to support Macintosh OS X. All the features in Dolet for Finale 1.5 are supported (except MuseData files), and many new ones beside. Some of these new features include:

  • Import of Sibelius guitar tablature
  • Full export of system and page breaks
  • Falloffs, doits, plops, and scoops
  • Single note tremolos
  • Export of text in non-Western scripts
  • Export of old-style (pre-Finale 2003) tablature
  • Sonata font support
  • Export of measure-attached trills and fermatas
  • Improved tuplet positioning
  • Text repeat positioning
  • Pedal and pan playback
  • Augmentation dot horizontal position

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. Dolet and MusicXML provide much greater music notation accuracy than MIDI translations, but both types of limits apply to this software.

Dolet for Finale supports most of the musical features that are shared between Finale and MusicXML. However, this Version 2.0 release does not support the following Finale features:

  • Guitar bend and bend hat smart shapes.
  • Figured bass.
  • Multi-note tremolos.
  • Most MIDI tool performance details.
  • Beam extensions.
  • Finale shape expressions. However, Finale smart shapes are supported.
  • Page-attached text blocks.
  • Articulations and expressions in music fonts other than those provided with Finale, GoldenAgeMusic, or Sonata.
  • Positioning of note-attached expressions.

Reporting Problems

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

If you do find a problem, please give us a description of what Dolet 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 OS X you are using.  Should you see a message box reporting an error, please be sure to include the text of the message. These steps will help us to find and fix the problem more quickly.

Thank You!

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

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Last updated August 26, 2004.