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Subjective, I know.

Is it true that Maestro Wide is actually Petrucci?

 

I'm WAY behind in versions. Years (decades) ago I fancied myself a copyist/engraver and actually picked up a few jobs. But as more and more people had access to software, getting in with the big boys (who used their own house programs) and convincing others to pay for what they thought they could do themselves became more work than I wanted to bother with given my other commitments.

 

I had at that time though done some Classical Piano work and created templates based on Alfred and Schirmer "looks", and Kurt Stone's indispensable guide (which, at that time, Coda seems to have used for their measurement systems).

 

That was at the time prior to when "Finale Guitar" was around!

 

Now I've been using I think 2003 on a PC, which I still have and still works fine.

 

But I've been able to install 2010 on a Mac.

 

So I don't have Finale 25 and will be missing out on any of the improvements from 2010 onward, but obviously, I started with Petrucci (or was there something earlier...) and am used to that look. But I also have to use Sibelius at work and there are aspects about both I like.

 

I remember having to increase the notehead size note by note before you could do it globally to make Petrucci (probably) look more like a Schirmer over-copied worn-down-over-the-years plate.

 

But given I have 2010, what are some suggestions for a default notation font - stick with Maestro, or go Wide, or are others supplied with Finale better (I also have some from Sibelius and Cubase, and if Logic uses any... installed on this system). Or are there any even better free ones out there? I'd pay, but at some point they all start to look roughly the same and many of the changes I made were down to line thicknesses and such, not necessarily the notation. Still, want to start from something easily readable, scalable, etc.

 

 

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1) No, Maestro and Maestro Wide are not based on the Petrucci font, but rather on the Engraver Font Set.

 

2) Indeed the “look” is not only a matter of music font, but also a matter of many other document settings, e. g. line thicknesses.

An example:

Making the staff-lines thinner makes the noteheads “stand out” more.

 

3) Also, increasing the size of the notehead font makes the noteheads “stand out” more.

 

4) For a deeper comparison of music fonts, try this web site:

https://elbsound.studio/music-font-comparison.php 

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Thanks Peter. I did find that site while googling but it is so comprehensive it was a bit overwhelming! Wonderful resource though. I think I'll just have to take some time and go through it.

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Well I've spent hours on the elbsound site now!

Looking at some published scores, I find it interesting: Petrucci looks most like scores I have, while Helsinki's notehead size and flags are far better.

 

What I've found interesting in my research which made me come across "Bravura" a number of times is that in real life, virtually all elements of a score are "lighter" and the music software has been trending towards - as Bravura says it, "bolder".

 

Noteheads by all means started off too small and not "bold" because of the smaller size - Petrucci has this problem.

 

But, all of the stuff I looked at has accidentals, time sigs, clefs, etc all much lighter (including most lines - they're all much thinner in general) than what more recent fonts are moving to. Petrucci actually had a lot of things "better" (i.e. lighter) from the get go. The hunt continues...

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