I would consider predefined shotcuts for every possible menu command as too much. There are heaps of functions which the average user would only seldom need, so why reserve a shortcut for these?

Right now, with a combination of

- letting Finale show the "Tools" menu

- using the TGTools keyboard mapping function

- using the shortcuts defined by your operating system (e.g. windows shortcuts with the ALT-key)

- using FinaleScript

you can already access every command, even with different setttings/parameters

It's possible to integrate external controllers, if you use the techniques described above, but I can only speak for Windows OS.

More important would be the access to functions by keys, which at the moment can only be triggered by mouse, e.g. measure-wise scrolling in scroll view). Right now, you need something like Autohotkey to trigger that.

A long uttered wish of mine would be to integrate MIDI commands into Finale's command processing chain, so that you could assign any menu command to an incoming MIDI message (e.g. controlling playback speed with the pitch wheel or controlling a crescendo's opening angle with a mod wheel).

Harald,

Thanks for your feedback.

I didn't want all the keyboard shortcuts to display in the menus, but to exist and be found in the help pages.

There so many frequently used menu commands without a keyboard shortcut : Transpose (window, not 8, 9) , Display in Concert Pitch, Show Active Layer only, All notes off, Edit Score,...

On The Mac, creating shortcuts faces several shortcomings :

• TGTools keyboard mapping is PC only

• the system preferences of the Mac allow to create shortcuts for any application, indeed, but it does not function reliably. It even confuses applications and many shortcuts don't work even if they appear in the menus.

• Finalescript, ok on paper, but not always reliable, from what I read. I don't use it. Not sure a controller can trigger them.

• I have defined shortcuts in the macro program Quickeys (Mac), but these are external commands.

The external controllers are a problem until the day their software gives access to menu commands without the need for keyboard shortcuts.

External controllers would be helpful as these keyboard shortcuts are complex and not always logical. 1 key to press, and an icon (with text or not) on the key.

P.S.: your other ideas are interesting and show that there are avenues to be explored by the developers.

Hello Michel (tu es le pianiste de jazz de Bruxelles?),

thanks for the insight into the Mac situation, which seems to be quite different from the Windows situation in that regard. Indeed, the necessity for enhancements seems obvious.

Happy new year/une bonne année!

Harald

(Allemagne)

Hello Harald,

La réponse est oui. ;), maintenant plutôt actif comme compositeur/arrangeur.

Happy new year, too !

My day-job is in the engineering world, where we benefit from software that is easy to customize, creating our own shortcuts that are stored in a file that is globally accessible (i.e., the shortcuts don't need to be created in each new document, and can be stored and implemented in new versions of the software, when updates are applied). This is a very flexible and highly effective approach that I'd like to see Finale implement.

Interesting approach, as long as it does not present a risk of damaging the software. I hope the MM developers read this.

Thanks, Michel Herr. The software I've used that does this best is called SolidWorks; it's a 3D modeling/CAD program. There is no risk of damaging the installation, because the customizations are only that; a layer on top of the functioning program, which affects only the user interface. There's always the "restore factory defaults" command, which whisks all the changes away.

I hope the developers read it, too; they could hire me to write it. In fact, if there was any money in it, I would dig into Finale Script and see if I couldn't create an add-in that would enable this ability...

As far as the shortcuts defined in System preferences on the Mac (Finale 25), MakeMusic Support acknowledged the problems I signaled (a.o. the change of the target application from Finale.app into... Finale 2014.5 !).

Anyway, I had the surprise of reading that the functionality is not supported by MM :

"I did want to mention that at the current time, the Keyboard Shortcuts in the Mac System Preferences is not supported by MakeMusic, but if this is something you would like to see in Finale in the future, I would suggest posting your feedback to our online Finale Feature Request community."

Reactions welcome !

Sorry to have to ask such basic questions. I just bought Metagrid for use with Finale and I've set up a few shortcuts to select different tools (actually they activate keyboard shortcuts in Keyboard Maestro which I had already set up). I called the 'scene' for this 'Tools'. So far so good, but in the main Finale screen on my iPad I can't see the buttons I just set up, only a button with Tools (which does nothing) and two 4-line grids which turn green when I touch one of them (which also do nothing). I can only see my buttons in Edit mode and I can't find any instructions in the manual explaining the grid or how to set Metagrid up so that I can use it with Finale. There are tutorials about using the supported programs like Cubase or Digital Performer, but these are of no use to me. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

You might find this of interest: jetstreamfinale.com

"If you already use a number of custom keyboard shortcuts for Finale with a macro program like Keyboard Maestro or AutoHotkey, JetStream Finale Controller works seamlessly alongside these for both Mac and PC, allowing you to use JetStream Finale Controller with your existing keyboard shortcuts to increase your productivity options even more."