Finale 25 slow and laggy

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CARMEN AQUILA Posted October 02, 2016 20:21

I'm running the new Finale on a brand new iMac. The machine is pretty stocked up with ram and processing power. Unfortunately I am experiencing noticeably laggy performance. For example with Speedy Edit, there is a good quarter-second to half-second delay between my pressing a key on the number pad and the note showing up on my screen. In every previous version of Finale I've used, the task was completed instantaneously as far as the human eye can perceive, and this includes much older programs running on much older machines.

There is also noticeable latency when playing on my MIDI keyboard. It's very difficult to deliver a good performance when one can detect a time delay between playing keys and hearing notes. I'm pretty certain it's not my gear or setup that is at fault, since I also run Logic and Garageband with no perceivable latency.

The new Finale just runs slow, plain and simple; I thought the whole 64-bit thing was supposed to ENHANCE performance. Can anyone shed any light or offer suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Finale 25

iMac 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

16GB RAM

97 comments

Date Votes

MIKE ROSEN Posted December 15, 2025 13:36

Whitney,

I fear you are somewhat late to the party. Finale is dead and gone, and no amount of hope will bring it back. Use it while you can, but don't look for any further development.

MIKE HALLORAN Edited December 15, 2025 16:05

As MikeR has told you, MakeMusic has killed Finale for good. The license servers are still working but that’s it.

You have three choices:

1. Do nothing and live with it. You never upgraded to 26 or 27 so things won’t change. If you install 25 on another Mac old enough to run it, the license server will let it happen.

2. Learn to use something else.

3. The crossgrade offer to Dorico is still available. You buy this in your MakeMusic account. Besides Dorico 6, you will also get a license for Finale 27 which solved some of your complaints a few years ago. There is no tech support for Finale though some of us show up now and then to help. Dorico is supported by Steinberg/Yamaha. Price is $149 last I checked.

https://www.steinberg.net/dorico/finale-crossgrade/

Finale 27 works fine on the Mac through Sequoia. It has problems over Tahoe—it works but not as well as anyone likes. I don’t care for Dorico’s workflow but I may buckle down and learn it for 2026—or not.

MIKE ROSEN Posted December 15, 2025 17:16

MikeH, have you considered MuseScore Studio? The more I use it, the better I like it. Granted, your needs are probably way beyond mine, but it might be worth a look.

MIKE HALLORAN Posted December 15, 2025 18:28

MikeH, have you considered MuseScore Studio? The more I use it, the better I like it. Granted, your needs are probably way beyond mine, but it might be worth a look.

I've been looking at it for years and adapt MS scores to Finale for certain publishers. Although getting better, too much of it still doesn't work very well. I'll probably meet with them at NAMM again next month and ask how MS5 is coming along—it's a year overdue.

MS5 is supposed to become the de facto notation app for Hal Leonard, the largest sheet music publisher in the world, now wholly owned by Muse Group. By their own admission, MS 4.x isn't ready.

I'd like to see version 5 become good. I wouldn't mind Dorico acquiring more of Finale's functionality as promised, for that matter. Heck, as long as I'm making a list for Santa, if Don Williams would get Encore 6 in enough shape to show it to me, that would be nice, too as E5 had a few layout tricks that no other notation app could pull off easily—but it's still 32bit and slurs on the Mac version look so awful that it can't be used for publication.

Bottom line for me is that, as clunky as it can be, Finale 27 is still the devil I know best. I'll be firing it up over the latest build of Tahoe later today and see if anything has improved.

Bill Calhoun Posted December 15, 2025 19:52

I’ve decided to keep using Finale for as long as I can. I have a dedicated M2 Mac Mini running Sequoia and Finale 27 and intend to use that machine for only that. I have since bought a M4 Mac Mini that I will use with Tahoe and any further MacOS updates that will come in the future. Just for people’s information in case you find it useful. I tried switching to Dorico, but the learning curve is far greater than I choose to endure and at age 71, I just refuse to change programs. Shame on MakeMusic!

MIKE ROSEN Posted December 15, 2025 20:21

I’m 76, and I think MikeH has seniority over me.

I tried Dorico, and flailed around for about a week. MuseScore was much easier to learn, and I’m very happy with it. But if Finale and Mac OS are still working for you, great!

MIKE HALLORAN Posted December 29, 2025 03:48

Finale 27 for Mac may not be dead in the Tahoe water (Damn, who writes my material? Gotta fire that guy). I should know more in February.

I expect to have more meetings with Muse Group at NAMM next month. I'll be seeing if anyone is willing to commit to a timeline for MuseScore 5.

Just completed a major revision of my big Christmas Book but didn't reset it. Waiting on either a) liking MS5 if ever released, (b) biting the bullet and getting into Dorico 6 and deciding I can make it work or (c) knowing that Finale has enough life in it to continue on. What I am not waiting on is Don Williams and Encore 6—a shame since I did so much of it in Encore years ago and E5 has certain workflows that make things like a Christmas book much faster for me than Finale. E5 slurs on the Mac look state of the art for 1989—just horrible.

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