Middle-line notes do not auto-adjust stem direction

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LAURENCE SHERR Posted July 23, 2020 19:08

The problem is with stem direction on middle-line notes. Finale gives them all down-stems. The rules of music notation are that the stem direction for these middle-line notes is determined by the stem direction of the surrounding notes. In large ensemble and long scores, it is very tedious and labor intensive to check, and correct as necessary, every middle-line note in the score.

It seems a relatively simple algorithm might address this.

I’ve been using Finale for over 30 years, and this problem has not yet been remedied.

Thanks!

MacOS 10.14.6
Finale v26.3

7 comments

Date Votes

J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN Posted July 23, 2020 21:55

And in another program which does base center-line stems on context, some users complain that the stems do not all point down.

"You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time; but you cannot please all of the people all of the time."

Perhaps a future upgrade of Finale will adopt your suggestion as an option.

PETER THOMSEN Posted July 24, 2020 04:24

For every Finale user who eagerly desires a feature, there's another user who wants the option of turning off that very feature.

Anders Hedelin Posted July 24, 2020 12:35

JAV: Perhaps a future upgrade of Finale will adopt your suggestion as an option.

PT: For every Finale user who eagerly desires a feature, there's another user who wants the option of turning off that very feature.

Exactly. It should be an option. (Cf. Gould pp. 13-14)

J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN Posted July 24, 2020 15:32

I'm not holding my breath. I think long before this option will likely be implemented I will have switched to a newer program unless Finale's development involves far more than which direction the stems point for center-line notes.

Anders Hedelin Posted July 24, 2020 16:15

No need to be condescending, JAV.

J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN Posted July 24, 2020 21:34

Not condescending: perfectly serious. I don't see this capability being added to Finale any time soon, and other programs are rapidly offering advantages (including the context-driven center-line stems) that Finale's legacy code base is making difficult for them to address.

I long ago left MOTU's Professional Composer for Finale's initial version. I have supported Finale for many years, but nothing guarantees that I will continue to use it forever if something better comes along.

Anders Hedelin Edited July 25, 2020 13:05

Thanks for the serious answer, JAV. In fact I had decided not to go on posting in this forum, for about the same reasons as you express about MM development. I did so anyway - maybe a slip up.

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