Dolet 4 for Finale Release Notes

Version 4.3 for Windows

May 29, 2008

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

Installation

The Dolet 4 for Finale plug-in is not compatible with with earlier versions of the Dolet for Finale plug-in. Please uninstall any older versions of the Dolet for Finale plug-in before using the Dolet 4 for Finale plug-in. To uninstall:

Go to the Start Menu and select the Control Panel.
Choose Add or Remove Programs and wait for the program list to appear.
If Dolet 3 for Finale is listed, click on it. Then click Remove, and follow the instructions to uninstall. Do the same for Dolet for Finale if it is listed. If you have Finale 2006 installed, keep Dolet Light for Finale 2006 installed rather than removing it.

The Dolet 4 for Finale installation kit uses the Windows Installer. If you do not have Windows Installer on your computer, the Dolet4Finale.exe installation program will install it first. This may require a reboot of your computer.

During the installation, you will be asked for the directory where most of the Dolet files go, including the MusicXML language definitions. By default, this will be in the Program Files directory on the drive with the most space available (for example, C:\Program Files\Dolet 4 for Finale). Do not move or copy these files after installation.

The actual Finale plug-in file (Dolet4.fxt) will be installed into the MusicXML folder of your Finale plug-ins directory. The plug-in will automatically install into your default version of Finale. If you have multiple versions of Finale installed on your machine, the plug-in will also be installed automatically into your installations of Finale 2003 and later. To install into Finale 2000, 2001, or 2002, copy the Dolet4 plug-in file from the default plug-ins directory to the plug-ins directories for these versions of Finale. You do not need to copy any of the other Dolet files.

Note that this version of Dolet for Finale requires that either Java 1.4, 5.0, or 6.0 be installed on your machine. You may install Sun’s Java 6.0 software from http://java.com.

Using Dolet for Finale

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 and select the MusicXML submenu. Then select the "Import MusicXML..." item. If you have an empty Finale document open, Dolet 4 for Finale will import the MusicXML file into this empty document, making use of your document settings wherever possible. Otherwise, Dolet 4 will create a new default Finale file and import into that.

To bring files from other programs such as Sibelius and PDFtoMusic Pro into Finale, first save the files in these programs in MusicXML format. Then use the Import MusicXML feature 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. You can choose to save files in MusicXML 2.0, Compressed MusicXML 2.0, MusicXML 1.1, and MusicXML 1.0 formats. The earlier versions are useful when sharing files with programs that do not yet support the newer versions of the MusicXML format.

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.

You may translate an entire folder of Finale files to MusicXML format or vice versa. These batch routines will overwrite any files with the same name that are currently in that directory. Use the "Translate Folder of MusicXML Files..." menu item to save Finale files from your MusicXML files (batch import). Use the "Translate Folder of Finale Files..." menu item to save MusicXML files from your Finale files (batch export). Batch translation requires Finale 2004 or later, and is not available during the 30-day free trial period.

Dolet 4 for Finale supports Finale 2000 through 2008 on Windows. It will read and write files in MusicXML 1.0, MusicXML 1.1, and MusicXML 2.0 formats. When you do a batch export, the format used is based on the last MusicXML file you exported (MusicXML 2.0 by default).

When using Dolet 4 for Finale, please be sure to just use the full version from the plug-ins menu. Going back and forth between the MusicXML functions in the Plug-ins and File menus may confuse Finale and produce error messages. If this happens accidentally, just restart Finale to get things working correctly again.

What's New

Version 4.3 adds several new features:

Two-note tremolos are now supported.
Blank pages are now imported.
Page breaks are now imported.
The Toccata font is now supported.
The swing tempo markings included in Finale's default documents are now supported.
The "Left-Align Chords" option is now supported.
Turning off the "Display rests in empty measure" staff attribute is now supported during export.
Some support has been added for the "Break barlines between staves" staff attribute during export.
Stem position is now exported for cross-staff notes.
More positioning data is exported from note-attached expressions.
Vertical positioning is now exported for crescendo and diminuendo wedges that appear in empty measures.

Version 4.3 also fixes the following problems:

Pull-offs are now exported correctly.
Support for the EngraverFontSet font is now more accurate.
Mid-measure 8va/8vb lines now work correctly in multi-layer or multi-voice music.
Default page size export is improved when all pages in a score are resized the same way.
Export of measure width of empty measures has been improved.
Import of lyrics with no word extensions has been improved.
Distance between staves is exported more accurately for resized systems.
Vertical positions and wedge sizes are imported more accurately for resized staves.
Font sizes for expressions in empty measures are now exported more accurately.
Hidden staff styles are now exported when used in the first measure of a score.
The JazzText and JazzTextExtended fonts are now correctly imported as symbol fonts.
Crescendo and diminuendo wedges exported incorrectly from SmartScore X no longer cause import to fail.
Export now avoids using a known music font as the default MusicXML text font.
Export no longer fails when Japanese font names are used in page numbering text.
Export no longer fails when notes are tied between percussion and standard notation staff styles.
The Windows installer no longer fails to install due to incorrect disk calculations on some systems.

Version 4.2 added several new features:

Locked systems are exported more accurately, leading to better MusicXML import into Sibelius.
Bill Duncan's ChordSuf font from the Finale Productivity Kit is now supported.
The November and NovemberExtra fonts are now supported.
Tempos created with the Tempo tool are now exported. To export these tempos, playback settings need to be set up to allow tempo tool playback, including having Human Playback turned off.

Version 4.2 also fixed the following problems:

Mid-measure transitions from voice 2 to the next layer are now exported more accurately.
Non-standard key signature transpositions no longer cause MusicXML export to fail.
Bend curve smart shapes that are attached to a rest instead of a note no longer cause MusicXML export to fail.

Fixes in previous releases are listed in the Dolet 4 for Finale Version History at http://www.recordare.com/finale/v4versions.html.

The Dolet 4 for Finale plug-in supports the MusicXML 2.0 format. Version 2.0 provides a compressed file format for MusicXML files, which use the .mxl file extension. These compressed files are usually 20 times smaller than the corresponding MusicXML file, making them much easier to share with other musicians.

Version 2.0 of the MusicXML format makes possible many of the new features supported in the Dolet 4 for Finale software, including:

Linked page-attached graphics
Export of linked measure-attached graphics
Page-attached text after page 1
Many line width document options
MIDI pan and channel volume settings
Piano pedal playback, including half-pedaling
Text tracking
Underline and strikeout text
Tick barlines
Pluck symbols (p, i, m, a)
Export of text blocks attached to multiple pages
Improved page numbering support
Improved export of chord symbol and fretboard formatting
Improved lyric elision support

Other new features in version 4 of the Dolet for Finale plug-in are:

Finale 2008 support
Improved Java 6 support
Improved support for systems with Microsoft's recent cumulative security updates for Internet Explorer
Check for Updates menu item
Piano pedal line import
Fretboard import
Composite time signature import
Nested tuplet import
Capo chord symbol export
Better import of accidentals and ties, especially with MusicXML files created from Sibelius.
Better metronome mark import and export
Better export of page, system, and staff formatting
Less freezing of stem directions on import, leading to improved formatting
Improved export of overlapping group braces
Improved import of lyrics when lyrics are present in non-consecutive parts
Improved tie and slur export when voice 2 is used

Some of these features are limited to certain versions of Finale. Many of the formatting features, for instance, start to be available in Finale 2003 and only become fully supported starting with Finale 2004.

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

The Dolet for Finale plug-in supports most of the musical features that are shared between Finale and MusicXML. However, this Version 4 release does not support the following Finale features:

Embedded graphics
Figured bass
Beam extensions
Graphical Finale shape expressions
Many MIDI tool performance details
Exact articulations, expressions, and chord symbols in symbol fonts other than those provided with Finale or selected third parties (GoldenAgeMusic, Sonata, November, NovemberExtra, Toccata, Bill Duncan's ChordSuf)
Importing guitar bends
Importing tablature into Finale 2000 to 2002
Exact positioning for articulations
Importing measure widths, beat charts, and exact note positions

Reporting Problems

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

If you do find a problem, please give us a description of what the Dolet plug-in 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 Windows you are using. Should you see a message box reporting an error, please be sure to include the text of the message.

Thank You!

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

Dolet 4 for Finale License - Purchase Dolet 4 for Finale

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Last updated May 30, 2008.